Pinsk

Pinsk Пінск (Belarusian) Пинск (Russian) Pińsk (Polish)
City
City center Jesuit Collegium Assumption Cathedral Paliessie Drama Theater Butrymowicz Palace
Flag Coat of arms
Pinsk Location of Pinsk in Belarus
Coordinates: 52°06′55″N 26°06′11″E / 52.11528°N 26.10306°E / 52.11528; 26.10306
Country	Belarus
Region	Brest Region
First mentioned	1097
Area
• Total	51.48 km2 (19.88 sq mi)
Elevation	141 m (463 ft)
Population  (2026)[1]
• Total	123,283
• Density	2,395/km2 (6,202/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)
Postal codes	225700, 225710, 225716, 225745
Area code	+375 165
License plate	1
Website	Official website

Pinsk^[a] is a city in Brest Region, in southern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pinsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district.^[1] It is located in the historical region of Polesia, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Pinsk Marshes and is southwest of Minsk. As of 2026, it has a population of 123,283.^[1]

The historic city has a restored city centre, with two-storey buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The centre has become an active place for youths of all ages with summer theme parks and an association football stadium, which houses the city's football club, FC Volna Pinsk.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The first mention of Pinsk comes from 1097. In the High Middle Ages, Pinsk often passed between various principalities of Kievan Rus', and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Pinsk was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1240.^[3] In 1241, the Orthodox diocese was moved from Turov to Pinsk. Afterwards, it was captured by Lithuanian duke Erdvilas, and Pinsk became a fief of Lithuania.^[3] Lithuanian duke Vaišvilkas found refuge at a local monastery after his father Mindaugas was assassinated.^[4] In 1274, Pinsk along with Ruthenian princes and Tatars fought against Lithuania.^[3]

By 1320, Pinsk was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[3] It remained ruled by local lines of the Gediminids.^[3] In 1396, a Catholic church and a Franciscan monastery were erected. After the extinction of the local princely line in 1521, Pinsk became a royal possession of Sigismund I the Old, who then handed it over to his wife Queen Bona Sforza.^[5] Bona Sforza ordered the construction of a canal connecting Pinsk and Stetyczów.^[5] City limits were expanded, and the city flourished.^[5] In 1527, invading Tatars ravaged the surrounding area, but they did not capture the city and were defeated nearby the Lithuanian forces led by Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski.^[5][6] In 1569, Pinsk became a county seat. In 1581 King Stephen Báthory grants Pinsk Magdeburg city rights and its coat of arms.^[6]

From the reign of Sigismund III Vasa onwards, several new monasteries were established.^[5][7] In 1631, Albrycht Stanisław Radziwiłł brought Jesuits to Pinsk and established a Jesuit monastery and college.^[8] Poet Adam Naruszewicz attended the college.^[8] The Jesuits operated a pharmacy and a printing house in Pinsk.^[7] In 1642–1646, Saint Andrew Bobola stayed in the Jesuit monastery in Pinsk and nearby, conducting evangelistic activity. In 1633, King Władysław IV Vasa authorised the construction of an Orthodox monastery with a school and hospital.^[9]

In 1648, local Orthodox residents let the Cossacks into the city and joined their rebellion. The rebels plundered local Catholic churches, and carried out a massacre of Catholic clergy and Jews.^[5] Lithuanian forces laid siege to the city and recaptured it.^[5] A fire broke out during the battle, destroying many houses and several churches.^[5]

During the Deluge, in 1655, Russians and Cossacks attacked the city and murdered many inhabitants. In in mid-May 1657 Zdanowicz's cossacks (about 2,000) destroyed the city and murdered many Roman Catholics. The Jesuits fled the city, among them Fr. Simon Maffon and Saint Andrew Bobola, but were ultimately also murdered. In 1660, Cossacks attacked Pinsk, robbed a Jesuit college and church, and murdered, among others Fr. Eustachy Piliński. The Jesuits returned to Pinsk in 1662, however, the monastery suffered a fire the next year.

Later new monasteries were founded, including of the Dominicans in 1666, Apostolic Union of Secular Priests in 1695, Bernardines in 1717, Carmelites in 1734, and Mariavite nuns in 1756.^[10]

In 1690, the Karolin settlement was founded by Jan Karol Dolski. In 1695, Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki built a church and castle in the Karolin suburb. During the Swedish invasion of Poland, from May 5 to June 3 1706, Pinsk was captured by King Charles XII of Sweden, and the castle of Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki was blown up. In 1707, the city was captured by the army of General Halast and General Hołowina. In 1709–1710 and in 1716, the city was hit by an epidemic with thousands of victims. The Oginski Canal and Royal Canal was constructed in 1767 and 1775, respectively.

