Pinsk is a city of regional subordination in the Brest region of
Belarus, located at the confluence of the Pina and Pripyat rivers. The
administrative center of the Pinsk region. The population is 124,613
people (as of January 1, 2023).
Pinsk is a large cultural and
industrial center of Polissya. The unofficial capital of the Belarusian
Polissya. Historically significant settlement in the region.
Pinsk is the second largest architectural monument in Belarus, after
Grodno.
For centuries, civic and religious buildings were erected
in Pinsk, in which not only local traditions and features of the Polesye
architecture of previous eras were preserved, but also the achievements
of European architecture were used. Numerous wars and uprisings that
passed through Pinsk destroyed most of the city's cultural heritage.
In the 12th century, in the center of Pinsk, there was an ancient
Russian citadel with a church and a trading square, around which dense
wooden buildings with defensive fortifications were placed in a
semicircle. The architectural appearance of the city in the XVI century.
Trinity Bridge, two gates, 14 churches, 3 Orthodox monasteries
(Leshchinsky, Varvarinsky, Bogoyavlensky) determined. In the XVII-XVIII
centuries. stone structures were erected in the center of the city: a
Jesuit collegium and a church, monastery and churches of Franciscans,
Bernardines, Dominicans and Carmelites, a town hall, Butrimovich's
palace, in the suburbs of Caroline - Vyshnevetsky's castle, the church
of Charles Baramey.
In accordance with the building plans of
1800, 1824, 1856, the radial-circular street planning system was
preserved, two highways were cut (modern Brestskaya and Pervomaiskaya
streets), new quarters appeared in the north. In Soviet times, the city
developed along the Pina River.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the center of the city began to form in Pinsk. Streets formed the basis of the internal planning of the city. The sources for their names were the personal names of princes and townspeople, geographical names, natural conditions of the area, handicraft occupations of a part of the townspeople, and the nationality of the inhabitants. Since the 16th century, the names of the streets have been known: Bolshaya Spasskaya, Zamkovaya, Vorovskaya and others. The streets were paved with forest, which was especially important in the conditions of a large swampy urban area. Cobblestone pavements on the central streets of Pinsk appeared at the end of the 19th century. The city has preserved part of its old radial-semicircular layout.
Erected in 1948 on the enthusiasm of patriotic youth, the embankment
has become a kind of hallmark of the city. Along the entire embankment
runs the street of the Dnieper flotilla. The last reconstruction of the
embankment was suspended in August 1991. It was decided to recreate the
historical appearance of the embankment, but the project was never
implemented.
Very often the embankment is shrouded in thick fogs.
It was these fogs that allowed the famous Russian poet of the "Silver
Age" Alexander Blok to compare Pinsk with the fabulous "city of Kitezh".
In 2008, the New Embankment was opened, the length of which is about
300 meters, located on the territory of the Volna sports complex. At the
end of 2011, the "New" and "Old" embankments merged and now the "New
Embankment" can be reached along the river without obstacles.
The only surviving historical cemetery in Pinsk. It includes
Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, citywide and military burials.
The
first graves in the Catholic part of the cemetery date back to the
beginning of the 19th century. Part of the tombstones and fences of the
19th - early 20th centuries are made at a high artistic level from
valuable materials, they represent the art of Belarusian and Pinsk
sculptors, stone cutters, casters and blacksmiths.
Cemeteries are
closed for burials. In 1993 they were given the status of a complex
value.
On October 1, 2021, a memorial plaque was opened to
perpetuate the memory of the victims of the First World War (cemetery on
Spokoynaya Street). Timed to coincide with the celebration of the City
Day (October 2, 2021, Pinsk celebrated the 924th anniversary of the
founding of the city).
Settlement (XI-XIII centuries) - Sign "Historical and cultural value"
Historical and cultural value of the Republic of Belarus, code
113В000532
Park Leshchansky (XVIII century)
Jesuit Collegium
(built in 1631). In the yard of the Collegium there is a
tractor-monument. The building houses the Museum of Belarusian Polissya
and a children's choreographic school.
Pinsk Church of St. Stanislav.
The Church of Carlo Borromeo is an architectural monument of the late
18th century, belonged to the monastic order of the missionary brothers
of St. Carlo Borromeo. A Baroque building built between 1770 and 1782 in
what was then the Caroline suburb. Now it is a city concert hall.
Refurbished (2013).
The former Franciscan monastery with the
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the largest
baroque architectural ensembles in Belarus.
