G Slutsk Belarus. Slutsk: attractions and what to see (with photos). Map of Slutsk with houses. Sights and important objects

Slutsk is a city in Belarus, the administrative center of the Slutsk district of the Minsk region. Located on the Sluch River in the central part of Belarus, 105 km south of Minsk within the Slutsk Plain. The old settlement of Slutsk is located at the confluence of the Bychok River with the Sluch. Area: 24.6 km². Population: 61,444 people (2009). Coordinates: 53°01′00″ N. w. 27°33′00″ E. d. Time zone: UTC+2. Telephone code: +375 1795. Postal code: 223610. Vehicle code: 5.

Slutsk map

History of Slutsk

Slutsk is mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years (1116) under the name Sluchevsk. In 1395, the city became the center of the principality owned by Vladimir Olgerdovich. The city received Magdeburg Law in 1441.

In the period from 1502 to 1521, Slutsk was subject to raids by the Crimean Tatars. In 1595, the city was attacked by a detachment of Severin Nalivaiko. In 1582, the city was divided into three parts: New Town, Old Town, Island.

In the 1630s, a fortress was erected on the territory of the city, Slutsk was fortified with bastions and ravelins, earthen ramparts and ditches. In the 18th century, the textile industry developed rapidly in the city.

In the 1919-1920s the city was occupied by Polish troops. As a result, the population was robbed: jewelry was taken away, livestock was stolen. Since 1924, the city became the center of the Slutsk region. During World War II, Slutsk was almost completely destroyed.

Slutsk today

Slutsk is an industrial town. The food and processing industries are the leading sectors. The city operates: a sugar refinery, a meat processing plant, a flax plant, a bakery, a bakery plant, canneries, and the Slutsk Belts arts and crafts plant.

The city is crossed by highways to Minsk, Soligorsk, and Brest.

Sights of Slutsk

Since the city was destroyed during the Second World War, very few memories of the ancient fortress city have been preserved from Old Slutsk to the present day.

The main attractions of the city are located on the site of the former ramparts, located in the city park. Here are: St. Michael's Church (XVIII), a monument to Sofia Slutskaya, the Varvara Chapel, the building of the Noble Assembly, where the Historical Museum is located today, the Church of St. Anthony, the Monastery of St. Francis. All these attractions are located close to each other, which provides an excellent opportunity to explore important places simply by walking through the city park.

In 1998, a monument to Stalin was erected on the territory of the SPMK-97 enterprise.

Within the Slutsk Plain. Junction of railways and roads. Population - 62 thousand people. (2010).

The first settlers appeared on the site of the current city, apparently, back in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. This is evidenced by the finds that have reached us from that distant time.

In the Old Russian period, the Slavic tribe of Dregovichi founded the detinets of the chronicle on this place Slucheska. The first mention of Slutsk is in the Tale of Bygone Years under the year, as a city in the Principality of Turov. This date is considered the historical date of the emergence of the city.

Slutsk during this period was the capital of the appanage principality, then it became part of Turovo-Pinsk, and by the end of the 12th century it became the capital of the appanage principality of the heirs of the Turov prince Yuri Yaroslavovich.

Religion

In the year Slutsk was designated the second cathedral city of the Minsk diocese with a see in the Archangel Michael Cathedral. Was the center of the deanery. In the year an independent

Slutsk is one of the ancient cities of Belarus.

Slutsk was first mentioned in the chronicle (“The Tale of Bygone Years”) in 1116, when the Minsk prince Gleb Vseslavovich invaded the possessions of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, “Dregovichi fought and Sluchesk was burned.”

In the 12th century, the Old Russian state was fragmented into independent feudal principalities. From its composition the Turovo-Pinsk principality emerged, one of the cities of which was Slutsk. During feudal civil strife, the city often passed from one prince to another.

In 1160, Slutsk for the first time became the capital of a small separate principality. But the grandson of Monomakh, Vladimir Mstislavovich, reigned in Slutsk for only 2 years and was expelled. The final separation of the Slutsk principality from the Turovo-Pinsk principality dates back to the 90s of the 12th century.

Slutsk during this period consisted of two main parts - the internal fortress (detinets) and the surrounding settlement. The prince, his warriors, the clergy and their servants lived in the detinets, and artisans and merchants lived in the settlement. Wooden pavements found during excavations in Slutsk also date back to the 13th century.

Lithuanian feudal lords in the 13th-14th centuries extended their power to the western lands of Rus'. Together with other Turov-Pinsk principalities, the Slutsk principality became part of the Lithuanian state in the 20-30s of the 14th century.

Slutsk was in the possession of princes from the Turov line of the Rurikovichs. In 1387, the name of the last of them, Slutsk Prince Yuri, was mentioned.

In 1395, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas transferred Slutsk and Kopyl to the brother of the Polish king Jagiello, Prince Vladimir Olgerdovich, whose descendants - the princes Olelkovich - ruled Slutsk until 1612. Thus, the Slutsk principality became the inheritance of the Lithuanian grand ducal dynasty. In the 15th-16th centuries, it included the settlements of Kopyl, Timkovichi, Urechye, Lyuban, Petrikov, Dorogi (now Starye Dorogi), Omgovichi, Tal, Pogost, Milevichi, Prussy, Staritsa, Pesochnoe and others.

At the end of the 15th century, Slutsk was one of the largest cities in Belarus. In the center of the city there were two castles - Upper and Lower, built at the beginning of the 15th century. The city was protected by walls, earthen ramparts and surrounded by a moat. These fortifications, erected by the residents of Slutsk, helped them defend against enemy raids.

Slutsk and its environs were subjected to frequent attacks by the Crimean Tatars at the beginning of the 16th century. In the summer of 1502, the Slutsk detachment defeated the Crimean Tatars on the Usha River, beyond Bobruisk. In August 1502, 6 thousand Tatars unexpectedly approached Slutsk, ravaged the city and the surrounding area, besieged the castle, but were unable to take it. In 1503, 3 thousand Tatars approached Slutsk, but were driven back by the Slutsk detachment beyond Pripyat and defeated at David-Gorodok.

In mid-August 1505, several tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars, led by Tsarevich Bati-Girey, again besieged Slutsk. Having received information about the approach of the enemy, the townspeople prepared for defense. Several assaults were repulsed. The Tatars made tunnels and tried to set fire to the city, but the residents of Slutsk bravely defended themselves. The chronicler speaks about this: “And Tatar wanted to take Slutsk, but he couldn’t, because they were strong from the city.” Many Tatars fell at the castle, and the Crimean princes were forced to retreat.

In 1506, the Perekop princes Bati-Girey and Burnas came to Slutsk with 20 thousand troops. And again the Tatars were unable to take the city. After the Lithuanian army defeated the Crimean Tatars near Kletsk, a Slutsk detachment was sent to pursue the remnants of the Tatar army, which inflicted great damage on the enemy near Kopyl and Petrikov. The 16th-century historian Stryjkowski describes this event as follows:

Nastasya, Princess Slutskaya, her boyars
She sent to adopt the timid Tatars.
Many of them were beaten near Kopyl,
And Petrovits paid with her throat.

