| Svir (Świr, Svyriai) has existed as a
fishermen's village since the XIII c., where, most probably Lithuanian
Prince Dovmont [Dowmont] raised a castle. He was also an ancestor of a few great
Lithuanians families, among them – Swirski.
During XV-XVI c., the town was in
possession of the Princes Swirskis, the later and for some time after 1528 Svir
was in possession of the Radziwilas, later again ofthe Swirskis.
The first catholic church ws built in 1452
by the founding Prince Jan [John] Swirski.
In XVI c.the first Jews settled in Svir.
In 1570 almost all parochians conerted
to Calvinism, together with ther parson. In 1598, due to the work of the
Jesuits’ missions, almost all them returned to Catholicism.
In 1579, the Polish king Stefan [Stephan]
Batory gathered an army for war in Inflants – according to legends, on a hill,
thereafter called Batory’s Hill (or Castle Hill – today on this hill
thereis a cemetery where soldiers of the Red Army are buried).
A new church was built in 1653 and stand
today on the Main Street of Svir.
In 1831 horrible pestilence
of cholera – many Jews died in city.
Administrative Divisions
Since 1795 Svir has been
within the borders of Russia.
(1)
Until 1800 administratively Svir was
in the district of Oshmyanski.
(2) After the new division of the Vilnian
Guberny it was in the district of Zavileyski.
(3) In 1830 this district was re-named
Svientianski.
(4) The last prince Swirski – Ignacy
[Ignatius] died on the 17th of May,1820. During XIX c. (especially after Rising
in 1830) city and villages slowly passed into the hands of the Treasury, and
families like Paszkiewicz, and Byszewski and others.
(50 After the Polish – Soviet war in 1920,
and until 1939, Svir was in Poland.
(6) After II WW the village was in the
Belorussian SSR.
(7) Today Svir is in Belarus.
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