Church of Our Lady -
(wooden) (built in 1820). It was located in the cemetery on the street.
Tranquil and completely destroyed in the 1990s.
Butrimovich Palace
(built in 1794). Architecture - from baroque to classicism with
fragments of the canonical form. Now - the city registry office.
Osmolovsky Manor (XIX—XX centuries)
Orthodox Church of the
Resurrection of the Word.
Administrative building of the
Pinsk-Luninetsk Orthodox diocese.
House on the street. Lenin, 39 with
a memorial tablet in memory of the fact that Chaim Weizmann, the first
president of the state of Israel, studied in this building.
St.
Theodore Cathedral.
Chapel (XVII century)
Barbarian Church - a
former Bernardine church (1786).
Synagogue (1900)
Belfry tower
(early 19th century).
Noble School, the first gymnasium (1858), now
the city department of education.
The first post office building
(late 1920s).
Polish Bank (late 1920s), now the Polessky branch of
Belagroprombank.
Cinematograph "Casino" (1912), now the Polessky
Drama Theatre.
Residential buildings: (1930s) - st. Sovetskaya, 6,
st. Brestskaya, 11 (2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries), st.
Dnieper flotilla, 5 (1920-1930).
Private house of Gregorovich
(1920-1930) - st. Komsomolskaya, 1.
Memorial at the site of the
massacre of the Jews of Pinsk during the Holocaust.
Memorial stone at
the site of the massacre of Jews in the Pinsk ghetto during the
Holocaust.
Residential building (1917) - st. Gorky, 36, st. Gorky,
70.
Bank of the Mutual Credit Society (late XIX - early XX centuries)
- st. Zaslonova, 8. Now - a children's art school.
County starostvo
(late XIX - early XX centuries), - st. Dnieper Flotilla, 33.
Branch
of the Azov-Don Bank (1912-1915), city magistrate (1920-1930), now a
residential building - st. Zaslonova, 12.
Residential and
public-administrative buildings (late 19th-early 20th centuries), now
houses and a printing house - st. Lenina, 38, 40.
Characteristic
residential buildings of the 1930s - st. Gorky, 44, 46.
Hotel Gilera
(1920s) - st. Gorky, 68.
Hotel Basevich (early XX century) - st.
Lenina, 27.
Buildings of a bank and shops (from 1900 to 1920), now a
pharmacy, shops - st. Lenin, 13-25.
Residential building (until
1917), now an administrative building, shop - st. May Day 21.
Residential buildings and shops (beginning of the 20th century) - st.
May Day 20–24.
Confectionery and restaurant Gregorovich (beginning of
the 20th century), now shops - st. Lenina, 34.
Comprehensive school
(until 1917), now children's art school No. 4 - pl. October, 6.
Hotel
Kolodny (end of the 19th century), now an administrative building, shops
- st. Lenina, 5.
Loopholes of coastal pillboxes, Warship "BK-92",
Mass Grave and Eternal Flame.
Schmit House, 1925-1928 - st. Lenina,
2.
Tractor SHTZ-15/30, produced by the Kharkov Tractor Plant under the number 1126, came to the Belarusian David-Gorodok in 1940 and worked at the David-Gorodok MTS. When the front line approached the city in 1941, the local watchman dismantled the tractor into separate parts, lubricated it with grease and hid it from the Germans, burying it in the ground. When the Byelorussian SSR was liberated, the tractor was reassembled, and he worked in the fields for a long time, receiving the personal name "Captain". Now this copy of the HTZ is located near the Museum of Belarusian Polesye. The commemorative plaque on it has now been updated.
On the occasion of the 920th anniversary of Pinsk, a sculpture of a
pinchuk was installed in the historical center. The author of the
artistic composition is Alexey Pavlyuchuk from Brest. It is a collective
image of a Pinsk dweller, whose appearance is described in Nikolai
Leskov's book "From a Road Diary".
Lost Landmarks
Chapel of
St. George (beginning of XX century)
Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows
(1820)
Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1635)
Church of St.