In 1508, during the Russian-Lithuanian war, Prince Mikhail Glinsky, who led the uprising of part of the feudal lords in Ukraine and Belarus, twice approached Slutsk and tried to take the city. But both times the assault on the city did not produce results.

In the late autumn of 1508, one of the mounted detachments (“corrals”) of the Crimean Tatars broke into the territory of the Slutsk principality. Despite their numerical superiority, the Tatars were defeated by a detachment of infantry and a Slutsk cavalry detachment. The last raid of the Crimean Tatars on the Slutsk Principality occurred in 1521.

In 1569, Lithuanian and Belarusian feudal lords concluded the Union of Lublin with the Polish feudal lords, as a result of which Lithuania and Poland united into one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The territory of Belarus also became part of this state. The Slutsk principality remained a separate administrative-territorial unit within the Novogrudok povet. Until 1791, it retained some features of a feudal inheritance with its own system of government, a castle court, a feudal militia, consisting of small feudal lords and military service people close to them in position - zemyans, chosen people, Tatars and boyars, who received hereditary ownership for military land service to the prince.

In 1582, the Slutsk principality and Slutsk were divided between the three Olelkovich brothers. Each of them received one of the three historically developed parts of the city. The oldest part of the city was Stary Slutsk, or the Old Town, located on the right bank of the Sluch. The old city was surrounded by a rampart. There was a fortress here, which consisted of two interconnected castles. The castles were surrounded by a quadrangular rampart.

The second part of the city was built later and already in the century it was called New Slutsk, or New Town. This part of the city was located on the left bank of the Sluch. In the 16th century, a New Castle was built in the New Town, surrounded by ramparts.

The third part of Slutsk - Ostrov, then considered a suburb of the city, was located outside the city fortifications to the northeast of the city.

Downstream the Slucha, on the right side of the river, there was another suburb of Slutsk - Troychany, adjacent to the city from the south. Troychany was a small settlement near the Trinity Monastery.

Slutsk was in separate possession of the princes until 1592, when all parts of the city and principality were united in the hands of the last representative of the Olelkovichs - Princess Sofia Yuryevna.

The Moscow clerk Trifon Korobeinikov, who made a trip to Constantinople at the head of the embassy in 1593, compared Slutsk with Russian cities. Judging by his data, in Slutsk in 1593 there were about 1,100 households, and the population was about 7,000 inhabitants.

Korobeinikov wrote in his diary that the Sluch River is “as wide as the Moscow River”, “and the town of Slutsk, the city of Mensk, and the town of Mensk are large and lutch.”

In 1596, Belarusian feudal lords and the highest Orthodox clergy concluded a church union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Brest. This union contributed to the ideological unity of the feudal lords of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and further strengthened the influence of the Vatican in Ukraine and Belarus.

To fight the Catholic Church, brotherhoods were created in the cities of Belarus - associations of townspeople at monasteries or churches. They had a great influence on the development of Belarusian culture and education.

The brotherhood in Slutsk was founded back in 1586 at the Transfiguration Monastery. A hospital, a printing house and schools were opened under the brotherhood, where teaching was conducted in the Belarusian language. In the 17th century, the Assumption Brotherhood was founded in Slutsk.

The Preobrazhensky Brotherhood had its own treasury and was even a creditor of the Slutsk princes, for which it received princely estates as collateral. The brotherhood was led by representatives of the wealthy elite of the townspeople. These rich townspeople also lent huge sums of money to the Slutsk princes, for which they received princely estates for a time. So, in 1589, the Slutsk voyt Kupriyan Tishevich for lent to the prince 4100 kopecks of Lithuanian groschen (315 kilograms of silver) received the town of Lyuban and the village of Tal, and his son Omelyan lent the princes Vishnevetsky in 1631 7200 kopecks of Lithuanian groschen, for which he received as collateral their estates.

In Slutsk, at the court of the Olelkovich princes, there was a school and a printing house, founded in 1581. At the beginning of the century, they no longer worked.

In the 16th century, individual feudal lords from Slutsk received education at universities in Western Europe. In 1499, Pavel from Slutsk studied at the University of Leipzig. Students from Slutsk studied at the University of Königsberg - Ivan Rodich (1552), Konstantin Zapolsky (1573), Yakov Slutsky (1579). In the early 80s of the century, Slutsk Prince Alexander Olelkovich and 15 young people accompanying him studied in Ingolstadt (in Bavaria). The educator of the Slutsk princes in the 50s of the 16th century was the first Polish writer-teacher Erasmus Glitschner, who studied at the University of Königsberg.

In 1624, a Calvinist gymnasium was opened in Slutsk - the oldest school in Belarus. From the very first years of its existence, the Slutsk gymnasium became widely known in Lithuania and Belarus. The children of the nobility studied there. The teachers were mostly Calvinist priests. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Slutsk gymnasium was a school with strict regulations that regulated almost every step of the student. Some graduates of the Slutsk gymnasium went to receive higher education at universities in Western Europe (Heidelberg, Berlin, Leiden, Oxford, Edinburgh, Frankfurt an der Oder, Leipzig).

Simultaneously with the gymnasium, a school was opened in which, by order of the prince, the children of Slutsk townspeople were taught Polish, Belarusian, Latin and Greek - reading and writing - for free. The best students, after three years of study, one person from each of the three parts of the city, underwent further studies at the gymnasium at the expense of the prince’s treasury. This benefit was given with the aim of preparing literate people to govern the city, as well as to expand the influence of the Calvinist church.

Folk art was developed in Slutsk. There were skilled craftsmen here. In the 16th century, iconography and painting developed in the city. An example of the transition from church painting to secular painting is the portraits of the Slutsk princes made in a realistic style.

In 1612, after the death of the last representative of the Olelkovich family, Princess Sophia, Slutsk and the Slutsk Principality passed to her husband, Prince Janusz Radziwill. From then on, Slutsk belonged to the Radziwills until the beginning of the 19th century, with the exception of the period 1695-1744.

Since the end of the 16th century, the struggle of the Belarusian people against feudal and national-religious oppression has intensified. In 1595, a Cossack detachment led by Severin Nalivaiko arrived in Belarus from Ukraine. With the help of peasants and the urban poor, Nalivaiko’s detachment quickly and unexpectedly occupied Slutsk on November 6, 1595. The Cossacks took cannons, 80 arquebuses, 700 rushnitsa (guns), and a lot of ammunition from the castle. Five hundred Cossacks, led by Colonel Martinko, sent to Kopyl inflicted significant losses on the Pan army, although Martinko himself died. Residents of Slutsk also took part in the detachment’s fighting.

