It is known from the second part of the XVI century. Starting from the year 1568 it had been the centre of the Shklov uyezd. In the year 1762 it obtained the rights of a town. It had an emblem. From the year 1772 it became a part of Russia. In the beginning of the XIX century Shklov was an important commercial centre of Belarus with a dock on Dnieper.
Nowadays Shklov is one of the most beautiful cities of the Republic where more than 16 thousand people reside. The economic and social development of the Shklov Region is based on the agricultural production. The industry plays a noticeable role — 11 enterprises. The most important of them are the following: "Spartak" Paper Factory" Open Joint-Stock Company, "The Shklov flax factory" Open Joint-Stock Company, "The Shklov creamery factory" Open Joint-Stock Company.
Shklov is embellished and exalted by the architectural monuments: The Shklov town hall is a unique monument, built in a complex with the commercial rows in the second part of the XVIII century in the architectural classicism forms. The Preobrazhenskaya church appears to be an architectural eclectic monument and it was built before the year 1905 in the centre of Shklov.
Shklov is proud of its celebrated compatriots: Klim Mikhailov who supervised the Belarussian skilled craftsmen and carvers when creating the monument of the world importance, the iconostasis of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, Iosiph Guzikov, who invented a xylophone. The Shklov land has raised the first president of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Grogorievich Lukashenko. Exactly here he has discovered a science of working with people, exactly here for the first time he felt the organizational abilities in himself.
Guide to towns and district centers of Republic of Belarus. A.V. Varivonchik [etc.]