In 1793, Pinsk was annexed by Russia in the Second Partition of Poland.^[11] In 1795, the Catholic Diocese of Pinsk was established (previously Pinsk was in the diocese of Lutsk), however, it was dissolved in 1799, and the seat moved to Minsk. In 1796, the Uniate diocese of Pinsk was dissolved. In 1799, Karolina was included within Pinsk. In July 1812, Pinsk was taken by Napoleon's army.

In 1850, a candle and soap factory was established. In 1882, a railway line was brought from Żabinka and a match factory was opened. In 1885, a river shipyard was built in Leszcze. In 1907–1909, a provincial circle of the Polish Education Association in Minsk operated in the city, which organized lectures on Polish literature and vocabulary, which, according to a report by the Russian police, "increased Polish national consciousness". In 1909, during the local elections 22 Belarusians (Orthodox), 7 Poles (Catholics), 2 Jews and 1 representative of other nationalities were elected to the city council.

During World War I, in 1915, Russian authorities abandoned the city escaping from advancing German forces. Pinsk was occupied by the German Empire on 15 September 1915, during the First World War. After the German defeat, Pinsk became the subject of dispute between the Belarusian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic, both short-lived. Pinsk was taken by the advancing Red Army on 25 January 1919, during the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19. It was retaken by Polish troops on 5 March 1919 during the Polish–Soviet War but was retaken by the Red Army on 23 July 1920 and finally retaken by the Polish on 26 September 1920. Pińsk became part of the reborn Poland in 1920 when the Polish-Soviet War ended with the Peace of Riga, signed in March 1921.^[12]

Like many other cities in Eastern Europe, Pinsk had a significant Jewish population before World War II. According to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total number of 28,400 inhabitants, Jews were approximately 74% of the population (21,100 persons), making it one of the most Jewish cities under tsarist rule.^[13] During the Polish-Soviet War, 35 Jewish civilians from Pinsk were executed by the Polish Army in April 1919 after being accused of collaborating with Russian Bolsheviks. The incident, known as the Pinsk massacre, created a diplomatic crisis noted at the Versailles Conference.^[14][15]

Pińsk was the initial capital of the Polesie Voivodeship, but it moved to Brześć-nad-Bugiem (now Brest, Belarus) after a citywide fire on 7 September 1921. The population of the city grew rapidly in interwar Poland from 23,497 in 1921 to 33,500 in 1931. City limits were expanded in 1929 and 1939.^[16][17] Pińsk became a bustling commercial centre, and 70% of the population was Jewish, in spite of considerable migration.^[18][19]

Following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, Pinsk and the surrounding area was annexed to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was the seat of the Pinsk Oblast from 1940.

After Operation Barbarossa, Germany occupied Pinsk from 4 July 1941 to 14 July 1944, as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Most Jews were killed in late October 1942 during the liquidation of the Pińsk Ghetto by the German Ordnungspolizei and the Byelorussian Auxiliary Police,^[14] 10,000 being murdered in one day. In 1945, after postwar border adjustments of Poland, Pinsk again became part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1954 it became part of the Brest Voblast.

Pinsk has formed part of the Republic of Belarus since Belarusian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Three main sights of the town are lined along the river: the Assumption Cathedral of the Monastery of the Greyfriars (1712–1730), with a campanile from 1817, the Jesuit collegium (1635–1648); a large Mannerist complex, whose cathedral was demolished after World War II by communists; and the Butrymowicz Palace (1784–1790), built for Mateusz Butrymowicz, an important political and economical figure of Pinsk and Polesie. The Church of St. Charles Borromeo (1770—1782) and St. Barbara Cathedral of the Monastery of the St. Bernard Order (1786–1787) are placed near historic centre in the former Karolin suburb, which is now part of Pinsk. The foremost modern building is the black-domed Orthodox Cathedral of St. Theodore.

