Mogilev

{{stack|File:Mahiloŭ, Dniapro. Магілёў, Дняпро (1879).jpg}}

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

In 1577, Grand Duke Stefan Batory granted it city rights under Magdeburg law. In 1654, during the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), 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.Russia's First Modern Jews, NYU Press 1995, David Fishman, p.2 During this war, the city was besieged twice by the Lithuanian army: in 1655, and {{ill|Siege of Mogilev (1660)|ru|Осада Могилёва (1660)|lt=in 1660}} In 1661, residents started {{ill|Mogilev uprising (1661)|lt=an uprising|ru|Могилёвское восстание (1661)}} against the Russian military occupation. The city was set afire by Peter the Great's forces in 1708, during the Great Northern War.{{cite book |last=Катлярчук |first=Андрэй |date=2007 |title=Швэды ў гісторыі й культуры беларусаў |publisher=Ėntsyklapedyks |url=http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:860434/FULLTEXT01.pdf |isbn=978-9856599586 |language=belarusian}} After the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Mogilev became part of the Russian Empire and became the centre of the Mogilev Governorate. In 1938 it was decided Mogilev was to become the capital of Belarus because Minsk was too close to the then-Polish-Soviet border.

In the years 1915–1917, during World War I, the Stavka, the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army, was based in the city 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. and the Tsar, Nicholas II, spent long periods there as Commander-in-Chief.{{cite web|url=https://www.belarus.by/en/press-center/press-release/mogilev-invites-tourists-to-take-a-stroll-with-emperor-nicholas-ii_i_0000051069.html |title=Mogilev invites tourists to take a stroll with Emperor Nicholas II |publisher=Official website of Belarus}}{{cite book |last1=Massie |first1=Robert |title=Nicholas and Alexandria |date=1967 |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=9780345438317 |pages=300}}

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).Joshua D. Zimmerman, Poles, Jews, and the politics of nationality, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-299-19464-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6sbr9cZyw_4C&dq=population+Brest+Poles+Jews&pg=PA16 Google Print, p.16] In 1938 the leadership of Soviet Belarus decided to move the capital of the country from Minsk to Mogilev. Due to that, the now-Mogilev City Council building was built in 1938–1940 to be the government building. It was designed to resemble the Minsk Government building.

{{stack|File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-138-1091-06A,_Russland,_Mogilew,_jüdische_Frauen_auf_Dorfstraße.jpg photograph of Jewish women in Mogilev, July 1941; Mogilev Jews were murdered by Nazi Police Battalion 322 in October.{{cite book

|last1=Breitman

|first1=Richard

|author-link1=Richard Breitman

|title=Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew

|publisher=Hill and Wang/Farrar Straus & Giroux

|location=New York

|year=1998

|isbn=9780809001842

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9g5M2Nf1DgC&q=%22police+regiment+center%22&pg=PA46

|page=66}}]]}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-138-1091-29A, Russland, Mogilew, Ansicht.jpg

During Operation Barbarossa, the city was conquered by Wehrmacht forces on 26 July 1941 and remained under German occupation until 28 June 1944.{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/mogilev.html |title=Mogilev The fate of the Jews under the German Invasion & Occupation |publisher=Holocaustresearchproject.org |access-date=2014-08-09}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.jhrgbelarus.org/AboutBelarus_articles.php |title=Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus |publisher=Jhrgbelarus.org |access-date=2014-08-09 |archive-date=2018-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002103123/http://www.jhrgbelarus.org/AboutBelarus_articles.php |url-status=dead }} Heinrich Himmler personally witnessed the executions of 279 Jews on 23 October 1941. Later that month, several 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, with the Mogilev offensive, the 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.

{{historical populations|1897|43119|1923|41622|1926|46562|1939|99428|1959|121712|1970|202314|1979|290361|1989|359188|1999|356500|2009|358279|2019|356821|align=left|cols=2|source=pop-stat.mashke.org{{cite web|title=Cities & Towns of Belarus|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/belarus-cities.htm|date=2024-04-15}}}}

{{clear|left}}

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.

{{Further|St. Nicholas Monastery Complex}}

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 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/geography/mogilev-region|publisher=Govt of Belarus|title=Mogilev Region|website=Belarus.by}}

The town's most notable landmark is the late 17th-century town hall, named the Ratuša (Rathaus), 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 Catholic Cathedral, built in the Baroque style between 1738 and 1752 and distinguished by its frescoes. It became the episcopal see of the Archdiocese of Mohilev (created in 1772, archdiocese after 1782), once (until 1991) the largest Catholic diocese of the world. Now it's the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev.

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.{{cite web|author=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1896/ |title=St. Nicholas Monastery Complex in the city of Mahilyou – UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher=Whc.unesco.org |date=2004-01-30 |access-date=2014-08-09}}

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.

