Mazyr

Mazyr stands on the Pripyat, a river winding through the marshes and forests of Polesia. Mentioned in 1155, it became the centre of a county in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its position on the river connected the town to a broad inland waterway, while churches and monastic houses marked its role in the religious life of the district.

During the eighteenth century Cistercian monks and nuns established Baroque churches and monasteries in Mazyr. A Jesuit school was transferred here from Jurewicze around 1729, adding an educational institution to the town. After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Mazyr came under Russian rule. Its ecclesiastical buildings and the Pripyat waterfront reflected the town's earlier role as an administrative and religious centre of Polesia.