The settlement of Germanovichi is a small village located in the Vitebsk region. Its territory is located in a very advantageous and in a picturesque area as well - on the bank of the deep and beautiful Desna river. However, it is known not for this. Fame was brought to this village, being a tourist site, by the delightful Shirinovs estate, located within the village boundaries.

The village’s history and its owners’ fate

Germanovichi is first mentioned in the chronicles written as back as in 1563. It was a small village in Polotsk province then. The reform, which took place in two years after it had been mentioned, included Germanovichi territory into Braslav powiat lands, being a part of Vilno province.

Germanovichi lands were owned by the famous Lithuanian family of Sapega for a long time. However, in 1739 one of the renowned dynasty representatives sold his possessions to Jan von Eckel Gilzen. After this event the village of Germanovichi became the centre of the lands, where Atoki, Beliy Dvor, Marijampole, Peremeny, Puzany, Rechki, Juzefov were also included. And the year of 1782 became a crucial one for the village: the very Shirinov dynasty took possession of it, thanks to which we have an opportunity to admire the wonderful estate.

The village didn’t escape the consequences of historical location, as well as the events, developed on these lands. After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth partition in 1793, the village’s lands came under the authority of the Russian Empire, being included into Desna uyezd. Nearly seventy years later, in 1861, the centre was changed - the village itself became it, and also the volost was named afther the village. The end of the XIX century was marked by a rapid economic growth: a distillery factory, a mill, a shop and a restaurant worked productively there.

After the Russian-Polish war Germanovichi lands were a part of the Polish territory (Desna powiat in Vilno province), after which their fate was as traditionally developed as for the majority of Belarusian lands: first, the village was a part of the BSSR, and then, after the Great Patriotic War beginning, it was occupied.

The Shirinovs estate: then and now

The merit of the magnificent estate complex construction belongs not only to the Shirinov dynasty, which name the famous complex bears, but also to the Gilzens. It was during their reign in 1770, that the complex construction was started on Germanovichi territory. That was the construction of that very complex, which bears the name of the Shirinovs, since their dynasty has the honour of finishing the architectural monument’s construction.

The estate was built in the first half of the XIX century and stands on the Desna river, as well as the village itself, within the boundaries of which it is located nowadays. The estate was erected in the traditional classical style of that time, and it is a two-storeyed stone building. The symmetry axis is emphasized with an attic located on the main facade, and this function is performed with an avant-corps with a clear triangular pediment on the yard one. A landscape park with a regular layout is located not far from the river. The latter, in contrast to the estate, has not preserved. Therefore, if you are interested in ancient architecture, which preservation allows you to enjoy it, you are welcome to Vitebsk region!