Smolensk

A view of Smolensk in 1912

Smolensk (Russian: Смоленск;) is a city in western Russia, located on the Dniepr river at 54.79°N 32.05°E / 54.79; 32.05, administrative center of Smolensk Oblast. Its population in 2003 is 351,100.

The name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya Rivulet. The origin of the hydronym is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word for black soil, which might have coloured the waters of the long-derelict Smolnya. An alternative origin could be the Russian word smola that means both tar and resin. Pine trees grow in the area, and city was once a center of resin procession and trade.

Medieval origins

According to the Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk (then located slightly downstream) was the capital of the Slavic Krivichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev. The town was first attested two decades earlier, when the Varangian chieftains Askold and Dir, while on their way to Kiev, decided against messing with Smolensk on account of its large size and population.

The first foreign writer to mention the city was the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In De Administrando Imperio (ca 950) he described Smolensk as a key station on the Road from Varangians to Greeks. The Rus sailed from the Baltics up the Western Dvina as far as they could then they pulled thier boats out onto the ground and dragged them along to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, hence the city name.

The princedom of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its central position amid Russian lands, the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, so that Smolensk dynasty frequently controlled the Kievan throne. Numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts Peter and Paul (1146, mostly a post-war reconstruction) and church of St John the Baptist (1180, also partly rebuilt). The most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya (1197, still standing); it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure to the east of Kiev.

File:Smolenskaya.jpg

Our Lady of Smolensk (11th century)

Between Russia, Lithuania and Poland

Although spared by the Mongol armies in 1240, Smolensk paid tribute to the Golden Horde, gradually becoming a pawn in the long struggle between Lithuania and Muscovy. It was taken by the Vytautas the Great in 1395, 1404 and 1408. After the city's incorporation into Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some Smolensk boyars (e.g., the Sapiehas) moved to Vilnius; descendants of the ruling princes (e.g., the Tatischevs, Kropotkins, Mussorgskis, Viazemskis) fled to Moscow.

With a population of tens of thousands of people, Smolensk was probably the largest city in the 15th-century Lithuania. Three Smolensk regiments proved decisive during the Battle of Grunwald against the Teutonic knights. It was a severe blow when the city was recaptured by Vasili III of Russia in 1514. To commemorate this event, the tsar founded the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow and dedicated it to the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk.

In order to repel future Polish-Lithuanian attacks, Boris Godunov made it his priority to heavily fortify the city. The stone kremlin constructed in 1597–1602 is the largest in Russia. It features remarkably thick walls and numerous watch-towers. Heavy fortifications didn't prevent the fortress from being taken by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1611 after a long 20-month siege, during the Time of Troubles and Dimitriads. Weakened Muscovy ceded temporarily Smolensk land to the Commonwealth in the Truce of Deulino and for the next fifty years it was the capital of the Smoleńsk Voivodship. To recapture the city, Muscovy launched the so-called "Smolensk War" against the Commonwealth in 1632. After a heavy defeat at the hands of king Wladislaw IV, the city remained in Polish-Lithuanian hands. It was finally occupied by Russian forces in 1654, when the Commonwealth was being rocked by the Uprising of Ukrainian Cossacks and Swedish invasion. Poland-Lithuania finally renounced its claims to the city in the 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo.

Modern history

Smolensk has been a special place to Russians for many reasons, not least for the fact that the local cathedral housed one of the most venerated Orthodox icons, attributed to St Luke. Building the new Cathedral of the Assumption was a great project which took more than a century to complete. Despite slowly sinking into economic backwater, Smolensk was still valued by tsars as a key fortress defending the route to Moscow. It was made the capital of guberniya in 1708.

Smolensk's coat of arms

Smolensk's coat of arms

In August 1812 two largest armies ever assembled clashed in Smolensk. During the hard-fought battle, described by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace, Napoleon entered the city. Total losses were estimated at 30,000 men. Apart from other military monuments, downtown Smolensk features the Eagles monument, unveiled in 1912 to mark the centenary of Napoleon's Russian campaign.

On January 1, 1919 the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in Smolensk, but its government moved to Minsk as soon as the Polish interventionists had been driven from the Belorusian capital several months later.

During the WWII Smolensk was again chosen by history as a stage for one of its greater battles, the Battle of Smolensk. The first Soviet counteroffensive against the German army was launched here in August 1941. Over 93% of the city was destroyed during the fighting. The ancient icon was lost forever. It is no surprise that the title of Hero City was bestowed on Smolensk after the war.

Other pictures

• A wall of Smolensk Kremlin in 1912
• Polish army at the gates of Smolensk, a 1882 painting by Juliusz Kossak
• 2-rouble coin dedicated to Smolensk, 2000

External links

• Official Website of Smolensk region (oblast) (in Russian)
• Smolensk Youth information portal (in Russian)
• Smolensk Wiki (in Russian)
• Homepage of the Smolensk fortress (in Russian)
• Some photos of the Smolensk fortress
• More photos
• Historic images of Smolensk