Mogilev

Mogilev (official transliteration: Mahilioŭ; also Mahilyow; Belarusian: Магілёў, pronounced [maɣʲiˈlʲou̯]; Russian: Могилёв, pronounced [məɡʲɪˈlʲɵf]) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about 76 kilometres (47 miles) from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km (65 miles) from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. As of 2011, its population was 360,918,[1] up from an estimated 106,000 in 1956. It is the administrative centre of Mogilev Region and the third largest city in Belarus.

This article is about the city in Belarus. For the city in Ukraine, see Mohyliv-Podilskyi.

Mogilev

Магілёў (Belarusian)
Могилёв (Russian)

Mahilyow, Mahilioŭ
Flag
Coat of arms
Mogilev
Location of Mogilev, shown within the Mogilev Region
Coordinates: 53°55′N 30°21′E
Country
Subdivision		 Belarus
Mogilev Region
Founded1267
Government
 • ChairmanVladimir Tsumarev
Area
 • Total118.50 km2 (45.75 sq mi)
Elevation
192 m (630 ft)
Population
 (2009)
 • Total374,644
 • Density3,200/km2 (8,200/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+3
Postal code
212 001
Area code(s)+375 222
License plate6
WebsiteOfficial website

History
Illustration from Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia (1906—1913); Russian Imperial Governorate of Mogilev
Wehrmacht propaganda photograph of the Jewish women in Mogilev, July 1941. Mogilev Jews were murdered by Police Battalion 322 of Police Regiment Centre in October 1941.[2]
Mogilev in July 1941

The city is mentioned in historical sources beginning in 1267. From the 14th century, it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and since the Union of Lublin (1569), part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it became known as Mohylew. In the 16th-17th centuries, the city flourished as one of the main nodes of the east-west and north-south trading routes.

In 1577, Polish King Stefan Batory granted it city rights under Magdeburg law. In 1654, the townsmen negotiated a treaty of surrender to the Russians peacefully, if the Jews were to be expelled and their property divided up among Mogilev's inhabitants. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovitch agreed. However, instead of expelling the Jews, the Russian troops massacred them after they had led them to the outskirts of the town.[3] The city was set afire by Charles XII's forces in 1708, during the Great Northern War.[4] After the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Mogilev became part of the Russian Empire and became the centre of the Mogilev Governorate.

In the years 1915–1917, during World War I, the Stavka, the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army, was based in the city [5] and the Tsar, Nicholas II, spent long periods there as Commander-in-Chief.

Following the Russian Revolution, in 1918, the city was briefly occupied by Germany and placed under their short-lived Belarusian People's Republic. In 1919, Mogilev was captured by the forces of Soviet Russia and incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR. Up to World War II and the Holocaust, like many other cities in Europe, Mogilev had a significant Jewish population: according to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 41,100, 21,500 were Jews (i.e. over 50 percent).[6]

During Operation Barbarossa, the city was conquered by Wehrmacht forces on 26 July 1941 and remained under German occupation until 28 June 1944.[7] Mogilev became the official residence of High SS and police leader (HSSPF) Erich von dem Bach. During that period, the Jews of Mogilev were ghettoized and systematically murdered by Ordnungspolizei and SS personnel.[8] Heinrich Himmler personally witnessed the executions of 279 Jews on 23 October 1941. Later that month, a number of mentally disabled patients were poisoned with car exhaust fumes as an experiment; the method of killing was thereafter applied in several Nazi extermination camps. Initial plans for establishing a death camp in Mogilev were abandoned in favour of Maly Trostenets.

In 1944, the utterly devastated city was liberated by the Red Army and returned to Soviet control. Mogilev then was the site of a labour camp for German POW soldiers.

Since Belarus gained its independence in 1991, Mogilev has remained one of its principal cities.

Religion

Mohilev was the episcopal see of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev until its 1991 merger into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev.

It remains the see of the Eparchy (Eastern diocese) of Mogilev and Mstsislaw in the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Economy

After World War II, a huge metallurgy centre with several major steel mills was built. Also, several major factories of cranes, cars, tractors and a chemical plant were established. By the 1950s, tanning was Mogilev's principal industry, and it was a major trading centre for cereal, leather, salt, sugar, fish, timber and flint: the city has been home to a major inland port on the Dnieper river since (year/period) and an airport since. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the establishment of Belarus as an independent country, Mogilev has become one of that country's main economic and industrial centres.

Cityscape

The town's most notable landmark is the late 17th-century town hall, named the Ratuša, that was built during the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The grand tower of the town hall sustained serious damage during the Great Northern War and the Great Patriotic War. It was eventually demolished in 1957 and rebuilt in its pre-war form in 2008.

Another important landmark of Mogilev is the six-pillared St. Stanisław's Cathedral, built in the Baroque style between 1738 and 1752 and distinguished by its frescoes.

