Vorša
Vorša (Orsha in Russian) is an ancient town in Eastern Belarus, 80km South of Vicebsk. Vorsha is situated at confluence of Dnieper and Arshyca rivers.
Links:
- Battle at Vorša - is one of the most famous battles that Belarusians gave to Russians, invading us from the East
- Vorša web page - nice page, but downloads painfully slow
- Vorša web portal
- Vorša is University town again (in Belarusian)
- Citizens Initiatives in Vorša region
- Orsha.by - information on cultural life in Vorša - libraries, museums, art, events.
- Orsha.org - Vorša "mega-portal" (in Russian).
- The first written
mentioning of the city as "Rsha" was "Chronicle of
Bygone Years" in 1067. At that time it was part of Polacak
principality.
- In the middle of
XII century Vorša
had about 5 thousands citizen.
- Vorša becomes
part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1320.
- The town's
location on one of the largest European rivers - Dnieper - determined
it's history as port and trading post.
- Vorša
castle is
built in XIV century.
- Vorša
received
its own coat of arms and Magdeburg Rights on December 13, 1620.
- In XVI century Vorša
is demolished in many battles with Russians
in Russian War of 1654-1667 and later Swedes in Northern War of
1700-1721.
- In XVII century
Vorša
is again at 5,000 population.
- Vorša
experiences significant growth in the second
half of XIX century. It becomes a large railway station and still has
a port.
- Today it is administrative center in Voršanski region of Vicebsk voblasc'.
