Vawkavysk

Vawkavysk Ваўкавыск
Town
St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church
Flag Coat of arms
Vawkavysk
Coordinates: 53°10′N 24°28′E / 53.167°N 24.467°E / 53.167; 24.467Coordinates: 53°10′N 24°28′E / 53.167°N 24.467°E / 53.167; 24.467
Country	Belarus
Region	Grodno Region
District	Vawkavysk
Establishment	1005
Government
• Chairman of the Executive Committee	Mikhail Sitko
Area
• Town	29 km2 (11 sq mi)
• Metro	1,192 km2 (460 sq mi)
Elevation	161 m (528 ft)
Population
• Town	43,826
• Density	1,500/km2 (3,900/sq mi)
Time zone	FET (UTC+3)
• Summer (DST)	N/A (UTC)
Postal code	231900
Area code(s)	(+375) 1512
Car plates	BG
Website	volkovysk.grodno-region.by/en

Vawkavysk (Belarusian: Ваўкавыск, Russian: Волковыск; Yiddish: וואלקאוויסק‎, Polish: Wołkowysk; names in other languages) is one of the oldest towns in southwestern Belarus and the capital of the Vawkavysk district. It is located on the Wołkowyja River, roughly 98 kilometres (61 mi) from Grodno and 271 kilometres (168 mi) from Minsk. Its population is estimated at 43,826 inhabitants.

Vawkavysk was first unofficially mentioned in the Turov Annals in 1005 and this year is widely accepted as the founding year for Vawkavysk. At that time Volkovysk was a city-fortress on the border of the Baltic and the Slavic ethnic groups. Since 12th century, Volkovysk was the center of a small princedom. The Hypatian Chronicle mentions the city in 1252.

The name is thought to be derived from the local dialect for the phrases for searching for wolves ("wołków isk") or the howling of wolves ("wołków wisk"). Old Belarusian tradition refers to the area surrounding Vawkavysk as once being occupied by vast forestry filled with wolves. The river flowing through the town was named Wołkowyja. This also explains the appearance of a wolf's head or body on the town's coat of arms.

However, modern scholars have also hypothesized that the name of Vawkavysk was of more recent origin and hence succeeded the original legend. Vawkavysk was mentioned in a manuscript written by the priest D. Bułakowski at the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century. It was stored in the Sapieha family's library in Ruzhany Palace, where it was translated into Russian in 1881 and published in a Vilnius gazette. According to the manuscript, in the place where Vawkavysk is now situated, were large swathes of forest, through which flowed the now non-existent Nietupa River, and consisted of winding travel routes on which travelers were frequently attacked. Within this forest, two robbers, named Voloko and Visek, had their hide-out. A prince named Vladislav Zabeyko, upon hearing of these attacks, tracked down the robbers and hung them on trees for the birds to feed upon. A settlement was built in the location of the robbers' hide-out, which was named Volokovysek, and occupied by slaves. At the execution site, a large stone was placed but, according to local tradition, was later broken up to be used to build a temple.