The text describes Mohilev and its history from 1386. It also mentions the Brethren monastery dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built from 1636 to 1700 and founded by the Ogiński princes (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1868, Series 2, T:1, pp. 122-123, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Mohilev on the Dnieper River.

The origin of this town goes back to ancient times. It is only known from legends that in the middle of today's Mogilev, on the winding, very high bank of the Dnieper, at the mouth of the river Dubrovnaya, there was a castle founded by Prince Lev Danilovich the Magnificent (Mogilev) in 1586, and this is where the name of Mogilev castle comes from. This castle was given by fief right to various distinguished people. In 1577, Alexander Khodkevich took possession of the castle and won for it the Magdeburg law, and from then on, the population of Mohilev began to grow, and soon a town was founded.

There are few towns with such a fortunate location as Mohilev. The Dnieper River ribbon surrounds most of its half; the central part, lying on its winding bank, is decorated with temples of magnificent architecture. The most beautiful view presents the city from the St. Petersburg gravel pit and from the Vilnius turnpike. In addition to the temples, what remains of the ancient architecture are the gates, heavy brick arcades, similar to triumphal arches, with dwellings on both sides. No rampart, moat or fence adjoins these gates; for the most part, they are located outside the city, almost in a field.

In the old days Mohilev had ten such gates, today only five remain: at the Lachov turnpike, at the St Petersburg gravel pit, on the old St Petersburg road, Sklovsk and in the middle of the city, opposite the St Joseph's Cathedral. The purpose and age of these gates are unknown, but history records that they were used to collect tolls for entering the city and for importing products. This toll is known as "bramiejo". The town hall building is worth mentioning here, whose tower towers over the whole town, only surpassing the height of the bell tower of the monastery of the brothers, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. M. P.

The monastery was built over a period of 64 years, from 1636 to 1700, at the expense of the brotherhood, but its main benefactors and founders were the Oginskis. The name of the architect who drew up the plan of this magnificent building is not known; there is only a trace in the local chronicle that in 1700, towards the end of the works, the builder in charge was a monk. In Šklovská Street, there is an ancient house, built by the Jesuits, which later housed a military hospital. The city, except for the lower part lying on the Dnieper, from the place where the carriage is today, upstream, was surrounded by a double rampart, closer and further.

The latter still exists, surrounding the city from the west and south; a very small part of the first remains, behind the bishop's house. During the general organisation of the guberniya, Mohilev was not immediately chosen as the seat of the guberniya authorities; at first it belonged to the Polotsk governorate, and then to the Belarusian-Vitebsk governorate. It received the rights of a guberniya town only in 1801, when the former Belarus was divided into two guberniya, Vitebsk and Mogilev.