Travel Guide Baryssaw (Барысаў)

Founded by the Prince of Polotsk in 1102, this city on the edge of the river Bérézina remained Polish until the end of the th century. A bone of contention between the Polish-Lithuanian state and the Russian Empire, it experienced fierce battles in its territory, particularly between 1654 and 1667, and then during the Great War of the North (1700-1721). Baryssaw finally joined the Russian Empire in 1793. The history of the city is inextricably linked to Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812. The two world wars ended with long years of German occupation; about 33 000 people died in the Nazi camps during the Second World War. Today, Baryssaw is an important industrial centre in the country with more than 143 000 inhabitants.