• 
  Cathedral of Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 
  Monastery of the Greyfriars
• 
  Jesuit collegium
• 
  Church of St. Charles Borromeo
• 
  St. Barbara Cathedral
• 
  St. Theodore Cathedral

• Aaron of Pinsk (died 1841), rabbi
• Matheus Butrymowicz (1745–1814), Polish-Lithuanian statesman, reformer of Polesye
• Vladimir Chub (born 1948), governor of Rostov Oblast in Russia
• Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich, (1808–1884), Belarusian writer, poet, dramatist and social activist, author of the play Pinskaya shlyakhta
• Baruch Epstein (1860–1941), bookkeeper, rabbi and prolific Jewish scholar, best known for his Torah Temimah commentary on the Torah
• William Moses Feldman (1880–1939), child physiologist, born in Pinsk
• Semyon Furman (1920–1978), Chess grandmaster and trainer of World Champion Anatoly Karpov
• Jonah Gogol (died 1602), Orthodox and later an Uniate bishop
• Olga Govortsova, (born 1988) Belarusian tennis player
• Haim Gvati (1901–1990), Israeli Minister of Agriculture
• Chaim Kanievsky (1928–2022), rabbi
• Ryszard Kapuściński (1932–2007), Polish writer and reporter
• Danila Klimovich (born 2003), NHL prospect currently under contract with the Vancouver Canucks, and currently on the active roster for the AHL Abbotsford Canucks
• Moshe Kol (1911–1989), Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence
• Igor Kolb (born 1977), principal dancer of Mariinsky Ballet
• Andrzej Kondratiuk (1936–2016), Polish film director, screenwriter, actor, and cinematographer
• Simon Kuznets (1901–1985), 1971 Nobel laureate in economics
• Golda Meir (1898–1978), fourth prime minister of Israel, born in Kiev, lived two years of her childhood in Pinsk
• Shabsay Moshkovsky (1895–1982), noted physician, research scientist and malariologist
• Adam Naruszewicz (1733–1796), Polish-Lithuanian poet, historian, bishop
• Narymunt (1277–1348), Prince of Pinsk
• Theodore Odrach (1912–1964), Ukrainian and Polesian writer of novels, short stories and memoirs
• Napoleon Orda (1807–1883), Polish-Lithuanian musician, pianist, composer and artist
• Sławomir Rawicz (1915–2004), Polish Army lieutenant, claimed to have walked from Siberia to India during World War II
• Bona Sforza (1494–1557), Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania, Princess of Pinsk
• Yauhen Shatokhin (1947–2012), Belarusian painter and political activist
• Izya Shlosberg (born 1950), Jewish American artist, born in Pinsk and lived in Pinsk for 44 years
• Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1880–1963), electrical engineer born in Pinsk, principal inventor of the first high-definition television system, as used by the BBC
• Helena Skirmunt (1827–1874), Polesian painter and sculptor
• Raman Skirmunt (1868–1939), Belarusian and Polesian statesman, aristocrat and landlord
• Kazimierz Świątek (1914–2011), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Metropolitan Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev and Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk
• Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952), first president of Israel, born in Motal, near Pinsk and educated in Pinsk
• Tatiana Woollaston (born 1986), professional snooker referee, born in Pinsk
• Leo Zeitlin (1884–1930), composer, born in Pinsk before studying in Odessa and later moving to the U.S.A.
• Ivan Zholtovsky (1867–1959), Soviet architect and educator

• Mordechai Nadav (2008) The Jews of Pinsk, 1506–1880; edited by Mark Jay Mirsky and Moshe Rosman; translated by Moshe Rosman and Faigie Tropper. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press,
• (In Belarusian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2007) Pinsk and Its Surroundings, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 978-985-06-1419-3,
• (In Belarusian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2004) Pinsk: A Fairy Tale of Polessye, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 985-06-0836-6,
• (In Belarusian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2005) POLESYE from the Bug to the Ubort, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 985-06-1153-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pinsk.

• Yad Yisroel - Pinsk
• "The Jews of Pinsk" by Jeremy Rosen. The Algemeiner, July 28, 2013.
• Jewish Community in Pinsk on Virtual Shtetl
• Photos on Radzima.org
• "The city of Pinsk, Belarus" by Tatyana Khvagina and Oleg Babinets
• "Pinsk", Jewish Encyclopedia
• Images of the Assumption Cathedral
• Image of the Jesuit Collegium
• Virtual Guide to Belarus: Pinsk
• News from Pinsk
• Pinsk, Belarus at JewishGen