Dominic (1787)
Bernardine Monastery (XVIII century)
Carmelite
Monastery (1734)
Mariavitok Monastery (XVIII century)
Monastery
and Church of the Appearance of the Lord (1596)
Great Synagogue
(1506)
Church of St. Theodore (XII century)
Church of St. Nicholas
the Wonderworker (1823)
The Pinsk treasure, found in 1804 in Pinsk, consists of 20 gold coins. 12 Russian goldsmiths and Byzantine solidi were handed over to the Hermitage, the fate of the rest is unknown. Of the 11 goldsmiths registered so far, 6 come from the Pinsk treasure
The name is given by the location on the Pina River, the left tributary of the Pripyat; a hydronym from the base pin - a stop, a pier, a whirlpool on the river, a dam. According to another version, the name of the river is associated with the ancient Indian pinas - fat, thick, dense. According to another version, the hydronym Pina is of Illyrian origin and means "swamp, swamp, mud, mud, silt."
The coat of arms of Pinsk was approved by the decision of the Pinsk
City Council of People's Deputies of June 21, 1994 No. 421. Registered
in the Stamp Matrikul of the Republic of Belarus on June 21, 1996 No. 2.
The flag of Pinsk was established by Decree of the President of the
Republic of Belarus of December 2, 2008 No. 659 and registered in the
State Heraldic Register of the Republic of Belarus on January 23, 2009
No. B-156.
The birthday of Pinsk is November 5, 1097 - recorded in the annals as
the city of Pinsk (Pinesk in the same place). In the list of the
mid-17th century, as part of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon, edited by
Joseph Trizna, there is a complex of Turov statutes, which includes a
charter on the establishment of the Turov bishopric, according to which
the Great Prince of Kiev Vasily (Vladimir Svyatoslavich) in the summer
of 6513 (1005) gave Turov bishopric along with other cities and Pinsk.
As part of the Turov principality. XI, XII, XIII centuries
The
settlement was part of the Turov Principality, in the period of the XI -
XIII centuries:
1005: mention in the charter of the establishment
of the Turov diocese;
1097: the first chronicle mention of Pinsk
(Pinesk) in the Tale of Bygone Years.
1174: the capital of the
independent Pinsk principality.
1183: Pinsk princes are mentioned -
Yaroslav (1183) and Yaropolk (1190). Pinsk was then in the center of the
Turov Principality, had trade relations with Volyn, the Middle Dnieper
and other regions (territories) of Rus'.
1263: a written mention of
an Orthodox church - a monastery in the suburbs of Leshche.
As part
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 14th, 15th, 16th centuries
1320:
Prince Gediminas annexes the Principality of Pinsk to the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania.
End of the 14th century: Pinesk on Pina is mentioned in
the chronicle "List of Russian cities near and far".
1396: the
generally accepted date of foundation of the Franciscan church in Pinsk.
1471: Princess Maria rules in the city - the widow of Semyon Olelkovich,
who belonged to the family of Gediminas. A large number of letters allow
us to refer to the first mention of the villages of the Pinsk region.
1521: King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund I gave Pinsk
to his wife Queen Bona. In Polissya, she is known for her active start
to carry out agrarian reforms.
1527: A detachment of the Crimean
Tatars, who destroyed the north-eastern part of Pinsk, was stopped in
front of the walls of the Pinsk castle. This was the last raid of the
Tatars.
1566: the second most important city in the Brest
Voivodeship.
As part of the Commonwealth. XVII, XVIII centuries
1569: after the unification of Lithuania with Poland into the
Commonwealth, Pinsk became the center of the Brest Voivodeship.
1581:
On January 12, he received the Magdeburg Right and the May seal: “In the
red field of the“ Baroque ”shield there is a stretched golden bow, the
steel arrowhead is directed to the left”, the image of which will later
become the coat of arms of the city
1631-1675: Construction of the
Jesuit Collegium.
1648: Citizens revolt against the arrival of the
Catholic faith. The troops of Bogdan Khmelnitsky were invited as
mercenaries, but fled as soon as they saw that the troops of Janusz
Radziwill were approaching the city. During the suppression of the
uprising, from 3 to 5 thousand people were killed and a significant
number of households were burned.
1655: During the Russian-Polish war
of 1654-1667, the troops of F. F. Volkonsky occupied Pinsk on September
25, plundered it and burned it.
1705: The Catholic Church of the
Bernardines was founded at the expense of Prince Mikhail Vishnevetsky
and his wife Ekaterina. It existed until 1832.
1710: Vasily Nikitich
Tatishchev visited Pinsk, Parokhonsk, Pleshchitsy, Morozovichi, Lopatin,
Kolbakh, author of the five-volume History of Russia, scientist,
diplomat, and traveler.
1717: in Pinsk, the great Lithuanian hetman
Mikhail Servatsy Vyshnevetsky built a Bernardine monastery.
