Location: An ancient settlement, the predecessor of a modern city, existed on an elongated cape on the right bank of the Dzisna River at its confluence with the Dzvina River in the 10th–11th centuries as a castle of the Polatsk lands. The rapids began outside the town. Upstream of the Dzisna, it was possible to reach the portages to Viliya and Neman, and Lithuanian troops and merchants could sail from there to Polatsk. Thus, there was a castle with a customs point (storage) to control the river. In Dzisna, customs duties and taxes were collected in favour of the Polatsk voivode (formerly the prince) – one herring from each ship that went upstream. In the 13th century, the gradual settlement of the left bank of the Dzisna began.
Dzisna in Skaryna’s time
The first written mention of Dzisna as a fortress-settlement Kapets (from the word kapats’ – to dig) dates back to 1374. In 1461, the settlement was first mentioned under its current name – homestead Dzisna.
The real development of the city began after the capture of Polatsk by the Moscow troops of Ivan the Terrible. Part of the Polatsk bourgeois and gentry (Pol. “szlachta”) moved there. In 1566, the Grand Duke Sigismund Augustus ordered the establishment of a city at the Dzisna Castle to be under his protection, offering various benefits to its inhabitants for 8 years. In 1567, Sigismund Augustus gifted the first coat of arms to Dzisna “Three towers from stone”, and on the 20th January 1569 – the Magdeburg law and a new coat of arms: “A winged boat in a blue field”, which refers to the coat of arms of Polatsk.
The castle became strategically important as it protected the unoccupied part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the North. Moreover, the entrance from the river Dzisna to the Dzvina soon was used to transport Stefan Batory’s army and artillery near Polatsk in 1579. In preparation for the resumption of the war with Moscow, by order of Stefan Batory, the fortress on the cape was separated from the mainland by a moat. Dzisna Castle ended up on an island. It had 5 towers and moorings on the city side. The court architect Gengo from Urbino supervised the construction of the fortification and the planning of the city. The layout of the city was regular – in the best traditions of the Renaissance. The town hall was located on the west side of the central square and the Resurrection Church – on the east side.
On the 30th July 1579, the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown, consisting of 40,000 soldiers with artillery and other strategic cargo began to move from Svir to Dzisna along the Viliya tributaries, channels of the Myadzel’ lakes and the Dzisna river itself. This route from Vilnius to Polatsk was called “Batorian.” Here, units of Y. Khadkevich and Y. Hlyabovich joined the main army, followed by a census and army parade on 10 August 1579, which moved and liberated Polatsk on 29 August 1579.
Dzisna from the 17th century to this day
During the Middle Ages, the city was Orthodox. There was the church of St. Mikalay and the Church of Assumption. In 1581, a Catholic church was founded in Dzisna (since 1775 it was a school), with the support of the Polatsk Jesuit College, and in 1630 – Franciscan monastery (now the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and in 1633 – a monastery under the Resurrection Church. Dzisna became a county (Pol. “powiat”) and a significant trading centre of the Polatsk voivodship.
Despite its small population, Dzisna has retained its status and now is officially the smallest city in Belarus.
Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria
According to the legend, the most venerated icon of Dzisna, the Virgin Hodegetria, had sailed along the Dzvina, and the fires that had made the city to suffer, stopped. Unfortunately, this is just a legend. In 1649, 1700, 1770 and 1882 there were fires that destroyed the old buildings of Dzisna and the Virgin Mary did not help. Hodegetria is the patroness of travellers and merchants. The image was depicted according to the Orthodox canon, following the Smolensk pattern. Its cult connects Dzisna with Smolensk and Byzantium. Modern researchers date the writing of the icon to the 16th century. Every year on the 10th of August, Dzisna holds a celebration in the honour of Hodegetria with a procession attended by Dzisna residents and natives from all over the world.