Orsha

Orsha is a metropolis in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, at the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. Orsha changed into first stated in 1067 as Rsha, making it one of the oldest towns in Belarus. The metropolis become named after the river, which was at the beginning additionally named Rsha, in all likelihood from a Baltic root rus 'slowly flowing.' In 1320, Orsha became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1398-1407, the Orsha fortress changed into constructed. On September eight, 1514 the famous Battle of Orsha passed off, among allied Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Kingdom of Poland and Muscovite military.

The Muscovites suffered full-size defeat; however, the triumphant Grand Duchy of Lithuania did no longer fully avail its victory. In 1555, Mikolaj "the Black" Radziwill founded a Calvinist order in Orsha, one of the first inside the Belarusian lands. From the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Orsha changed into a remarkable non secular centre, with dozens of Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic churches and orders. The city turned into additionally domestic to a massive Jewish population.