File:Sviato-Nikolskij monastyr v Mogileve.jpg|{{center|The Convent of St. Nicholas}}

File:Собор трёх святителей (Могилёв).jpg|{{center|Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs}}

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

{{Weather box

|location = Mogilev

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

| Jan record high C = 9.8

| Feb record high C = 12.9

| Mar record high C = 19.3

| Apr record high C = 29.1

| May record high C = 30.8

| Jun record high C = 32.6

| Jul record high C = 34.3

| Aug record high C = 36.8

| Sep record high C = 30.6

| Oct record high C = 25.5

| Nov record high C = 14.5

| Dec record high C = 10.9

|year record high C = 36.8

| Jan high C = -3.0

| Feb high C = -2.5

| Mar high C = 3.0

| Apr high C = 12.0

| May high C = 18.6

| Jun high C = 21.5

| Jul high C = 23.6

| Aug high C = 22.7

| Sep high C = 16.7

| Oct high C = 9.9

| Nov high C = 2.3

| Dec high C = -2.0

|year high C = 10.2

| Jan mean C = -5.3

| Feb mean C = -5.5

| Mar mean C = -0.8

| Apr mean C = 6.7

| May mean C = 12.9

| Jun mean C = 16.1

| Jul mean C = 18.1

| Aug mean C = 17.0

| Sep mean C = 11.6

| Oct mean C = 6.0

| Nov mean C = -0.1

| Dec mean C = -4.2

|year mean C = 6.0

| Jan low C = -7.8

| Feb low C = -8.5

| Mar low C = -4.2

| Apr low C = 2.0

| May low C = 7.3

| Jun low C = 10.8

| Jul low C = 12.7

| Aug low C = 11.6

| Sep low C = 7.1

| Oct low C = 2.6

| Nov low C = -2.3

| Dec low C = -6.6

|year low C = 2.1

| Jan record low C = -37.3

| Feb record low C = -34.7

| Mar record low C = -35.0

| Apr record low C = -17.7

| May record low C = -4.4

| Jun record low C = -0.7

| Jul record low C = 3.0

| Aug record low C = 0.9

| Sep record low C = -4.8

| Oct record low C = -14.8

| Nov record low C = -23.5

| Dec record low C = -33.4

|year record low C = -37.3

|precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 39

| Feb precipitation mm = 34

| Mar precipitation mm = 39

| Apr precipitation mm = 41

| May precipitation mm = 53

| Jun precipitation mm = 75

| Jul precipitation mm = 81

| Aug precipitation mm = 65

| Sep precipitation mm = 55

| Oct precipitation mm = 54

| Nov precipitation mm = 45

| Dec precipitation mm = 41

|year precipitation mm = 622

| Jan rain days = 8

| Feb rain days = 7

| Mar rain days = 9

| Apr rain days = 12

| May rain days = 15

| Jun rain days = 17

| Jul rain days = 15

| Aug rain days = 13

| Sep rain days = 14

| Oct rain days = 15

| Nov rain days = 14

| Dec rain days = 10

|year rain days = 149

| Jan snow days = 21

| Feb snow days = 20

| Mar snow days = 13

| Apr snow days = 4

| May snow days = 0.2

| Jun snow days = 0

| Jul snow days = 0

| Aug snow days = 0

| Sep snow days = 0.1

| Oct snow days = 3

| Nov snow days = 12

| Dec snow days = 20

|year snow days = 93

| Jan humidity = 87

| Feb humidity = 85

| Mar humidity = 80

| Apr humidity = 72

| May humidity = 69

| Jun humidity = 74

| Jul humidity = 74

| Aug humidity = 75

| Sep humidity = 80

| Oct humidity = 84

| Nov humidity = 89

| Dec humidity = 89

|year humidity = 80

|source 1 = Pogoda.ru.net{{cite web

| url = http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/26863.htm

| title = КЛИМАТ МОГИЛЕВА

| access-date = 28 November 2015

| publisher = Weather and Climate (Погода и климат)

| language = ru}}

|date = November 2015}}

==Notable citizens==

File:David Pinsky.jpg

• Rita Achkina, cross country skier
• Matest M. Agrest, ethnologist and mathematician
• Modest Altschuler, orchestra conductor
• Abe Anellis, microbiologist
• Olga Bogdanova, chemist
• Kanstancin Dziubajla (nom de guerre "Dranik") (1988–2022), Belarusian volunteer killed in action defending Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion{{cite web |title="Самыя блізкія пабрацімы называлі яго "Дранік"". У Данецкай вобласьці загінуў яшчэ адзін беларус, які бараніў Украіну ("The closest brothers called him" Dranik "." Another Belarusian defending Ukraine died in Donetsk region) Радыё Свабода (Radio Liberty) (in Belarusian) |url=https://www.svaboda.org/a/31848004.html |access-date=14 May 2022}}
• Petr Elfimov, musician
• Svetlana Baitova, gymnast
• Ihar Hershankou, serial killer
• Alyona Lanskaya, singer
• Eugenia Logvinovna Lashnyukova, nun
• Joseph Lookstein, Rabbi and President of Bar-Ilan University
• Leonid Isaakovich Mandelshtam, physicist
• Andrey Melnikov, soldier and recipient of Hero of the Soviet Union award
• Andrej Mryj, satirical writer, journalist, translator and a victim of Stalin's purges
• Ivan Nasovič, author of the first Belarusian dictionary
• Stanisław Julian Ostroróg, Polish count, Crimean War veteran, noted Victorian Photographic portraitist, naturalised British subject
• David Pinski, Yiddish playwright
• Simeon Piščević, major-general and governor of Mogilev (1777)
• Lev Polugaevsky, International Grandmaster of chess
• Leo Rogin, Economist and Writer
• Otto Schmidt, scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician
• Issai Schur, mathematician
• Spiridon Sobol, Belarusian enlightener and printer; published the first ABC-book in Belarus in 1631
• Mikałaj Sudziłoŭski, revolutionary and scientist
• Sergey Evtuhov (born 1953), painter

