Olshevo

The history of the village of Olshevo is linked with the history of education and development of not only Brest region but entire Belarus. Initially, it was part of the Duchy of Turov. However, the village belonged to the Duchy of Kiev since the XII century. Of course, like the entire modern Republic of Belarus, Brest region was part of the Rcezcpospolita at one time.

The tragic events of the Russo-Swedish war could not but affect the future fate of the village. As a result, Olshevo became part of the Russian Empire since 1795. It is necessary to mention that the policy of perestroika of the newly conquered lands in the Russian Empire provided for changes in large Belarussian cities. This, unfortunately, negatively affected the preservation of many historical architectural buildings. However, fortunately, the village of Olshevo was not included in the decrees of Empress Catherine II on urban development. As a result, a small Belarusian corner looks like several centuries ago.

At the end of the 18th century, this small place belonged to the famous aristocratic Puslovsky family, who owned the village for a century. Yakov Puslovsky, the ancestor of this family, held position of village chief and participated in the great Moscow campaigns at the beginning of the XVII century. One of the representatives of this dynasty – Xavery - is considered a founder of the orphanage in Warsaw and is known among the Poles as a philanthropist and public figure.

The Puslovsky dynasty, in addition to ownership of the village of Olshevo in Brest region, had more houses in the territory of modern Grodno region. Some of them, by the way, even got count titles from Pope Pius IX himself.

Wooden houses, several main streets and an ancient Orthodox parish preserved to present days. In 1921, all of Brest and part of Grodno region became part of Poland – it influenced the history of Olshevo. From that moment, Catholicism began to develop. However, in 1939 Brest and the entire region was part of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, thus almost all Catholic and Orthodox parishes were closed. Of course, the Soviet policy of atheism also touched the village of Olshevo because there was a small Orthodox church at that time.