1782: a
stone church was built on the northeastern outskirts of the Pinsk suburb
Karolin, now known as the church of Charles Baramey.
1784: King of
Poland Stanislav August Poniatowski visited Pinsk, who attended the
ceremony of laying the first stone of the Butrimovich Palace.
1793: January 23, after the second partition of the Commonwealth, the
city became part of the Russian Empire.
1812: Patriotic war of
1812 in the Pinsk region. During the war, Pinsk was occupied by French
troops, looted and partially burned. A detachment of Colonel Zhakhov
defeated a French detachment in Pinsk and took cannons as a trophy.
1831: near the village of Nevel, Russian troops defeated the Pinsk
rebels under the leadership of Tsitus Puslovsky.
1858: next to the
Leshchensky Monastery, a city park was laid.
1860: The Skyrmunta
sugar factory began operating in the village of Porechie.
1884: in
December, traffic began on the Pinsk-Luninets railway line.
1885: a
ship-repair and mechanical plant began work in Pinsk.
1892: The
Progress-Vulkan match factory was built in Pinsk.
1897: The city's
population was 28,368, including 20,957 Jews, 3,625 Russians, 1,420
Belarusians.
1904: In March, a telephone network appeared in Pinsk.
1910: in Pinsk - 36,409 inhabitants, of which 26,626 are Jews. The
services of the telephone exchange were used by 196 subscribers.
1911: in November, the first screenings of cinema began in Pinsk.
1915: On September 15, during World War I, Pinsk was occupied by German
troops.
As part of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917-1920)
1917: On November 20, the Third Universal proclaimed the independence of
Ukraine, which included Pinsk.
1918: March 3, the signing of the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, where one of the points was the decision to
recognize Pinsk as part of the UNR as a county town within the Polesye
district.
1918: The All-Ukrainian Society "Prosvita" named after
Taras Shevchenko was created in Pinsk.
1918: A cooperative is
established in Pinsk.
1919: An uprising took place in Pinsk, as a
result, Ukrainian soldiers partially left the city limits. The last
parts of the UNR left Pinsk after the government immigration abroad.
As part of the Polish Republic (1921-1939)
1919: Pinsk Massacre
1919-1921 was the Soviet-Polish war, which went on with varying degrees
of success. According to the Riga Peace Treaty, the territory of western
Belarus, including Pinsk, passed to Poland. Pinsk became part of the
Polessky Voivodeship.
1921: On September 7, a fire broke out in the
central part of the city, which almost completely destroyed it.
1924:
The Pinsk Museum of Local Lore was founded. Opened in 1926.
1936: A
large agricultural exhibition opens in Pinsk in the Leshche city park.
Before the exhibition, “Informator m. Pinska" - a kind of reference book
of the city in 1936.
1939: On September 20, units of the Red Army
occupy the city. Pinsk became part of the BSSR.
As part of the
USSR
1939: A children's music school was opened in Pinsk.
1940: On
January 15, the Pinsk bus depot was opened. G. O. Voevoda became the
first leader.
1940: In February, the Pinsk State Medical College was
organized (at that time it was a feldsher-obstetric school)
On June
22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The territory of the
Byelorussian SSR, which was under occupation in the first months of the
war, was also subjected to the first blows. During the occupation, the
largest partisan movement in Europe unfolded on Belarusian territory. On
July 4, 1941, German troops occupied Pinsk. Evacuated to Moscow, Regina
(Zosya) Kaplan, a member of the Bialystok Regional Council of Working
People's Deputies and head of the Bialystok Regional Committee of the
MOPR, in her note to Solomon Lozovsky and Georgy Malenkov (the note was
received by Malenkov on July 23, 1941) described the flight of the party
and Soviet leadership from Pinsk:
The Pinsk Regional Committee of the
Party, headed by all the secretaries and the entire apparatus, fled the
Pinsk Region, although there were no Germans there. Fleeing in a panic,
they gave the order to blow up the military camp. Explosions of
warehouses in the military camp led to an unprecedented panic among the
population, which began to flee the city in disorder. In view of the
created anarchy, various rabble and, according to a number of comrades.
- Polish archers began to rob the city and get drunk.
1941-1944:
Pinsk as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. "Pinska gazeta" was
published.
1942: On October 28, the Pinsk ghetto was destroyed, all
its inhabitants - about 17 thousand people - were killed.
1944: On
July 14, the 28th and 61st armies, as well as the Dnieper military
flotilla, liberated the city of Pinsk.
1946: On August 10, traffic
began on the first city bus route.
