Lyepyel

Lyepyel lies by Lake Lyepyel and the Ulla River, between the river systems of the Dvina and Dnieper. First recorded in 1439, it was granted to the Catholic church of Vitebsk and later came under the bishopric of Vilnius. Its exposed position near Polotsk brought repeated changes of ownership during the wars between Lithuania and Muscovy.

After Muscovite forces captured Polotsk in 1563, the bishopric could no longer protect Lyepyel and gave it to King Sigismund II Augustus. Following the recovery of Polotsk, Stephen Báthory restored it to the bishopric, which sold it to Lew Sapieha in 1586. Sapieha later endowed the Bernardine nuns of Vilnius with the estate. Russian rule began in 1793, and in 1812 passing armies burned many buildings. In the 1830s the poet Jan Czeczot worked on the Berezina Canal at Lyepyel.