The Rossony land was inhabited by humans in ancient times: over 20 hillforts and several groups of kurgan burial grounds testify to this. According to scientists, the settlement of the area occurred in the Mesolithic era – in the IX-V millennia BC.
The most famous kurgan, shrouded in legends, is Rognedin kurgan. It is located near the village of Perevoz, on the southeastern shore of Lake Drysy. Ancient legend says that it is here that Prince Rogvolod of Polotsk and his daughter Rogneida are buried.
The Rossony land holds the secrets of boulder stones, which are geological natural monuments. The last ice age also left beautiful natural monuments in the form of river-crossed eskers (Mezhevskaya and Rylevskaya) in the district.
According to documents, the settlement has been known since 1552 as a settlement in the Polotsk Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Experts in toponymy claim that the settlement got its name from Lake Rossono, near which it is located. The name is based on the Old Belarusian word "raskhony" – ravines, slopes that diverge in two directions, small bays, which are abundant in the lake.
Rossony district was created on July 17, 1924. The district has 128 settlements, including the urban settlement of Rossony, located on the shore of the lake of the same name, 276 kilometers from Minsk and 165 kilometers from Vitebsk.
The population of the district as of January 1, 2025, is 8050 people, including 4401 urban and 3649 rural population. Administratively, the district is divided into 6 rural councils: Albrekhtovsky, Gorbachevsky, Klyastitsky, Krasnopolsky, Sokolishchensky, Yankovichsky.
The district was a witness and arena of many historically important events. During the Livonian War, at the confluence of the Nisch and Drissa rivers in 1556, the fortress "Sokol" was founded by Russian troops. It was one of the strongest castles of that time: it had eleven towers and was surrounded by a wooden wall, rampart, and moat. But wars do their thing... The Sokolinsky castle existed for only 13 years, namely until September 11, 1579. On this day, after stubborn resistance from the Russian garrison, it was captured by Lithuanian troops and burned.
On July 18-19, 1812, near Klyastitsy, the vanguard of Wittgenstein's Russian corps, led by General Yakov Petrovich Kulnev, inflicted the first significant defeat on the French corps of Marshal Oudinot, capturing nine hundred prisoners and a large enemy convoy. The victory at Klyastitsy raised the spirit of our army and prevented Napoleon's invasion of Petersburg.
Rossony district is a land of partisan glory. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, a wide underground and soon partisan struggle against the German-fascist invaders unfolded here. One of the organizers and leaders of the underground and partisan movement was Pyotr Mironovich Masherov, a teacher at Rossony Secondary School. By the end of 1942, the district was liberated from the occupiers by the partisan brigades operating here.
Rossony suffered irreparable losses during the war. Hitler's thugs killed, burned, tortured, and hanged thousands of civilians here. If before the war the population was 37,311 people, then after the liberation of the district, 17,031 remained.
The residents of the district sacredly honor the memory of the fallen heroes. There are 116 works of monumental art on the territory of the district.
In the XVII-XIX centuries, the construction of architectural and park residences (Glasko estate and others), park and Orthodox religious buildings were characteristic of the territory of the district. There were many churches in the villages, and in Gorbachevo and Dmitrov Most – Catholic churches.
Currently, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Rossony (1879) and the Church of St. Josaphat Kuntsevich have been revived and are operating.
In the village of Troodovichi in Rossony, the brothers Ivan and Francis Skoryna owned a small estate and real estate. In 1936, the Belarusian poet Gennady Buravkin was born here. On the shore of Lake Neshchardo in the village of Muragi, the childhood and youth of the famous Belarusian writer, author of the prose collection "Shtikht Zavalnya...", poems "Gorelica", "Two Birches" Yan Borshchevsky, took place. In 1997, a monument to the famous countryman was erected here.
Yanka Kupala visited Rossony, Yanka Skrygan worked here. The playwright Nikolai Matukovsky was born in the village of Kalyutino.
The nature of Rossony district is:
- 1.9 thousand sq. km of area, of which almost 70% are occupied by southern taiga forests, spread from neighboring Pskov region to our North;
- a blue scattering of 192 lakes, with a total area of 8009 hectares;
- more than 15 large and small rivers, including the Drissa river with its tributaries Svolna, Nisch, Neshcharda;
- springs with clean, healing water, one of which, "Lazareva Krinitsa", is a hydrological natural monument;
- a unique complex of raised bogs (Zaborsky Mokh, Yukhovichsky Mokh, Mezhno), occupying 49% of the district's area and second only to the "Elnya" bog in Mior district in area;
- reserves "Sinsha" and "Krasny Bor" with diverse fauna and flora, valuable species included in the Red Book.
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