Slutsk in the 30-40s of the 17th century was turned into a first-class fortress. There was a strong garrison here (1048 people in 1659) consisting of well-armed and trained mercenaries (Hungarians, Germans, Poles, Swedes) and chosen ones (infantry soldiers recruited from peasants, “free people” and small gentry and received for their service to the earth). The garrison of Slutsk was subordinate only to the prince and was only formally listed in the lists of the Lithuanian army. In the middle of the 17th century and later, the chosen people were settled with their families near Slutsk - in the villages of Luchniki, Ogorodniki, Seryagi, Branovichi, Varkovichi and Podera. Those elected were exempt from taxes and duties, except for military service in the Slutsk garrison. The chosen ones did not receive a salary and bought weapons and uniforms themselves from the income of their households. They became hereditary military servicemen of the Slutsk Principality, and from 1659 they were enlisted in the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The descendants of the chosen people still live in the same villages.

Peasants from the areas adjacent to Slutsk also took part in the liberation war of the Belarusian people against the feudal lords of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century. Unrest occurred in the city itself, but it did not develop into an open uprising, since by the fall of 1648 the lords had gathered significant military forces in Slutsk.

In August 1648, Cossacks and rebel Belarusian peasants under the command of Cossack Colonel Sokolovsky tried to take Slutsk. But the Slutsk garrison repelled several attacks with artillery fire. The rebels besieged the city. The governor of the Slutsk prince, Jan Sosnovsky, requested reinforcements. In a letter to the Lithuanian Polish hetman Janusz Radziwill, he wrote that the Slutsk townspeople were preparing to join the rebels with arms in hand. The lords feared that at the very first new assault the city would be taken. In such a situation, the Slutsk governor entered into negotiations with the besiegers, whose forces numbered 2 thousand people. Military operations were suspended for several days. Sosnowski promised to pay the rebels 10 thousand red zlotys, give them thousands of cubits of cloth and let them into the city. At this time, a large detachment of Lithuanian cavalry approached Slutsk from the other side and secretly entered the city at night. The next morning Sosnovsky treacherously interrupted the negotiations. Cossacks and peasants began an assault on the city fortifications, but were repulsed with heavy losses. On September 3, in a battle near Pogost at the crossing of the Sluch, the rebels were defeated. The leader of the Cossack-peasant detachment, Ivan Sokolovsky, fought bravely and several hundred Cossacks and peasants died in the battle.

Only towards the end of 1648 were the peasant uprisings in the Slutsk region suppressed.

In 1650, there were 930 “smoke” in Slutsk. The decrease in the number of houses in the city was associated with military operations.

In connection with the struggle of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples for reunification with Russia, the central part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth pursued a policy of maneuvering, reaching an agreement with the merchants and rich bourgeoisie of the Belarusian cities. She made some concessions to the residents of Slutsk, wanting to win them over to her side. On August 27, 1652, King Jan Casimir approved the “Magdeburg law” of Slutsk in perpetuity. The procedure for electing mayors, councilors and lavniks (members of the city magistrate - a self-government body), the procedure for appealing to the owner of the city was established, merchant and craft guilds with their articles (rules) and charters were approved. The city of Slutsk received a coat of arms - a galloping horseman in armor with a shield and sword in a red field (“pursuit”, the ancient coat of arms of the Slutsk principality). The Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1653 approved the royal privilege of “Magdeburg law” for Slutsk.

The city magistrate controlled the craft and trade activities of the townspeople and other residents of the city. He collected taxes and exercised judicial power in the city (but in civil and minor criminal cases) not only over the burghers subordinate to him, but also over the residents of houses and neighborhoods that belonged to churches and individual gentry (“jurisdicians”). Sometimes the city magistrate actually acted as a feudal owner (in those cases when the prince borrowed large sums of money from the magistrate for several years on the security of some of his Estates), and the rural population, including military servicemen, was to a certain extent subordinate to him. However, the activities of the magistrate were subordinated to the interests of the owner of the city and controlled by him.

Among the residents of Slutsk, there was property inequality. The townspeople were divided into the city elite (petty bourgeois gentlemen), the middle strata of the townspeople and the urban poor. The philistine gentlemen differed markedly from the bulk of the burghers not only in their wealth, but also in their privileged position, as well as the support of the owner of the city.

The head of the city government, the voyta, was appointed by the prince from two candidates nominated by members of the magistrate. For the place of a member of the magistrate, the magistrate himself nominated three candidates, from which the prince chose one. In 1654, the prince appointed the first 12 members of the city magistrate from the philistine gentlemen. Then 12 “sessionalists” were elected for a year, sitting at sessions of the city magistrate, and 12 “sessionalists”, who replaced the first dozen the next year. Various positions in the management of city affairs were annually distributed among the members of the magistrate. The sessions were headed by the mayor, and the minutes were kept by the city clerk. Sessions of the city magistrate usually met on Tuesdays for general business and on Thursdays for judicial matters. Decisions were made by majority vote. The magistrate had his own banner and city bell.

Taxes from the townspeople were collected by regiments and hundreds, into which all the townspeople were divided. These regiments and hundreds were not only military units of the city militia, but also administrative and tax units.

Court sentences in feudal Slutsk were carried out by a special executioner. Depending on the sentence, he cut off the head of the condemned person, burned the victim, or beat him with a whip from 10 to 100 or 200 blows. For execution the executioner received 2 1/2 zlotys, for torture during the investigation - 1 zloty. In the event of a special sentence, he “expelled the condemned person from the city forever.”

Townspeople could appeal against the magistrate's verdicts to the castle court or to the "economist" of the Slutsk principality (the prince's viceroy) and, finally, to the prince himself, whose decisions were final.

Most of the townspeople and even some of the upper burghers of Slutsk advocated the liberation of Belarus from the tycoon-gentry yoke. At the beginning of the 50s of the century, a delegation of Slutsk townspeople was sent to Moscow, led by the merchant brothers Melentovich, known for their trade ties with Moscow. This delegation brought to the Tsar a request from the residents of Slutsk for help against the lords and the annexation of Belarus to Russia.

During the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667. Trubetskoy's 20,000-strong Russian army besieged Slutsk from September 2 to 6, 1655. To help the city garrison, the magistrate formed 4 regiments of the city militia (about 2 thousand people). Trubetskoy’s army failed to take the city, and it went to Nesvizh. For the second time, Trubetskoy’s army with Zolotarenko’s Cossacks approached Slutsk on September 27, but after several skirmishes, they lifted the siege on September 30.

In the conditions of the Russian-Swedish war that began in 1656, the owner of Slutsk, Prince Boguslav Radziwill, began negotiations with the leaders of the Cossack elders in Ukraine. The main goal of these negotiations was to preserve the integrity of Radziwill's possessions - Slutsk and the Slutsk Principality, from which this tycoon received large incomes and was afraid of losing them. At the same time, Radziwill was an intermediary between the Swedish king and the Cossack elders and between Brandenburg and Russia.

Bogdan Khmelnitsky did not refuse negotiations with Boguslav Radziwill, since thanks to this the split among the Polish-Lithuanian feudal lords was maintained and the struggle of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples against the magnate-gentry oppression was facilitated. The Russian government used these connections for diplomatic purposes and for intelligence gathering.

