Ostrovets

The town of Ostrovets Grodno region

General information

Ostrovets is a town which is located on the banks of the river Losha in the western part of Belarus. Nowadays Ostrovets is a district center with a population of 9.5 thousand people. 

According to the official version the name of the town is connected with the island which was located in the waters of the local river and represented an important fortified object.

Three kilometers from the town there is a terminal Belarusian station of the Gudogay railway. From this station there are only seven kilometers to the neighboring Lithuania border.  Here is a border crossing point, which is also named Gudogay.

Ostrovets became a town not long ago, only in 2012. Before that event it was a township.

The history of the town

The history of Ostrovets dates back to the 1468, when the town was first mentioned in the written sources. This mention regards the gifts which were presented by Goštautai nobles to the local Catholic temple.

In 1616-18 the construction of a Dominican monastery took place in Ostrovets. As well, a temple of this monastic order was erected here. 

In 1777 the first school opened its doors in the settlement. In 1794 the locals took part in the rebellion under the leadership of a famous political activist Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

From 1795, at the Third Partition of Poland Ostrovets had become a part of the Lithuanian province of the Russian Empire. The residents of Ostrovets participated in the riots of 1830-31.

In 1872 a railway connecting Minsk and Vilnius had been laid here. 

In 1921-39 Ostrovets was a part of Oshmiany povet of the Vilnius province of Poland.

In 1941-44 Ostrovets was occupied by the German troops. After its liberation Ostrovets had become a part of Molodechno district. In 1960 the district became a part of Grodno region, and two years later it was divided between Smorgon and Oshmiany districts. In 1965 it has again become a separate territorial unit.

The Coat of Arms

Ostrovets received the coat of arms in 2007. The oak with the green leaves is depicted on the top of the Varangian shield. On the bottom there is a silver trout. The images are separated by the green wavy belt.

The sights of Ostrovets

One of the main sights of the town is a church of Saints Cosmas and Damian – the Catholic church of the late XVIII century, built in classical style.

One more religious monument of the town is the Church of the Discovery of the Holy Cross, which was built in 1910-11.

Also there is an Orthodox church in the town. It was built later – in the 1990s.

A monument of civil engineering was also kept up in Ostrovets. It is a water mill of the first half of the twentieth century. As well on the territory of the town there are the monuments of earlier times. There are the earthworks dating back to the XV-XVII centuries.

Today Ostrovets is famous for the Belarusian nuclear power plant which is being built 18 kilometers north of the town. The commissioning of the plant is scheduled for the 2018-20. In this regard the appearance of the town is changing – new housing estates are being built, schools and shopping centers are being opened.