Verzhavsk

Verzhavsk stood between Lakes Rzhavets and Poganoe in the wooded country north of Smolensk. Its fortified site belonged to a network of towns and waterways linking the Smolensk lands to the Western Dvina. A charter of Prince Rostislav Mstislavich mentions the town around 1136, and its old earthworks mark a centre that later declined. A document of 1609 still refers to a church of St Elijah at the abandoned fortified site.