Orsha

Orsha stands at the meeting of the Dnieper and the Arshytsa. First mentioned in 1067 as Rsha, it entered the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the fourteenth century, and a castle was built here at the turn of the fifteenth. Its position between the Dnieper and the lands around the Western Dvina placed it on a much-contested route between Lithuania and Muscovy.

On 8 September 1514 a Polish-Lithuanian army defeated a Muscovite force at the Battle of Orsha. The victory did not end the struggle over the frontier. In the following centuries the town also became a religious and cultural centre: Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Black founded a Calvinist community in 1555, and Spiridon Sobol opened a Cyrillic printing house at the Kuciejna monastery in 1630. Orsha received Magdeburg rights in 1620, but suffered severe damage during the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667. Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches and communities all formed part of its busy religious landscape.

The first partition of the Commonwealth brought Orsha under Russian rule in 1772, and its municipal privileges were withdrawn four years later. Population and economic life declined; by this account the town had only around 2,000 inhabitants. In 1812, as Napoleon's army moved through the region, Orsha was again badly burned. Its river junction remained a landmark on the road between the rival capitals.