1949: 4 buses began serving
country lines connecting Pinsk with regional centers.
1953: The
church of St. Stanislav, the reconstruction of the Jesuit Collegium
began, the construction of Lenin Square began.
1954: On August 1, the
Pinsk region was abolished.
1955: On August 26, an industrial
technical school was formed (currently a branch of the educational
institution "Brest State Technical University" Pinsk Industrial and
Pedagogical College)
1958: the settlements of Albrekhtovo,
Kozlyakevichi, Kolonia and the village of a hemp plant in the Pinsk
district of the Brest region were included in the city limits of Pinsk.
1956: The market square was demolished, as well as the Jewish Great
Synagogue.
1961: On May 30, a water taxi began to run on the Pinsk
site. The route from Pinsk to Kachanovichi.
1968: College (Pinsk
Medical School) moved to a new building on the street. Rokossovsky No.
6, where it is currently located.
1968: On December 28, the first
stage of the light industry giant, Europe's largest knitwear factory,
was launched.
1969: On May 17, an An-24 turboprop cargo-passenger
aircraft landed at the Pinsk airport for the first time.
1980:
Collegium - Museum of Belarusian Polissya.
1980: On May 19, by
resolution No. 280 of the executive committee of the Pinsk City Council
of People's Deputies, the coat of arms of the city was approved. The
author is Alexander Leonidovich Veksler.
The coat of arms is a
vertical shield with a horizontal dividing strip. In the upper part,
above the dividing strip, a bow with a stretched arrow is depicted on a
red background - the old coat of arms of the city. In the lower part, on
a blue background, a ship and water are depicted, which symbolize
shipbuilding and a port city; a gear symbolizing the industry associated
with metalworking; bobbin of yarn - light industry; drainage tube - land
reclamation. The edging of the shield with a dividing strip, the bow
with an arrow, the ship, the gear and the details of the drainage tube
are gold. The arrowhead is blue. The reel is white with a black stripe.
The water is blue-white with wavy lines. All details are outlined in
black.
1981: On February 14, the new Pobeda cinema was opened.
1983: On August 14, a sports and technical complex was opened on the
street. Rokossovsky.
1987: New bus station building opened on 17
January.
1987: On April 5, the first ship moored at the new Pinsk
port.
1989: On November 7, a new building of the Central Library was
opened in Pinsk.
1991: the village of Krainovichi of the
Molotkovichsky village council of the Pinsk district of the Brest region
was included in the city limits of the city of Pinsk.
1997: for special achievements in socio-cultural development and in
connection with the 900th anniversary of its founding, the city of Pinsk
was awarded the Honorary State Banner of the Republic of Belarus (Decree
of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated September 4, 1997 No.
450).
1999: On September 5, the VI Day of Belarusian Literature was
held
2006: On April 5, Polessky State University was opened - a
higher educational institution. The City Council approved the anthem of
Pinsk (music by Oleg Venger, lyrics by Valery Grishkovets).
2007:
during the reconstruction of the central square of the city, burials
were discovered, approximately from the 17th century.
2008: The flag
of the city of Pinsk was established.
2010: in connection with the
celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people
in the Great Patriotic War and in order to perpetuate the feat of the
soldiers of the Red Army, partisans and underground fighters, the city
of Pinsk was awarded a pennant "For courage and steadfastness at the
bastard Vyalikay Aichynnay Vayna" (Decree of the President of the
Republic of Belarus dated April 19, 2010 No. 189).
2011: the
procedure for conferring the title "Honorary Citizen of the City of
Pinsk" was approved.
2015: Pinsk is recognized as the winner of the
republican review of the sanitary condition and improvement of
settlements of the Republic of Belarus. A new secondary school No. 10
was built in the Raduzhny microdistrict.
2017: for the 920th
anniversary of Pinsk, a city logo was developed and a special postal
envelope was put into circulation. New park laid out. A sculpture of a
pinchuk has been installed in the historical center of Pinsk.
2019:
in January, Pinsk received the status of the Cultural Capital of
Belarus. On May 15, Pinsk took over the torch relay of the II European
Games.
2020: Pinsk solemnly accepted the baton of the youth capital
of Belarus in 2020 from the city of Orsha. On June 2, the automobile
bridge over the Pina River was put into operation after reconstruction.
2021: in June, Pinsk for the first time hosted participants in the
DOSAAF Open Cup of the Republic of Belarus in powerboating.
2022:
Tourist Information Center opened.