Terra Jesuitica Grodniensia, czyli o domach zakonnych zależnych od grodzieńskiego kolegium jezuickiego

Abstract

The history of the Jesuit college in Grodno has been presented in encyclopedic and tourist publications. Many issues have been developed by historians of architecture and culture. This allows one to refer to research in Russian, Belarusian and Polish without unnecessary repetition. This article presents the results of a study on the presence of the Society of Jesus on the border of present-day Lithuania, Poland and Belarus. Apart from the architectural ensemble of the Jesuit College in Grodno (Hrodna), other tangible traces of the cultural heritage of the Jesuits in this territory are poorly preserved. Therefore, the article outlines the history of the missions in Merecz, Urdomin and Rotnica (now Merkinė, Rudamina and Ratnycia in Lithuania), Holny (now Holny Wolmera in Poland) and Kotra, Dziembrowo and Wolkowysk (now Kotra, Dembrov and Vawkavysk in Belarus). The development of these posts, dependent on the College in Grodno, was linked with important yet little-known events in the history of culture and education in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Currently, in many places, there is no object that would be associated with the presence of Jesuits, although nothing prevents one from using historical and cultural research results or integrating oneself to discover historical facts and artefacts in cultural objects that can be protected.