As a result of these negotiations, Bogdan Khmelnitsky issued a universal in May 1656, according to which Slutsk was guaranteed immunity from Cossack detachments, and Slutsk merchants were allowed unhindered travel to Ukraine for free trade in cities and towns. But the princely administration and the city magistrate forbade Slutsk merchants from traveling to Ukraine, fearing contacts of Slutsk residents with the rebel Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants. Slutsk merchants violated these prohibitions. They received permission to travel to Petrikov, and from there continued on to Ukraine. These restrictions by the authorities were lifted only after the end of the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667.

In 1667, there were 1086 “smoke” in Slutsk. In the post-war years, the population of Slutsk grew. This was partly facilitated by some benefits given by the prince to attract people to the city.

Social struggle in Slutsk took place in various forms, from filing complaints and petitions to protests by citizens against the authorities and the city elite. The owner of the city and his administration sought to use the contradictions among the townspeople themselves in order to weaken the struggle of the residents of Slutsk against feudal oppression. An important role was played by the presence in the city of a strong garrison, which served not only to protect the city and the prince’s possessions, but also to suppress protests by townspeople and peasants. Despite this, the social struggle in the city and the surrounding area reached great proportions in certain periods.

In 1661, unrest among the townspeople took place in Slutsk, which began after the prince introduced a new tax - on trade turnover (“licents”), Boguslav Radziwill ordered to subdue the recalcitrant, strictly collect the new tax and other taxes. Unrest against abuses in the collection of taxes occurred among Slutsk artisans in 1684. The unrest was pacified by the authorities, and Slutsk workshops were forbidden to file complaints against the magistrate.

In the second half of the 17th century, Slutsk remained one of the largest cities in Belarus. In 1683 there were 1,403 houses in the city. The population of Slutsk was 8.5-9 thousand people. The total number of artisans in 1683 was 773 people. They were joined by 15 day laborers. In total, there were 89 craft professions in the city. The most numerous of them in 1683 were furriers - 132 people, shoemakers - 97, morocco makers - 40, tanners - 83, saddlers - 20, tailors - 37, hosiery makers - 20, butchers - 20, blacksmiths - 44, carpenters - 23 people . During this period, in Slutsk there were 16 craft guilds and 4 associations of artisans who did not have guild rights. In the workshops, masters had full rights and oppressed their apprentices and apprentices.

In Slutsk there were 265 merchants and persons engaged in trade, including 54 merchants, 70 “merchants”, 79 “shinkers”, 10 shopkeepers, 5 small traders, 18 peddlers and 6 resellers. During this period, artisans and their families made up 43-46% of the population of Slutsk, and merchants - 17-19%. Part of the population consisted of ranks of the prince's administration and the clergy. A small proportion of the townspeople were engaged in agriculture.

Since 1695, Slutsk and the Slutsk principality passed by inheritance into the possession of the Princess of Neuburg (from the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty), and subsequently to her daughters. The guardian of the new Slutsk princess was her father, Elector of the Palatinate Karl-Philipp. But Slutsk was also claimed (based on kinship with the previous owners) by Lithuanian and Polish magnates - the Radziwills, Sapiehas, Potsey, Potocki, Mniszki and others. Even the Prussian king Frederick II subsequently laid claim to Slutsk. There were numerous trials and armed “incursions” into the territory of the Slutsk principality. A particularly intense struggle took place between the Radziwills and the Sapiehas. Finally, in 1744, Jerome-Florian Radziwill became the owner of Slutsk, the Slutsk principality and other “Neuburg possessions”. For this he paid the Elector of the Palatinate 230 thousand ducats. Even earlier, the Sapiehas abandoned their claims, having received 2 million zlotys from Radziwill. Other tycoons renounced their claims to Slutsk for large sums. The Prussian king Frederick II received a million zloty compensation. All these huge sums were more than compensated to Radziwill from the population of his possessions, including Slutsk.

During the period when Slutsk belonged to the Neuburg dynasty, the owners of Slutsk never appeared in the city. They sent the most important decisions from distant Heidelberg. Their representatives were sent to Slutsk - “economists of the Slutsk principality” Oskerko and Nezabytovsky. The “economists” abused their power in every possible way and profited at the expense of the townspeople and peasants.

The population suffered cruelly from the internecine struggle of the feudal lords, from robberies and extortion. Added to this are natural disasters. In 1695, there was a big crop failure in the Slutsk principality.

All this, along with feudal oppression, caused a peasant uprising, which met a sympathetic response in the urban lower classes of Slutsk. The uprising spread to the volosts “near the city.” Clashes broke out between rebels and troops. Slutsk itself was also uneasy. The tycoons were worried. Previous discords were forgotten. Troops were sent to Slutsk. The peasant uprising was suppressed by the troops of the feudal lords.

In 1699, there was an uprising of the Slutsk townspeople against the rich city elite. Outraged by the robberies and violence committed by the voit and members of the magistrate, the Slutsk townspeople, led by Buiminovich, attacked the voit’s house. As stated in the court document, Buiminovich “with his other like-minded people, the leader of which he was, in the city with a gathered crowd of up to several hundred city embassies, attacked the house of his mercy Pan Kucharsky, the voyat of Slutsk at that time, intending to kill him and slaughter the rest of the city elders " Voight and the members of the magistrate were saved thanks to the intervention of the fortress garrison. The uprising was suppressed, and “these rebels themselves were captured, among whom Buiminovich was. It was ordered to punish them publicly at the market with whips, and then put them in prison.”

In the summer of 1700, unrest occurred again in Slutsk. The Great Hetman of Lithuania Sapega sent Nezabytovsky 3 dragoon squadrons “to suppress the riots in Slutsk.”

At the beginning of the 18th century, the city experienced new disasters during the Northern War and civil strife in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In January 1705, the dragoons of the Lithuanian artillery general Senitsky entered Slutsk and demanded 13 thousand zlotys from the townspeople to pay the soldiers' salaries. On January 13, 1705, dragoons attacked townspeople at the market. At the sound of the alarm, city residents armed with muskets and sabers gathered in the market square and fought with the soldiers of the Lithuanian army for two hours. Under pressure from the townspeople, several dozen soldiers retreated to one of the houses, where the townspeople besieged them. The commandant of the fortress sent six companies of the garrison to stop the battle, which with difficulty managed to separate the warring parties. The townspeople of Slutsk were so outraged by the attack by the soldiers of the Lithuanian army that they also resisted the princely troops, beating the officers of the Slutsk garrison. As a result of the battle, 1 citizen was killed and 19 were wounded, including two fatally. About a dozen soldiers were killed, and the townspeople took their weapons and equipment as trophies. The remaining dragoons, led by officers, left the city. After this, the Lithuanian army subjected Slutsk to a blockade, but due to military operations and by agreement between the Great Hetman of Lithuania and Nezabytovsky, they were forced to retreat.