File:Стадион "Спартак" (обновленный) - panoramio.jpg]]

City sports teams:

• Football: FC Torpedo Mogilev,{{cite web |author=FC Torpedo Mogilev |url=http://www.torpedomogilev.by/ |title=Official Website of FC Torpedo Mogilev |publisher=torpedomogilev.by |date=2015-01-30 |access-date=2015-10-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131022820/http://www.torpedomogilev.by/ |archive-date=2016-01-31 }} FC Dnepr Mogilev and ZhFC Dnepr Mogilev, Nadezhda Mogilev
• Hockey: HK Mogilev
• Volleyball: Mogilev Lions, Kommunalnik
• Handball: Masheka
• Basketball: BC Borisfen

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Belarus}}

Mogilev is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Города-побратимы|url=http://mogilev.gov.by/goroda-pobratimy.html|website=mogilev.gov.by|publisher=Mogilev|language=ru|access-date=2020-01-13}}

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}

• {{flagicon|QAT}} Al Rayyan, Qatar
• {{flagicon|TUR}} Bursa, Turkey
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Changsha, China{{cite web |title=白俄罗斯莫吉廖夫市|url=http://www.changsha.gov.cn/xfzs/zjmlzs/yhcs/201707/t20170720_5685956.html|website=changsha.gov.cn|publisher=Changsha|language=zh|date=2020-06-12|access-date=2020-07-11}}
• {{flagicon|GER}} Eisenach, Germany
• {{flagicon|BUL}} Gabrovo, Bulgaria
• {{flagicon|UKR}} Kerch, Ukraine

• {{flagicon|SRB}} Kragujevac, Serbia
• {{flagicon|UKR}} Mykolaiv, Ukraine
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Nanjing, China
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Penza, Russia
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Sokolinaya Gora (Moscow), Russia
• {{flagicon|AZE}} Sumgait, Azerbaijan
• {{flagicon|IRN}} Tabriz, Iran
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Tula, Russia
• {{flagicon|FRA}} Villeurbanne, France
• {{flagicon|GER}} Wittenberg, Germany

• {{flagicon|UKR}} Pivdenne, Ukraine
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Zhengzhou, China
• {{flagicon|RUS}} Zvenigorod, Russia

{{div col end}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Mogilev}}

{{wiktionary}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050308235718/http://www.city.mogilev.by/en/ Mogilev city executive committee]
• [http://radzima.org/eng/gorad/magilyeu.html Photos on Radzima.org]
• [http://www.bfcollection.net/cities/belarus/mogilev/mogilev.html Historic images of Mogilev]
• [http://www.jewishmogilev.org Mogilev Jewish Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325120909/http://www.jewishmogilev.org/ |date=2010-03-25 }}
• [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=696&letter=M Jewish Encyclopedia on Moghilef (Mohilev)]
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Mogilev on the Dnieper |short=x}}
• [http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=234 The murder of the Jews of Mogilev] during World War II, at Yad Vashem website
• {{JewishGen-LocalityPage|1945803|Mahilyow, Belarus}}

;City and regional maps of Mogilev

• [http://translate.google.fi/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.emaps-online.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.emaps-online.com%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:fi:official%26hs%3DxxS%26sa%3DG Zoomable map of Mogilev and Belarus -> In page click КАРТЫ in middle]
• [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/belarus_pol_97.jpg Overview map of roads and railways]
• [http://geology.com/world/belarus-satellite-image.shtml General overview of Baltics, Belarus and east-europe]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080927122532/http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/belarus_topographic_map Belarus, topographic map]
• {{cite web|url=http://parovoz.com/maps/supermap/supermap.php?X=C&Y=1&LANG=en|title=Baltic countries full detail railway map. Belarus and Baltics in C1 sector|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120523225400/http://parovoz.com/maps/supermap/supermap.php?X=C&Y=1&LANG=en|archive-date=23 May 2012|url-status=dead}}
• [https://www.scribd.com/doc/11052/belarus General detail, downloadable PDF map of Belarus]

{{Belarus Seats}}

{{Mogilev Region}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Belarus

Category:Populated places in Mogilev region

Category:Historic Jewish communities in Belarus

Category:Holocaust locations in Belarus

Category:Populated places on the Dnieper in Belarus