Kovel

Kovel stands on the Turiia in the wooded country of western Volhynia. Its name is linked to the Slavic word for a smith, a connection reflected in the horseshoe on its arms. First mentioned in 1310, it received a town charter from King Sigismund I in 1518. Queen Bona Sforza became its owner in 1547, and the exiled Muscovite prince Andrey Kurbsky later served as its starosta. The third partition of Poland brought Kovel under Russian rule in 1795.