During the Northern War in the winter of 1705-1706. By order of Peter I, Ukrainian Cossacks of the Mirgorod and Pereyaslav regiments stood in the Slutsk area, attacking the Swedish troops. On May 11, 1706, after the withdrawal of the Cossacks, the army of Swedes led by King Charles XII occupied Slutsk without resistance. An indemnity was imposed on the population. The Swedes took the cannons from the fortress. The next day they left the city.

During the hostilities, Russian troops occupied Slutsk. In August 1707, the infantry of Sheremetev’s army was stationed here. Then Golovkin came here with his squad. Slutsk was a supply base for Russian troops. A provision store was set up here.

In February 1708, detachments of the Lithuanian army led by Knyazevich, allies of Peter I, were located in Slutsk. On March 5, the city was suddenly attacked by an army subordinate to the protégé of the Swedes, King Stanislav Leshchinsky. Knyazevich was captured and the city was plundered. Then Slutsk was occupied by Russian troops, and in April and May 1708 it was again occupied by Swedish troops. A “second Swedish indemnity” was imposed on the city residents.

In 1711, Russian troops passed through Slutsk to Volyn. Peter I was in the city for three days. In 1714, Russian troops again passed through Slutsk.

During the war, part of the population of Slutsk and the Slutsk principality fled to Russia, “beyond the Dnieper,” especially in 1709-1710. In March 1712, in the Old and New Towns (i.e., without suburbs) there were 1,263 householders, i.e., about a thousand inhabitants.

Despite the consequences of the war, in the first half of the 18th century Slutsk remained a major economic center of Belarus. The city's population increased after the Northern War. In 1728 there were 1,177 residential buildings. 1,460 families lived in Slutsk. The total population of the city, including soldiers and officers of the garrison, was 7.5-8 thousand people.

In the first half of the 18th century, there were 86 craft professions in Slutsk. The charters of craft workshops were approved by the prince. Guild foremen were elected by artisans. The magistrate supervised the activities of the workshops. In Slutsk there were also craft “brotherhoods” (carpenters, bakers, millers, etc.), subordinate to the city magistrate, who appointed their foreman.

The workshops did not consist of a small group of castle artisans.

In 1777 in Slutsk there were 18 workshops: furriers, morocco makers, tanners, tailors, saddlers, shoemakers of “white work”, shoemakers of “black work”, hat makers, fishermen, blacksmiths, weavers, potters, hosiery makers, mechanics, brewers, carpenters and wheelwrights, butchers, "plowmen". In the 30-40s of the 18th century, along with the dominant guild craft production, a new form of industrial production appeared in Slutsk - manufactories owned by the owner of the city, based on manual labor, but with a division of labor. Slutsk was one of the first cities of Belarusian manufacturing.

Even in the second half of the 17th century, small industrial establishments that belonged to the prince operated in the city - a foundry in which small cannons were cast, a gunpowder workshop, a paper factory that produced white and gray paper, a suede workshop, mills in Sluchi and other enterprises.

The prince also owned a printing house (which existed from 1670 to 1705), which printed books in Polish on religious, military and geographical topics, works of art, calendars, teaching aids, and household reference books. Until 1687, 23 books were published with a total circulation of 24,200 copies.

From 1738 to 1755, a small princely manufactory operated in Slutsk, producing cloth for the princely army (black, gray, blue, red cloth, blankets, etc.). Cloth production was to a certain extent connected with the market. Over the course of a year, the manufactory produced from 1250 to 2100 meters of cloth (not counting blankets). This does not include cloth made by craftsmen from their own raw materials and sold on the market. The craftsmen worked in a special production room, where there were machines and other tools that belonged to the prince. The number of workers at the cloth factory was constant - 6 people. These were fullers, cloth dyers, and shearers. They were paid in cash according to contracts.

The famous Slutsk belts became world famous. At the end of the 30s of the 18th century, a silk belt factory was founded in Slutsk. It was located in a two-story building on Senatorskaya Street. The factory's production volume has increased noticeably since 1758, when Jan Madzharsky, an Armenian originally from Istanbul, who moved permanently to Belarus, became the manager and chief foreman of the factory. The factory was technically re-equipped, and its products gained increasing popularity in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. After the death of Jan Madzarski, the factory was run by his son Leon. In 1793, the factory had 28 different machines. The total number of workers was up to 60 people. In 1764, for example, in addition to Madzharsky, the factory employed 3 “servants” (apprentices), 4 “sub-servitors,” 6 senior apprentices, and 6 silk-weavers. The workers were recruited from residents of the city of Slutsk, as well as various villages of the Slutsk principality. For their work, they received money, food and clothing from the princely treasury.

Belts were woven from silk, gold and silver threads - up to 3-4 meters in length and 30-50 cm in width. Both sides of the belt were woven. “Cast” belts were those that were woven from gold and silver threads. They seemed cast from one piece of metal, although their base was silk. “Cast” belts were rolled on special rollers. The belts were woven: “In the city of Slutsk” or “In Slutsk.” Up to 200 belts of a wide variety of designs were produced per year. The cost of a belt in 1796 was 50-100 rubles. The sides of the belt were decorated with a patterned border, and at the ends with an ornament in which oriental patterns were combined with Belarusian folk patterns - cornflowers and red carnations. Slutsk belts served as a luxury item and were a necessary accessory for the costume of a magnate and a wealthy nobleman, and were also exported abroad, where they were highly valued. Slutsk belts testified to the high art of Belarusian masters. The Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth especially emphasized the importance of the Slutsk belt factory and in 1790 elevated Leon Madzharski (he was the great-grandfather of the composer Stanislav Moniuszko) to the nobility “for the development of hand weaving.” The manufactory produced silk fringe, garters, ribbons, and braid.

In Slutsk in the middle of the 18th century there was also a princely linen factory that produced waxed linen, used for upholstery of walls, furniture, and tablecloths.

Since the 80s of the 17th century, theatrical performances (comedies) were staged in the Slutsk Calvinist gymnasium. In 1715-1736 There was a theater at the Jesuit college in which the school's students performed. In 1751-1760 At the court of Prince Jerome Radziwill there was a theater in which dramatic actors, comedians, singers from Italy and Vienna, singers, dancers, and a court “choir” of musicians performed. Ballet dancers were trained from the children of Slutsk townspeople. The theater (“comedy house”) was built in 1752 not far from the castle. In 1760 the theater was transferred to Nesvizh.

In the middle of the 18th century, Slutsk was almost entirely built up with wooden houses. The entrance to the city was covered by fortified gates with drawbridges on chains: in the Old Town - stone Vilna, Kopyl, Ostrovsky and in the New Town - wooden Novomeysky. The prince's castle was surrounded by a river and a canal connected to Sluch. Under the settlement there was more than 1.8 square kilometers. In 1767, the city had 38 streets, 4 alleys and 2 alleys. Large streets in Slutsk were paved. To do this, merchants were required to bring one stone with each cart of goods.

