In the forest, close to the border of Belarus and Latvia on the Daugava River, stands an unusual reminder of the past. It is a monument in the form of a column commemorating the 3rd of May Constitution, the law regulating the legal system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted in 1791 during the Four-Year Sejm.

The 3rd of May Column was founded by Jan Nikodem Łopaciński shortly after the Constitution was established. The owner of the Leonpol estate erected it to comfort the hearts of his countrymen, especially those who had been cut off from the Republic by the border of the First Partition. Otton Hedemann, author of the 'History of the Braslav District', published in Vilnius in 1930, recalled the idea behind the monument, quoting the words of the founder himself:

In the municipality of Leonopolska, in the forest, on the banks of the Dvina River itself and just above the Bolshevik border, stands a huge, badly deteriorated, old column. Its history is as follows: On 22 August 1791, [...] Jan Nikodem Łopaciński wrote: "...I have decided to commemorate here, on the border of the Republic of Poland, in the face of our dangerous enemy, the great work of the 3rd of May Constitution, in which my pars fuit, although modest, is also present. To this end I have had a tall pillar built according to my outline on an uncovered spot almost on the banks of the Dvina, so that it may be seen from afar by our unfortunate brethren behind the cordon, and to enkindle their hearts with hope. We held the consecration of this memorial on the 18th of Presentis [...]. His Eminence the Bishop gave a beautiful speech, which moved many to tears, especially when, turning to the North, he recalled the country torn away from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and his brothers in captivity.... I have placed a plaque on the pillar with an appropriate inscription". What John Nicodemus did not anticipate was that after eight months the "column with the inscription" would already be under the rule of "our dangerous enemy".

The column is located near Leonpol

The 3 May Column is located near Leonpol and was somewhat transformed during the interwar period. There are bullet marks on the monument and its finial, where, according to some accounts, the eagle was located, has been destroyed.

The column is listed in the register of Belarusian monuments protected by law. In recent years, in cooperation with the Polish Embassy in Minsk, efforts have been made to restore the monument. It is worth mentioning that, through the efforts of the Polish diplomatic mission, a bilingual publication "Columns of Fame in Honour of the 3rd of May Constitution" was published in 2018, dedicated not only to the Leonopol monument, but also to other similar commemorations that have been preserved in Belarus.

Leonopol, as a result of the Second Partition of Poland, was annexed to Russia and remained in the Dzhinsk district of the Minsk Governorate, and from 1842. - in the Vilnius Governorate. Little remains of Leonpol's former glory. One memory is of the famous Leonpol weaving mills, the beginnings of which date back to the Stanislavsky era, with the greatest development taking place in the first half of the 19th century. The Late Baroque Łopaciński palace, which burnt down in 1919, was - after Poland regained its independence - rebuilt and rebuilt by architect Jan Borowski, and then donated by Euzebiusz Łopaciński to the Catholic Church. Today it is abandoned and in ruins. Neither the French-style landscaped park on the Naddziwyn terraces nor the entrance gate on the axis of the palace have survived. A memento associated with the owners of Leonpole is the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (1774-1782), formerly Unitarian, now Orthodox, built by Mikolaj Lopacinski. The wooden building of the Polish school from the 1920s and the old cemetery have also been preserved.