Ashmjany 2015 (part I/X). Now a city of about 15,000 inhabitants, the district center Ashmjany lies closer to Lithuania’s capital Vilnius than to any regional center in Belarus. The first known written mention of Ashmjany dates to 1341; burned to the ground four times by Muscovite invaders in the 16th and mid-17th centuries, the city… Continue reading Photos of the Day for November 8, 2016