The Slutsk garrison in the 18th century consisted mainly of military personnel. In 1767, the fortress’s artillery consisted of 99 cannons and mortars, 4 “organs” (vehicles made of several musket barrels that fired simultaneously). To train officers, a cadet corps was opened in the city. Officer ranks were awarded by the Slutsk prince himself; in the 60s of the 18th century, the garrison was commanded by a major general appointed by Radziwill.

In 1744, there was unrest among the townspeople of Slutsk. Radziwill ordered the commandant of the fortress to prevent “such riots.”

As a result of the struggle of magnate groups for power in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the owner of Slutsk, Prince Radziwill, took refuge abroad. In Slutsk and the Slutsk Principality, administration in the 60s of the 18th century passed into the hands of the commissars of the Lithuanian general confederation, who committed numerous abuses. The supreme rulers of Slutsk and the principality were Prince Czartoryski, the Lithuanian chancellor, and Przezdetski, the sub-chancellor. They and other confederates robbed the population of the city, took the most qualified Slutsk artisans and their families to their estates or palaces in the cities. During the period of administration of the Lithuanian confederation from 1764 to 1767, residents of Slutsk and the Slutsk Principality paid 5,065,900 zlotys. In total, great damage was caused to 788 families of Slutsk citizens. 102 families of Slutsk artisans were taken out and left.

On March 20, 1767, with the support of the Russian ambassador in Warsaw N.V. Repnina, the Orthodox Belarusian gentry formed a confederation in Slutsk, already occupied by Russian troops, that fought to equalize the rights of the Orthodox gentry with the Catholic ones. It also included Calvinists. Major General of the Lithuanian cavalry Jan Grabovsky (Calvinist) was elected marshal (leader) of the Slutsk Confederation. The act of confederation, announced in the Church of the Savior, was signed by 248 people. At the request of the confederates, Catherine II accepted the Slutsk Confederation under the “highest guardianship”, using it for her own purposes. The commandant of the Slutsk fortress did not resist the Confederates, since, according to him, the soldiers of the garrison were Belarusians (“a garrison consisting of Rus' itself”). Radziwill was called from abroad. All his possessions were returned to him because he also came out in support of the Slutsk Confederates. The Confederates with parts of the Russian army moved to Minsk, Vilna and Warsaw. The Diet of 1768 was forced to adopt a resolution equalizing the rights of Orthodox and Protestants with Catholics.

By the end of the 18th century, Slutsk was losing its former significance. Its economic life is in decline. The city was plundered by detachments of various noble confederations. It was often exposed to fires. In 1775, by resolution of the Sejm, Slutsk was exempt from taxes for 10 years. But even in 1785, Slutsk was not able to pay the tax, and its amount was reduced. In 1785, there were 833 “smoke” in the city, and its population was approximately 5-5.5 thousand people.

In November 1791, the Slutsk Principality, an administrative-territorial unit that had existed for several centuries, was liquidated. Slutsk became the center of the Sluchoretsky district of the Novogrudok voivodeship. The povet was divided into 7 parishes: Slutsk, Kopyl, Timkovichi, Kletsk, Lyakhovichi, Glusk and Medvedich. Two ambassadors were elected from the povet to the Sejm. In April 1792, the povet sejmik met once in Slutsk and elected povet authorities.

Slutsk is the administrative center of the Slutsk district of the Minsk region. The city is located 104 km south of Minsk, 30 km north of Soligorsk. The republican road P23 (Minsk - Mikashevichi) passes through Slutsk, as well as the road P43 connecting Slutsk with Bobruisk and Kobrin.

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History of development - Slutsk

It is believed that the name of the city was given by the Sluch River. According to scientists, the city was founded at the confluence of the Bychok River and the Sluch River by the Slavic Dregovich tribe. Slutsk was first mentioned in "Tale of Bygone Years" in 1116 as one of the cities of the Turov principality. Slutsk became an independent specific center of the principality in 1160, when the city passed to Vladimir Mstislavovich, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh. The Principality of Slutsk was finally formed by the 90s. XII century In the first third of the 14th century, Slutsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1395, the heir of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd - Vladimir and his descendants - became the owner of the principality. Princes Olelkovichi. Initially, the Olelkovichs did not consider the city as their fiefdom, but sought to seize power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, after a series of unsuccessful attempts to get closer to the grand-ducal throne, the family’s ambitions subsided and the Olelkovichs began developing the Slutsk region, eventually turning it into one of the most advanced and richest cities in the state.

Thanks to the efforts of the Olelkoviches in 1441 Slutsk, the third of all the cities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, receives Magdeburg law. On the site of the detinets, a wooden Upper Castle is being erected, protected by a moat and an earthen rampart. At the beginning of the 16th century. Slutsk for 20 years 1502 to 1521 repeatedly subjected to raids by the Crimean Tatars. The story of the princess is widely known Anastasia Slutskaya, which in 1506 led the defense of Slutsk and successfully repelled the attack of the Tatars. In 1508, Slutsk was attacked by the rebellious prince Mikhail Glinsky, who was a longtime admirer of Anastasia. Having received a refusal, Glinsky decided to take the city by force and thus marry the princess. But his plans were not destined to come true. Anastasia went down in history not only as the liberator of the Slutsk lands from the Crimean Tatars, but also as an urban planner. In honor of the victory of the Slutsk soldiers and as gratitude to God for salvation, she erected temples. In addition, she changed the layout of the city, moving the trading area to a new location - to the west of Detinets, across the Bychok River. Anastasia inherited it from her son Yuri and left a developed and prosperous city.

Since the Olelkovich princes always professed Christianity according to the Byzantine model, in 1606 it was founded in Slutsk Orthodox brotherhood and fraternal school. Princess Sofia of Slutskaya, canonized among the Belarusian shrines, is widely known. Sofia donated money and jewelry to the clergy, as well as to the Slutsk Transfiguration Orthodox Brotherhood. She made pilgrimages to remote parishes of the Slutsk land.

After Sophia married Janusz Radziwill, ownership passed to one of the oldest and richest magnate families. Radziwills, who became the masters of the city, erected a powerful fortress in Slutsk, and the Upper and Lower castles were rebuilt into palace complexes. In 1617, a Calvinist gymnasium was opened in the city. By the 1630-1640s. Slutsk was turned into an impregnable fortress city, fortified with earthen ramparts, ditches and bastions. It is worth noting the fact that the Radziwills owned the city only during 1612-1695. and 1744-1832 From the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th centuries. Slutsk belonged to the princesses of Neuburg.

During the Northern War (1700-1721), Slutsk was visited three times by the Russian Tsar Peter I and once by the Swedish King Charles XII. Moreover, when in 1744 Slutsk again began to belong to the Radziwills, the magnates opened in the city, perhaps the most famous production on the Belarusian lands - manufactory for the production of Slutsk belts (1736). The manufactory existed until 1844 and throughout its history produced belts, silk bedspreads, tapestries and carpets. Slutsk has become the capital of weaving and textile industry. Under the Radziwills, a theater was opened in 1751 and existed for 9 years. During this period, the first professional ballet was also created in the city.

