Loev

Loyev - administrative center of Loyev district of the Gomel region. The city is located 322 km south-east of Minsk and 92 km south of Gomel and is located near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. The urban village is located on the banks of the Dnieper River at the place of confluence into it of the river Sozh. Motorways P32 (Rechitsa - Loyev), P125 (Loyev - Bragin) pass through the urban village. The settlement lies on the railway line Gomel - Kalinkovichi. On the banks of the river Dnieper operates a ferry pier.

As early as in the XIV century, in the center of modern Loyev, a castle was built on the right bank of the Dnieper, around which a settlement appeared. The first written mention of Loyev dates back to 1505, when the Crimean Tatars crossed the Dnieper and burned Loyev to the ground. At that time, the settlement was called Loyev Mountain. The Tatars more than once brought with them destruction in 1506, 1536 and 1538. In the middle of the XVI century, Loyev already received the status of village and became the center of the eldership, and already in 1576 year Loyev received Magdeburg rights.

In 1649 and 1651, a major battle beteen Cossacks of Khmelnitsky and the troops of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the command of Janusz Radziwill took place near the settlement. During both battles, the Cossack troops were defeated by Lithuanian. During the Russian-Polish War (1654–1667) in 1654, the Cossack army of Zolotorenko captured and devastated Loyev.

In the XVIII century, Loyev was a significant trade center, in which 10 fairs were held annually. A water mill and a glass factory worked near Loyev, vessels were built, there were pottery, leather, cable and other trades; there was a post station, a pier and a ferry across the Dnieper. As a result, second Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Loyev became part of the Russian Empire. In 1858 there were unrest of the peasants, which were caused by the introduction of new taxes. According to the results of the census of 1897, there were 251 courtyards in Loyev, there were three churches,; a school, 9 mills, a postal station.

In March 1918 Loyev was under occupation of Germany, and in May – July 1920 - Poland. January 1, 1919 it joined the BSSR. In 1938, the settlement received the official status of urban village. During the Great Patriotic War from August 26, 1941 to October 17, 1943, Loyev was under German occupation.

Due to its location on the famous trade route «From the Varangians to the Greeks» for a long time Loyev held an important strategic position, as a result of which the Moscow Principality and Grand Duchy of Lithuania fought for it. In the XIV – XVIII centuries, in the center of the city there was a castle, which has not survived to this day and now only decorates the city’s coat of arms.

ОOne of the oldest buildings of Loyev is former merchant's house of Merchant Naum Dolgin, which was erected in 1847. The building found a second life after the restoration, which lasted a long seven years. Now the building houses the library and the district department of culture. In the city also has been preserved former merchant's house of XX century.

In city also operates Loyev Museum of the «Battle of the Dnieper», dedicated to the partisan movement in the region during the Great Patriotic War and the forcing of the river Dnieper by the Red Army, which marked the beginning of the liberation of Belarus from German occupation.