The convent of St. Nicholas preserves its magnificent cathedral of 1668, as well as the original iconostasis, bell tower, walls, and gates. It is currently under consideration to become a UNESCO World Heritage site.[9]

Minor landmarks include the archiepiscopal palace and memorial arch, both dating from the 1780s, and the enormous theater in a blend of the Neo-Renaissance and Russian Revival styles.

At Polykovichi, an urban part of Mogilev, there is a 350 metre tall guyed TV mast, one of the tallest structures in Belarus.

  • The Convent of St. Nicholas
  • The Russian Orthodox church
  • St. Stanisław's Cathedral
  • The city center

Geography

Climate

Mogilev has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with warm summers are cold winters.

Climate data for Mogilev
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 9.8
(49.6)		 12.9
(55.2)		 19.3
(66.7)		 29.1
(84.4)		 30.8
(87.4)		 32.6
(90.7)		 34.3
(93.7)		 36.8
(98.2)		 30.6
(87.1)		 25.5
(77.9)		 14.5
(58.1)		 10.9
(51.6)		 36.8
(98.2)
Average high °C (°F) −3.0
(26.6)		 −2.5
(27.5)		 3.0
(37.4)		 12.0
(53.6)		 18.6
(65.5)		 21.5
(70.7)		 23.6
(74.5)		 22.7
(72.9)		 16.7
(62.1)		 9.9
(49.8)		 2.3
(36.1)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 10.2
(50.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) −5.3
(22.5)		 −5.5
(22.1)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 6.7
(44.1)		 12.9
(55.2)		 16.1
(61.0)		 18.1
(64.6)		 17.0
(62.6)		 11.6
(52.9)		 6.0
(42.8)		 −0.1
(31.8)		 −4.2
(24.4)		 6.0
(42.8)
Average low °C (°F) −7.8
(18.0)		 −8.5
(16.7)		 −4.2
(24.4)		 2.0
(35.6)		 7.3
(45.1)		 10.8
(51.4)		 12.7
(54.9)		 11.6
(52.9)		 7.1
(44.8)		 2.6
(36.7)		 −2.3
(27.9)		 −6.6
(20.1)		 2.1
(35.8)
Record low °C (°F) −37.3
(−35.1)		 −34.7
(−30.5)		 −35.0
(−31.0)		 −17.7
(0.1)		 −4.4
(24.1)		 −0.7
(30.7)		 3.0
(37.4)		 0.9
(33.6)		 −4.8
(23.4)		 −14.8
(5.4)		 −23.5
(−10.3)		 −33.4
(−28.1)		 −37.3
(−35.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 39
(1.5)		 34
(1.3)		 39
(1.5)		 41
(1.6)		 53
(2.1)		 75
(3.0)		 81
(3.2)		 65
(2.6)		 55
(2.2)		 54
(2.1)		 45
(1.8)		 41
(1.6)		 622
(24.5)
Average rainy days 8 7 9 12 15 17 15 13 14 15 14 10 149
Average snowy days 21 20 13 4 0.2 0 0 0 0.1 3 12 20 93
Average relative humidity (%) 87 85 80 72 69 74 74 75 80 84 89 89 80
Source: Pogoda.ru.net[10]

Notable citizens
David Pinski around 1900

Sports
Spartak Stadium

City sports teams:

Twin towns – sister cities
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Belarus

Mogilev is twinned with:[12]

gollark: <@480213740499894283> Sure! I can try now. Which?
gollark: I've got an inbred messy 29G aeon with fragments of prize checker and a 14G thuwed for some weird reason.
gollark: There are gazillions of alt omens.
gollark: <@459753730846228483> no.
gollark: My friend knows about them more than I do.

References
  1. Ярковец, А.И. (2011). "Численность населения на 1 января 2011 года и среднегодовая численность населения за 2010 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа". Статистический бюллетень (in Russian). Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь: 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
  2. Breitman 1998, p. 66.
  3. Russia's First Modern Jews, NYU Press 1995, David Fishman, p.2
  4. "Даниел Крман->Итинерарий->Текст" (in Russian). Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  5. Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 pages, first issue vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karvina, Czech Republic) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3, pages 36 - 39, 41 - 42, 111-112, 124–125, 128, 129, 132, 140–148, 184–199.
  6. Joshua D. Zimmerman, Poles, Jews, and the politics of nationality, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2004, ISBN 0-299-19464-7, Google Print, p.16
  7. "Mogilev The fate of the Jews under the German Invasion & Occupation". Holocaustresearchproject.org. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  8. "Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus". Jhrgbelarus.org. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  9. UNESCO World Heritage Centre (2004-01-30). "St. Nicholas Monastery Complex in the city of Mahilyou – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  10. "КЛИМАТ МОГИЛЕВА" (in Russian). Weather and Climate (Погода и климат). Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  11. FC Torpedo Mogilev (2015-01-30). "Official Website of FC Torpedo Mogilev". torpedomogilev.by. Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  12. "Города-побратимы". mogilev.gov.by (in Russian). Mogilev. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
City and regional maps of Mogilev
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