city. Thus, almost every second citizen of the city owns a passenger car. The city of Baranavichy is not only one of the largest cities of the Republic of Belarus in terms of population (eighth largest in the country), but also one of the most important industrial, cultural and educational centres of Belarus. At the beginning of the year 2010, Baranavichy had 21 sister cities, among which Russian Mytishchi (Moscow Oblast), Vasileostrovsky district of St. Petersburg, Finnish Heinola, Austrian Stockerau, Polish Biala Podlaska, Gdynia, Sulentsin povet, Chinese Chibi, Italian Ferrara, Latvian Jelgava, Ukrainian Poltava, Novovolynsk and others. History Early history In the second half of the 17th century, Baranavichy housed the Jesuit mission. In the second half of the 18th century, Baranavichy was the property of Massalski and Niesiołowski families. The village was administratively part of the Nowogródek Voivodeship until the Third Partition of Poland (1795), when it was annexed by Imperial Russia. In the 19th century, it belonged to the Countess E.A. Rozwadowski. It was part of the Novogrodek (now Navahrudak) okrug, which was part of Slonim Governorate, the Lithuania Governorate, the Grodno Governorate and then the Minsk Governorate. Growth The town's history began on 17 (29) November 1871, the beginning of construction of a movement to the new section of the Smolensk-Brest. The name of the station arose during construction was that the nearby village, Baranavichy, whose first mention in the testament of A.E Sinyavskaya in 1627. Then, in 1871, not far from the station, the locomotive depot was built. In 1874 came the appearance of the railway junction. In the wooden station buildings lived the railway workers of Baranavichy. The new railway linked Moscow with the western outskirts of Imperial Russia. The impetus for more intensive settlement of the areas adjacent to the station from the south was the May 27, 1884 decision by the governor of Minsk to build a town, Rozvadovo, on the lands of the landlord, Rozwadowski. The town was built according to the governor's plan approved. In the village were 120 houses and 500 people. The plans approved by Emperor Alexander III assumed that there would be also one railway linking Vilnius, Luninets, Pinsk and Rovno. Therefore, 2.5 km from the station, the Moscow-Brest railway crossed the track Vilnius-Rovno from Polesie railways. At the junction was another station, Baranavichy (according to Polesie Railways), which became the second centre of the city. As before,