Slonim

Slonim was developed in the late eighteenth century by Michal Kazimierz Oginski, who built a theatre, an orchestra and a canal linking the Shchara to the Dnieper-Bug system, and the town keeps buildings from that period and earlier: the Bernardine and Benedictine convent churches, the church of St Andrew of 1775 with a curved baroque facade, and the Oginski canal itself. The synagogue of 1642 is among the oldest surviving in Belarus, a fortified baroque building with a decorated interior including a carved stone aron kodesh, standing empty and deteriorating with restoration long discussed. A regional museum covers the area.

History

Slonim is first named as Uslonim in 1252 and Vslonim in 1255, perhaps from the Slavic zaslona, a screen, for an outpost on the southern border of Lithuania, and a wooden fort stood on the left bank of the Shchara in the 11th century; the area changed hands between Lithuania and Kievan Rus' until the Tatars sacked the town in 1241. Sigismund I granted town rights in 1532, Sigismund II Augustus set up two fairs in 1558, and thanks to its starost Lew Sapieha the town flourished as the seat of the Lithuanian diet from 1631 to 1685; in the 18th century Count Ogiński revived it, digging the canal from the Shchara to the Dnieper and building an opera theatre, a music and ballet school and a printing house, and in 1795 it passed to Russia (Wikipedia, Slonim).

What to look for

• The 1642 synagogue - the fortified baroque building and its interior.
• St Andrew's church - the curved baroque facade of 1775.
• The convent churches - the Bernardine and Benedictine buildings.
• The Oginski canal - the eighteenth-century cut through the town.

When to go

May to September for walking the town; churches follow service hours and the museum closes on Mondays. Winter is cold and the days short.

Before you go

The synagogue is closed and in poor condition, viewable from outside only. Church interiors depend on service times. The town is provincial with limited facilities. The canal is largely disused.

Nearby

Zhyrovichy lies south; Ruzhany is southwest.

Key facts