The counting of Mogilev is from 1267, when the city was first mentioned in the annals. The chronicler Surta writes about the bookmark this year of the Mogilev castle, which was erected on a beautiful high hill, where a small river Dubrovenka ran into the Dnieper. Around the castle, as usual, the city began to grow. True, the borderline position of Mogilev often played him out of favor - the city was destroyed, burned, robbed. But this led to the fact that it eventually became a large commercial and industrial center with a very developed and effective system of defensive anchorages. And those few structures that have reached our times are now the main memories of the old Mogilev.

There are several versions of why the city was named exactly Mogilev. One of the main is connected with the name of the Galich prince Lev Danilovich Mogiya (mighty lion). The Mogilev chronicle has information that it was he who in 1267 ordered the construction of a castle here. Then the craftsmen, fishermen and merchants were drawn here. True, there is no archaeological evidence of the existence of this castle, and in one of the memorable books of the Mogilev province for 1861 there is a legend that links the foundation of the city not with the construction of the castle, but with the erection of the church here. There is another version of the origin of the name Mogilev. According to her, the city received the name from Polotsk prince Lev Vladimirovich, who was called Lion the Mighty. Most townspeople and residents of the country love the third version, which was sung in his work "The Tomb of the Lion" by Yanka Kupala. Proceeding from this version in a dense forest, in place of the present Mogilev, there was a robber hangout. Commanded in it ataman Masheka - a man of extraordinary strength, which could tear the trees from the root. At first it was a peaceful peasant, but when the boyar took his beloved bride from him, Mashka rebelled. He began to rob on the boyars' lands, to avenge the infliction of injury. The hero died at the hands of the very beauty that he loved so much and who became a boyar's wife. She did not want to change the rich chambers to a robber stash and killed the former lover. A simple people buried a hero on the high side of the Dnieper. And that people did not forget, they poured a high mound over the grave. Over time, this place was called the "Tomb of the Lion", and the city that arose nearby - Mogilev. The mountain on which Mashek was buried was called Myshakovskaya or Myshakovka. Now on Myshakovka there is one of the microdistricts of the city - Jubilee.

Until the XIII century the history of the city was closely connected with the main trade routes, one of which was the famous "from the Varian to the Graki" route. Mogilev was a small and undeveloped city, but everything changed in the XIV century, when the city entered the composition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Lublin Union of 1526 made Mogilev part of the Commonwealth. Magdeburg Law was granted to the city in 1577.

The heyday of the city fell on hard times: the bloody wars between the GDL and the Moscow principality were going on. Mogilev almost always found itself on the path of the Russian army. The city was destroyed and burned, robbed of its inhabitants.
After the first part of the Rech Pospolitoy Mogilev became part of the Russian Empire, the center of the first Mogilev province, and then - the Mogilev province.

The war of 1812 also did not bypass Mogilev. Not far from the city there was a famous battle near Saltanovka, in memory of which after the victorious end of the war a monument was erected.
Mogilev attracted attention and during the first World War. In the city from August 1915 to November 1917 was the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. In addition, Emperor Nicholas II lived in Mogilev.
After the victory of the Bolsheviks, Mogilev did not recognize Soviet power for some time, since here was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Dukhonin. He was killed by the Bolsheviks on November 20, 1917. Mogilev became Soviet.

In the late 1930s, the authorities had an idea of becoming the capital of the BSSR from Minsk to Mogilev. In this regard, in 1938, even the reconstruction of the city began. In Mogilev, the House of Soviets, the building of the PCIA, a hotel, multi-storey apartment houses were built. Significant funds were allocated for the development of the city. True, the Great Patriotic War prevented these plans. But the question rose after it, because Minsk lay in ruins. The coveted status of the capital Mogilev never received.

One of the main sights of Mogilev is the main Sovietskaya square. Earlier, she bore the name of Merchant. Downstairs, if you look from the high bank, the front door was left from the bridge halfway through the Dniepr. Mogilov was a large river port. Town Hall is another attraction of the city. It was built in 1578, after obtaining the Magdeburg Law. Mogilev is proud and its St. Nicholas convent, which was built in 1672. Arriving in Mogilev, it is impossible not to visit the memorial complex "Buinichskoe pole", which was opened in 1995. The memorial is located on the territory in 22 ha. The central composition is represented by a 27-meter red chapel, built in the style of Eastern Slavic architecture. One of the highlights of the city that attracts tourists is the Staraya Ploshchad. In the center of the square, the sun hours were originally established. And then there was also a sculpture of the Starship, around which are located twelve chairs, symbolizing the signs of the zodiac.