page_title: Rechytsa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Rechytsa / History
caption_attribution_description: Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Рэчыца (Rečyca)English: View of Rečyca
context_page_description: Rechytsa is a city in the Gomel Region of Belarus. It is center of Rechytsa District. The city is situated at the mouth of Rechytsa River, flowing into the Dnieper. As of 2005 the population was 65,532.
context_section_description: Rechytsa is one of the oldest towns of Belarus. First settlements in this region are dated back to the epoch of mesolite (9–5th centuries B.C.). Later on the area was inhabited by the Dregovichi tribe. The town was first mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle in 1213 as a town of the Chernihiv Principality. Rechytsa was also ruled by Kiev and Turov Grand Dukes. At the time of Gediminas reign (1311–1341) the town was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Rečyca as well as Orsha, Shklow, Mogilev, Stary Bychaw and Rahachow formed a well-developed frontier defense system at the River Dniepr.
  1392–1430 – the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas. He constructed a fortified castle with five towers in the area of the detinets (old Belarusian for the downtown) on the bank of the Dniepr. At that time the town had three fortification lines in the form of water trenches and ramparts with bastions. In the area between the fortress and the second fortification line there was a territory for rich mansions, Church of the Order of Friars Preachers and a trade square. The town inhabitants settled lived between the second and third fortification lines. The construction of the town had clear right-angled forms.
  In 1561 the town was partially granted the Magdeburg rights.
  In the middle of the 17th century Rechytsa was practically destroyed during the Cossack war of 1648–1651. After the Truce of Anrusovo the town became a part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1793 Rechytsa joined Russia and became an used center of the Minsk province.
  The first permanent town plan of Rechytsa was approved in 1800. During the Napoleon Wars in 1812 the town was a temporary residence of the Minsk governor. Rechytsa (Retschschutz) was occupied by Napoleon's Immense Armee in some of 1812, fought over by Whites and Reds, 1917–1922, occupied by Central Powers Forces C. 1917-1918 and by Hitler's Axis, 1941-1943/4.
caption: Rechitsa. An engraving of Abraham van Westerveld, mid-17th century.
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