Bykhaw

Bykhaw is a fortified town on the Dnieper south of Mogilev. First mentioned in the fourteenth century, it became a private possession of the Chodkiewicz and Sapieha families. Its castle and walls made it a formidable stronghold, while a church founded by Jan Karol Chodkiewicz in 1619 and a synagogue built in the 1640s reflected the communities within its defences.

During the Russo-Polish War the fortress endured repeated sieges before Russian forces captured it in 1659 and massacred Jewish inhabitants. Stefan Czarniecki retook the town for the Commonwealth in 1660. The Sapiehas rebuilt the Catholic church in 1765, but their fortified town passed to Russia in the first partition of the Commonwealth seven years later. Its position on the Dnieper remained central to its life long after the fighting subsided.