Ilya, Belarus

Ilya Ілья
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ilya
Ilya Location in Belarus
Coordinates: 54°25′03″N 27°17′36″E / 54.41750°N 27.29333°E / 54.41750; 27.29333Coordinates: 54°25′03″N 27°17′36″E / 54.41750°N 27.29333°E / 54.41750; 27.29333
Country	Belarus
Voblast	Minsk Voblast
Raion	Vileyka Raion
Founded	before 1473
Population (2010)
• Total	1,458
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)

Ilya (Il'ya, or Ilja; Belarusian: І́лья, Russian: Илья́, Polish: Ilia, Lithuanian: Ilija) is a village in Belarus, near Minsk, first mentioned in historical records dating from the late 15th century. Between the end of World War I and 1939, it was part of Poland. It was a significant Jewish shtetl until 1942, when nearly all of its Jewish citizens were murdered in the town square.

The first record of Ilya was in 1473, where it is mentioned as belonging to Bogdan Sakovich, governor of Braslaw for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1564, Ilya is first mentioned as a town. According to the 1650 inventory, the location included a market square and three streets, 93 yards and 10 public houses. There was also a newly built church, as the previous church burned down shortly before the inventory.

According to the 1882 Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland, the town began as a manor of a Radziwiłł prince, and as early as 1634, there was both a Christian church and Jewish synagogue. According to folklore, the prince named his manor and a nearby rivulet "Ilya" after a dream in which the prophet Elijah (Ilya) came to him.

By the 19th century, there was also a yeshiva in Ilya. There is a prominent Catholic church in the village, Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, designed by August Klein completed in 1909. The church survived as a dairy during the Soviet era, but was restored in 1993.

Citizens of the town participated in the January Uprising, rebelling against the Russian Empire. A monument was erected to honor the participants in the 1920s.