Myadzyel or Myadel is a town in Minsk Region,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It serves as the administrative centre of Myadzyel District. Myadzyel is located on the eastern shore of Lake Miastra, part of the Narach lake group in Narachanski National Park. As of 2025, it has a population of 6,887.

History

The name of the town is of Lithuanian origin and cognates with the words medis (a tree), medė (a forest), having the same etymology like

Medininkai Medininkai (; ; , old ) is a village in Lithuania. Administrationwise it is centre to the :lt:Medininkų seniūnija, Medininkai Eldership, which forms part of the Vilnius District Municipality; the district itself is in turn part of the Vilnius C ...

. Initially, the fortified wooden settlement of Myadzyel was located on the largest island of Lake Myadzyel, where the remains of the fortifications are still preserved today. Probably in the XI century Myadzyel was a border town of the Polotsk land. In written sources, Myadzyel was first mentioned in 1325 in a Latin-language letter of Grand Duke

Gediminas Gediminas ( – December 1341) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341. He is considered the founder of Lithuania's capital Vilnius (see: Iron Wolf legend). During his reign, he brought under his rule lands from t ...

to the Archbishop of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, in which he complained about the actions of the brother-knights of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

. For unknown reasons, the settlement was moved to the northeastern coast of Lake Myastra. By the middle of the XV century the town of Myadzyel was already divided into Old (northern part) and New (southern part) Myadzyel. New Myadzyel was surrounded by a

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

. On the peninsula of Myastra Lake in the 16th century there was a stone grand-ducal ("royal") Myadzyel castle (the ruins have been preserved). According to some reports, the inhabitants of New Myadzyel received

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...

from

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV of P ...

at the request of his wife

Bona Sforza Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen consort, Queen of Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Poland and List of Lithuanian consorts, Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund the Old, and Duchess of Bari and ...

. Within the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, Myadzyel was part of

Vilnius Voivodeship The Vilnius Voivodeship (, , , ) was one of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's voivodeships, which existed from the voivodeship's creation in 1413 to the destruction of the Lithuanian state in 1795. This voivodeship was Lithuania's largest, most p ...

. On February 8, 1659, the Battle of Myadel occurred near Myadzyel. In 1754 the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Church of Saint Mary was founded by Antoniy Koshitz. In 1793, Myadzyel was acquired by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the course of the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

. From 1921 until 1939, Myadzel (''Miadzioł'') was part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. According to the 1921 census, the population of Miadzioł Nowy ("New Miadzioł") was 80.7% Polish, 17.5% Belarusian, 1.1% Jewish, and the population of Miadzioł Stary ("Old Miadzioł") was 36.3% Polish, 35.8% Belarusian, 18.4% Jewish (combined 70.4% Polish, 21.7% Belarusian, 5.1% Jewish). In September 1939, the town was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. From 2 July 1941 until 4 July 1944, Myadzyel was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the ''

Generalbezirk Weißruthenien ''Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' (; ) was an administrative subdivision of the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' of Nazi Germany that covered western Belarus from 1941 to 1944. It served as the Nazi civilian administration for the German occupati ...

'' of ''

Reichskommissariat Ostland The (RKO; ) was an Administrative division, administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It served as the German Civil authority, civilian occupation regime in Lithuania, La ...

History

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links