 Ivyanets is best known as the birthplace of Felix Dzerzhinsky.Ivyanets is located in a hilly forested area on the Volma River, and its origins can be traced to the end of the 15th century in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.Originally known as Givenech, presumably derived from Lithuanian "gyventi" – "to live", it was founded in 1444 as a privately owned settlement of the Sologub family, and by 1522 it was listed as a town within Minsk County of the Vilnius Voivodeship.