Vialikaja Miadzviadka Вялікая Мядзвядка (Belarusian) Niedźwiadka Wielka (Polish)
Town
Country	Belarus
Region	Grodno Region
District	Karelichy District
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)

Vialikaja Miadzviadka (Belarusian: Вялікая Мядзвядка, romanized: Vialikaja Miadzviadka, Polish: Niedźwiadka Wielka) is a town in Grodno Region, 110 km southwest of the capital, Minsk. It is located next to the Usza River and administratively belongs to the municipality of Mir.

History

Historically, this town was inhabited by Poles, forming part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, when the third partition of Poland handed over control of the region to the Russian Empire. It became part of Poland again during the government of the Second Republic between 1918 and 1939, when it was invaded by the Red Army during World War II. After the end of the war and the formalization of the borders between the countries of the region, the former Niedźwiadka Wielka became part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and, since 1991, the independent state of Belarus.

In 1802, the naturalist Ignacy Domeyko was born on his family's farm, located in present-day Miadzviedka.^[1] In the city there is a monolith in his honour and the main street of the village is named after him. The town also has the Church of the Holy Ascension and a cemetery.

Gallery

• 
  Damiejka farm circa 1875
• 
  Town cemetery

References

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