Slonim was founded in the 11th century in a picturesque place where the river Issa flows into the river Shchara. This is one of the most ancient and beautiful towns of Belarus. Located in a quite wide river-valley Slonim incites admiration by its unique combination of the old and modern. The Slonim region is located in the south of Grodno oblast. The region was founded on January 15, 1940 as part of Baranovichi oblast. On February 8, 1954 it became part of Grodno oblast. Its area is 1,500 square meters. As of January 2006, there were 72,000 people living in the region (of them 51,400 in the town of Slonim). There are 148 settlements and 12 rural councils. The western part of the region lies within the Slonim upland, the northeast – at the outskirts of Novogrudok upland, northern - in Nioman lowland, eastern and southern – in Baranovichi flatland.
Mineral Resources: peat, chalk, sand, clay, sapropel. Rivers: Shchara, Grivda, Bereza, Issa, Zelvyanka. Forests occupy 34.8% of the territory of the region. The largest woods are conifer and spruce forests, birth and oak groves. There is a botanical reserve of wild medicinal plants, two landscape geomorphologic reserves, and 13 natural monuments.
Farmland occupies about 51.3% of the region. The region specializes in meat and milk industry, flax growing, poultry cultivation, grain, fodder and potato farming. There are four agricultural companies, ten cooperative societies, a farm and a battery farm in the region.
Modern Slonim is a town with a highly developed industrial sector. There are 21 manufacturers in the town. The major companies are Slolnim Meat Factory, Slonim Paperboard Plant Albertin, Slonim Worsted Spinning Factory, Slonim Linen Mill, Slonim Distillery, Slonim Bakery, Slonim Non-Fat Dried Milk Factory etc.
Among the main exporters are Slonim Non-Fat Dried Milk Factory, Slonimmebel. The town companies trade with 29 countries. The main trade partners are Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and the USA.
There are 329 retail outlets and public catering facilities, two markets places and one mini-market in the region. There are also more than 500 sole traders.
As for sports facilities, there are two stadiums, two swimming pools, 30 gyms, six children’s sports schools (two of them have the status of Olympic reserve) which provide training in 10 sports (boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, football, track-and-field athletics, billiards, carting, draughts, karate, kayak-paddling, rowing).
There are 26 pre-school facilities, 31 secondary schools, eight after-school centers, three special schools, two field study centers. Today there are 78 cultural facilities in the region.
There are several species of architecture: Zhirovichi St. Dormition Monastery which is functional and unites St. Dormition Cathedral (built in 1650), a bell tower (1828), the Theophany Church (1769), the Appearance Church (1769), a seminary (17-18 centuries), residential and household outbuildings. Minsk Theological Seminary is located on the territory of the monastery. There are other architectural sites in the region – St. Michael Church (19th century, the village of Ostrovo), St. Nicolas Church (2nd half of the 19th century, the village of Derevnaya), the Nativity of the Mother of God Church (19th century, the village of Mizhevichi), a Roman-Catholic church (2nd half of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century, the village of Selyavichi). Slonim region is proud of its natives. Among them are participant of the liberation movement of the 19th century M.Valovich, scientist and academician A.Prokopchuk, writers and poets – V.Tavlay, N.Orochko, A.Ivers, A.Suchek, S.Dorozhny, O.Loiko, I.Chigrin, sculptor I.Misko, artist N.Bushchik, literary critic and specialist in folklore I.Solomevich, historian and archeologist V.Suprun were born in the Slonim region.