As a result of the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1793 Slutsk goes to the Russian Empire and becomes the center of the district of the Minsk province. During the war of 1812 with Napoleon, Slutsk was occupied by French troops. In the 19th century The appearance of the city and its architectural and planning structure have undergone significant changes. The old buildings of the city from the time of the Radziwills fell into disrepair and were dismantled. Also, the city gradually grew and, thus, long ago went beyond the walls of its former fortifications: the ditches were filled in, and the ramparts and bastions were in most cases demolished. In addition, the road from Moscow and Warsaw passed through Slutsk. All these circumstances contributed to the change in the appearance of the city. The new quarterly development of Slutsk was completely subordinated to the road passing through the city and was of a strictly regular nature. According to the First General Census, which was conducted in the Russian Empire in 1897, the population of Slutsk was just over 14,000 people.

In the period from 1909 to 1915. In Slutsk there was a regular bus service for transporting passengers, and by 1915 a railway from Osipovichi was built into the city. In the same year, the headquarters of the 2nd Army of the Western Front was located in the city. In March 1917, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed in Slutsk, and by the end of the year Soviet power was established. Until December 1918, the city was occupied by German troops, and then by the Red Army. During the Soviet-Polish War (1919-1920), Slutsk was occupied by the Poles, who, during their retreat, plundered and set fire to the city. The Slutsk uprising of the Belarusian Essers for the restoration of the Belarusian People's Republic, which occurred in November-December 1920, is widely known.

After the end of the Soviet-Polish war, the city became part of the BSSR. Since 1924, the city has been a regional center. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1944), Slutsk was occupied by the Nazi invaders. During the occupation and hostilities, the city was almost completely destroyed. During the war, there was a ghetto in the city, in which almost the entire Jewish population of Slutsk was destroyed. In total, about 30,000 people from the entire region died in the ghetto during the occupation.

In the post-war period, Slutsk was rebuilt. Today, there are more than two dozen industrial enterprises in the city, as well as educational and cultural institutions.

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Tourist potential - Slutsk

Despite the fact that today practically nothing remains of the historical buildings of old Slutsk, the city still has sufficient tourism potential. It is known from cartographic and literary sources that Slutsk was a fortified city. In the city park, the site where the buildings were located has been preserved. defensive ramparts. Of genuine interest are the unique wooden 18th century, as well as House of the Noble Assembly- an architectural monument of the 19th century. in the style of classicism, in which it is located today. The museum exposition tells about the history of the Slutsk region from ancient times to the present.

At the end of the last century, Sophia of Slutskaya, a Belarusian saint, canonized in 1984, was installed in the city. The figure of Sophia stands against the backdrop of an arch symbolizing the Christian church. The most famous of the surviving sights of the city is one of the oldest educational institutions in Belarus - Slutsk gymnasium, founded in 1617 by Janusz Radziwill. The gymnasium building is an architectural monument in the classicist style.

While in Slutsk, you need to visit, located on the basis of an art products factory. In addition to belts, the company produces woven, sewing, embroidered products, napkins and tablecloths, bed and table linen, linen women's and men's clothing, as well as national clothing, decorative panels and runners. It operates on the territory of the factory. The museum's exposition consistently introduces the listener to historical events and personalities related to the Radziwill era of the 18th century and the Slutsk silk weaving manufactory, which created the Slutsk belts - masterpieces of Belarusian decorative and applied art. Visitors can watch the process of creating a modern Slutsk belt, performed on the only loom in the world designed for the production of belts.

Slutsk is a small city, ideal for coming here on a day off and getting to know all the key attractions of the place.

Slutsk was attractive to me for several reasons: the fortress and castles, the monument to I. Stalin and the history of the riots in 1967, which few people know about. Slutsk belts are not my thing.
The history of Slutsk is rooted in the distant past. The city was first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years, in the 14th century it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in 1441 it received Magdeburg Law. At the beginning of the 16th century, the city repeatedly successfully fought off the Crimean Tatars. In the 17th century, Slutsk came under the control of the Radziwills and by the middle of the century it had turned into a first-class bastion fortress with a New Castle (Citadel). In the 19th century, the city received a new planning structure. The city's fortifications are completely torn down, the ditches are filled up, and the city is rebuilt in its old location. The fate of old Slutsk is similar to the fate of old Brest, with the only difference that Brest was moved to a new location and its territory was occupied by a Russian fortress, which has become the tourist pearl of the city these days. Slutsk received practically nothing in return...
A week ago, having entered Slutsk from the west, I drove through the city in order to look around and see the church on the eastern outskirts. The church turned out to be modern, it didn’t impress me and I didn’t even take pictures. I returned back to the center to visit the museum and get information about the city, where and what interesting things can be seen quickly. It was a market day, there were a lot of people and cars on the city streets, and the weather was not conducive to walking.
So - the Slutsk Museum of Local Lore, located in the building of the former Assembly of the Nobility.

The museum exhibit is so-so. There was not a word in it about the Slutsk Ur (or I did not notice), nor about the riots of 1967. But there was a section on Stalin’s repressions and an extensive section on the Soviet post-war period. Everything is somehow dark, standard and not fun. Although I took a tour of the museum and it has its own 25 thousand visitors a year.
Here are some shots of my favorite exhibits
Scheme of the city fortifications with the Old and New Castle.


There is now practically no trace left of these fortifications. I have not heard the lamentations of city residents about the untimely passing of the castle/castles and the city, as in Brest. Just like I didn’t come across any crazy people planning to excavate and restore castles. I learned from the museum staff that in the park you can see a small section of the city’s swollen moat. The Palace of Culture was built on the site of the Old Castle and the Slavic fortification, but the hill is still visible in the relief.
When I was writing this report I came across a wonderful one. I give here a link to it and some pictures. The article contains many diagrams of the castle from different periods of its existence. Including a fragment of the General Plan of 1972, its outlines can be guessed. Unfortunately, I didn’t look at this place, they didn’t tell me about it.

New Castle or Citadel of the Slutsk Fortress

Let's return to the museum exhibition. In some places it struck me to the core. For example, in a display case dedicated to the War of 1812, I found this capsule ignition carbine with a strangely designed lock

In the section on the Great Patriotic War, I drew attention to partisan-made rifle grenades. The grenades themselves are not bad, but I haven’t figured out how to throw them with a rifle

Homemade machine gun

Not far from the museum behind the shopping center there is a cinema "Belarus" built around the 50s of the last century

House of Children's Creativity and the monument to Ilyich in front of it

Monument to those killed in the Great Patriotic War and a plaque of honor on the way to it

Palace of Culture on the site of an ancient settlement, an old castle and the Radziwill Palace. Construction of the palace began in 1940 and was completed after the war.

