Vue de la grand place de Minsk

Title

Vue de la grand place de Minsk

Description

Magnificent view of the main square of Minsk.

c. 1840

Artist

Sabatier

Historical Description

At the beginning of 1067 Minsk was mentioned for the first time as Menesk or Mensk, a town in the Polotsk principality in the union of Kievan Rus. Since the beginning of the 14th century it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As early as 1444 the city was included in the list of the 15 most developed cities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since the Union of Lublin in 1569 Minsk belonged to Poland-Lithuania. The Polish language gained a lot of importance in the city. In the 16th century Minsk became an important city of crafts and trade. In 1798 the Roman Catholic bishopric of Minsk was also founded. As early as 1796, Minsk became the capital of the governorate of the same name, and in December of the same year it received a new city coat of arms: the Holy Virgin on a blue field, surrounded by four angels. The city's former lingua franca, Polish, was increasingly replaced by Russian since Minsk became part of the Russian Tsarist Empire. In 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party was founded in Minsk. This party later developed into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Minsk became the capital of the short-lived "Belarusian People's Republic" in 1918. In 1922, Minsk became the capital of the newly formed Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.