Vowpa (; ; ; ) is an agrotown in Vawkavysk District, Grodno Region, in western

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 ...

.Carol Herselle Krinsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985, ''Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning'', Dover Publications, 1996, p. 225 ff. It serves as the administrative center of Vowpa

selsoviet A selsoviet (; , ; ) is the shortened name for Selsky soviet, i.e., rural council (; ; ). It has three closely related meanings: *The administration (''soviet (council), soviet'') of a certain rural area. *The territorial subdivision administered ...

History

At various times it was either a royal town of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

or a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

of the Holszański and

Sapieha The House of Sapieha (; ; ; ) is a Polish-Lithuanian noble and magnate family of Ruthenian origin,Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ. Т.2, арт. "Сапегі" descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk and Polotsk. Vernadsky, George. ...

families, administratively located in the Wołkowysk County in the Nowogródek Voivodeship. It was often visited by King

Stephen Bathory Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

during his stays in nearby

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

. In 1643,

Kazimierz Leon Sapieha Kazimierz Leon Sapieha () (1609–1656) was a nobleman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Career He had various roles and titles, including Royal Secretary and Grand Writer of Lithuania from 1631, ...

received King

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and claimant of the thrones of Monarchy of Sweden, Sweden and List of Russian monarchs, Russia. Born into the House of Vasa as a prince ...

in the town. The

Wołpa Synagogue The Wołpa Synagogue was a synagogue located in the town of Vowpa, in what is now western Belarus. It was reputed to be the "most beautiful" of the wooden synagogues of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a "masterwork" of wooden vernac ...

is located in the town, and is reputed to be the "most beautiful" of the

wooden synagogues of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...

, a "masterwork" of wooden architecture.Thomas C. Hubka, ''Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture and Worship in an Eighteenth Century Polish Community'', by Brandeis University Press, 2003, p. 63 In the interwar period, Wołpa, as it was known in Polish, was administratively located in the Grodno County in the Białystok Voivodeship of Poland. In the 1921 census, 59.9% people declared

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

nationality, 38.9% declared Jewish nationality and 1.2% declared Belarusian nationality. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the town was first occupied by the Soviet Union until 1941, then by Nazi Germany until 1944, and re-occupied by the Soviet Union afterwards.

Demographics

Notes

References

External links

* http://www.belarusguide.com/cities/voupa.html Populated places in Grodno region Vawkavysk district Agrotowns in Belarus {{Belarus-geo-stub