The Bychok River flows into the Sluch River at the site of the city's founding

A shelter built in the castle hill in the backyard of the Palace of Culture

Emergency exit head and ceiling. Strange heads and a considerable number of them

View of Castle Hill from the opposite bank of the Sluch River

A little to the left

On the opposite bank, on Komsomolskaya Street, there is the oldest school in the city, and in the Republic of Belarus, founded in 1617.

And opposite it is this house

A little more and I reached a wooden house on the corner of Bogdanovich and Tolstoy streets. Outwardly, this is an unremarkable building of the Orthodox Cultural Center.

True, the lions at the entrance and the angel on the roof are somehow discordant with Orthodoxy and the appearance of the house

UPD. Photo of the quarter March 18, 2015. Two surviving buildings built in 1943 are clearly visible here. The deputy chief of the Slutsk district lived in the white building; the second building was used as a hotel for officers.

However, this place has its own amazing history, which until recently was not customary to talk about. The two surviving wooden buildings and two others that have not survived were built during the 1943 occupation. .
In the post-war period, a court was located in the corner building, where the 8-22 store is now located. The courthouse was burned down during the riots in Slutsk in 1967. There were casualties.
Have you heard of this?
It all started on April 9, 1967, when the corpse of mason Alexander Nikolaevsky was discovered in the fountain of the Slutsk city park. As the investigation was able to establish, Nikolaevsky, who was being treated for a stomach ulcer in the hospital, instead of following a strict diet, drank alcoholic beverages, after which, in a state of alcoholic intoxication, he ended up on the landing where the head of the culture department of the Slutsk City Executive Committee, 28-year-old Gennady Gapanovich, lived. At this time, Gapanovich was drinking alcohol in his apartment with his relative, 25-year-old Leonid Sytko. Seeing Nikolaevsky at the entrance, Gapanovich and Sytko tried to drive him out into the street, but he resisted, and then they threw him down the stairs and beat him. During the beating, Nikolaevsky received a strong blow to the stomach, which caused an ulcer to open and was the cause of death. Nikolaevsky managed to reach the park, where he lost consciousness, fell into the fountain and soon died.
The case caused a great public outcry, which was fueled by the fact that the perpetrator of the crime was a government official, a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The matter has become overgrown with various rumors among the people.
Gapanovich and Sytko were charged with hooliganism, for which they faced up to 8 years in prison. Residents of Slutsk demanded that the murderers be sentenced to death. In the fall of 1967, the case went to trial. The case was heard by Judge Alexander Kriskevich.
When the trial began on October 10, 1967, a large crowd gathered outside the building in which the trial was held, which housed about 65-70 people. The first secretary of the Slutsk district committee of the CPSU, Zelenkevich, told the judge, who asked to move the meeting to a more spacious room, that there was nothing unusual in the case and that passions would subside on their own. There was also a refusal to Kriskevich’s request to organize the broadcast of the meetings through speakers.
By 12 o'clock on October 11, more than one and a half thousand people had gathered on the street. All information coming from the courtroom was passed on from person to person in a distorted form. The crowd did not allow Gapanovich's wife into the courtroom, thinking that she would testify in favor of her husband. The crowd began shouting: “The communist is a murderer!” and “Give us the murderer!”
The active phase of the unrest began on October 12, 1967. On that day, Gapanovich was brought to trial not in a paddy wagon (that day one of the prisoners of the pre-trial detention center opened his veins, and the paddy wagon took him to Minsk), but in an ambulance. Most of all, people were outraged by the fact that the criminal was brought to trial in a suit, and not in a prisoner’s uniform. In fact, Gapanovich was dressed in a suit only to make it easier for minor eyewitnesses to the beating of Nikolaevsky to identify him.
By lunchtime, 3 thousand people had already gathered near the building where the trial was taking place. At 3 p.m., it was decided to end the meeting early, but when the guards tried to take Gapanovich and Sytko out of the building, the crowd did not let them out, demanding the extradition of the accused for lynching. People dismantled the surrounding fences into sticks, and the cobblestone pavement into stones. The crowd stopped trucks passing by with beets and potatoes and threw vegetables at the windows of the court. The situation was immediately reported to Minsk, and then through the chain to Moscow. A detachment of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR numbering 350 people was raised on alarm.
The crowd tried to break through the cordon in which the guards stood. When the situation became critical, the order was given to use Cheryomukha tear gas to disperse the crowd. Such actions were carried out for the first time in the post-war history of the Belarusian SSR. The driver of the arriving paddy wagon, Simenchenko, managed to take Gapanovich and Sytko out, but during this he received several wounds from stones. Later, dozens of dents and holes were counted on the car, and the headlights and glass were also broken.
When it became clear to the rioters that Gapanovich and Sytko were not in the building, they did not disperse. The crowd broke through the cordon. All the servicemen in the cordon were unarmed, as a result of which seven of them received serious injuries, and another 35 received minor injuries. An attempt was also made to overturn the arriving ambulance, in which the wounded servicemen were being treated. The most active participants in the riots at this time tried to break down the doors of the court. Previously, twice-convicted DSR-9 worker Nikolai Grinyuk poured a bottle of gasoline from a nearby car, after which he handed it to a 17-year-old rioter, who jumped through the window, spilled gasoline and set it on fire. Two more bottles were filled with gasoline by father of three children, RSU-4 worker Ivan Popov. Wrapping them in rags, he set them on fire and threw them onto the wooden wall of the building.
Having burst into the premises, the rioters threw Stanislav Tatur, a senior police lieutenant and head of the local pre-trial detention cell, out of a second-floor window, who soon died on the way to the hospital. The flames from the fire flared up, and those in the building jumped from the windows. Judge Galina Alekseeva, who was unable to jump out, died in the fire. The crowd did not allow fire trucks to enter the burning building. Near the bridge over the Sluch River, Colonel Skorodumov, the head of the Slutsk garrison, was beaten, who refused to use parts of the garrison against the rioters and tried to persuade the rioters to stop their actions.
In total, about 70 people were charged as defendants in the case of mass riots in Slutsk. On February 2, 1968, the trial of 17 of the most active participants in the riots began. On February 26, the court sentenced Nikolai Grinyuk and Ivan Popov, who set fire to the courthouse, to capital punishment - death by firing squad. Two more defendants received 15 years in prison, five - 10, one - 9, three - 7. Three of the convicts were minors.
Gapanovich was sentenced to 8 years in prison. He served his sentence in Orsha, then in a free settlement. After his release, he lived in the city of Baranovichi. Died in 2006.
Wikipedia materials used

And I tried to visit one more interesting place in Slutsk, but I couldn’t find it after traveling around half the city and spending two hours. Maybe you'll have better luck?
This is a monument to I. Stalin, installed on the territory of SPMK-97 in 1998. No matter how hard I tried to find this company, I failed. No one knows the address of Novy Lane or 4th Novy Lane, but all navigators on the Internet showed places in the city where there was never a SPMK or an alley with that name. It’s interesting that I haven’t found a single photograph of this monument on the Internet.