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Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk (Belarusian
Belarusian language

The Belarusian language, or Belorussian is the language of the Belarusians and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland....
: ??´?????, ; Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
: ??´?????, Vitebsk), is a city in Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, near the border with Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 and Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city. It is served by Vitebsk Vostochny Airport
Vitebsk Vostochny Airport

Vitebsk Vostochny Airport is an airport in Belarus located 12 km southeast of Vitebsk. It accommodates small airliners up to the size of Tupolev Tu-154....
 and Vitebsk air base
Vitebsk (air base)

Vitebsk is an air base in Belarus located 8 km northeast of Vitebsk. It is a small airfield complex with a single large tarmac. It was home to 339 VTAP flying 32 Ilyushin Il-76 cargo jets as well as Antonov An-22 planes ....
.

bsk developed from a river harbor where the Vitba River (??????, from which it derives its name) flows into the larger Dvina
Dvina

Dvina may refer to:* The Western Dvina is a river in Russia, Belarus, and Latvia.* The Northern Dvina is a river in northern Russia....
, which is spanned in the city by the Kirov Bridge
Kirov Bridge

Kirov Bridge is a bridge in Vitsebsk in Belarus. It stems across the Dzvina river....
.

Its official founding year is 947 (there are versions 974 and 914 years), based on an anachronistic legend that it was founded by Olga of Kiev
Olga of Kiev

Saint Olga was a ruler of Kievan Rus as regent for her son, Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev....
, but the first mention in historical record is in 1021, when Yaroslav the Wise
Yaroslav I the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise was thrice Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time under his rule. During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus' reached a zenith of its cultural flowering and military power....
 of Kiev
Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
 gave it to Bryachislav Ezyaslavovitch
Bryachislav of Polotsk

Bryachislav Izyaslavich was the prince of Polotsk between 1001 and 1044. He was the oldest of the two sons of Izyaslav Vladimirovich.Bryachislav Izyaslavich was born in Polotsk....
, Duke of Polotsk
Polatsk

File:Polatsk Lenin street.JPGPolotsk is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Western Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast....
.

In the 12th and 13th centuries Vitebsk was the seat of a minor principality, which thrived on the crossroads of the river routes between the Baltic
Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
, Black
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 and Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
 seas.






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Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk (Belarusian
Belarusian language

The Belarusian language, or Belorussian is the language of the Belarusians and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland....
: ??´?????, ; Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
: ??´?????, Vitebsk), is a city in Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, near the border with Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 and Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city. It is served by Vitebsk Vostochny Airport
Vitebsk Vostochny Airport

Vitebsk Vostochny Airport is an airport in Belarus located 12 km southeast of Vitebsk. It accommodates small airliners up to the size of Tupolev Tu-154....
 and Vitebsk air base
Vitebsk (air base)

Vitebsk is an air base in Belarus located 8 km northeast of Vitebsk. It is a small airfield complex with a single large tarmac. It was home to 339 VTAP flying 32 Ilyushin Il-76 cargo jets as well as Antonov An-22 planes ....
.

History

Vitsebsk 19e Eeuw Napoleon Orda
Vitebsk developed from a river harbor where the Vitba River (??????, from which it derives its name) flows into the larger Dvina
Dvina

Dvina may refer to:* The Western Dvina is a river in Russia, Belarus, and Latvia.* The Northern Dvina is a river in northern Russia....
, which is spanned in the city by the Kirov Bridge
Kirov Bridge

Kirov Bridge is a bridge in Vitsebsk in Belarus. It stems across the Dzvina river....
.

Its official founding year is 947 (there are versions 974 and 914 years), based on an anachronistic legend that it was founded by Olga of Kiev
Olga of Kiev

Saint Olga was a ruler of Kievan Rus as regent for her son, Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev....
, but the first mention in historical record is in 1021, when Yaroslav the Wise
Yaroslav I the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise was thrice Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time under his rule. During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus' reached a zenith of its cultural flowering and military power....
 of Kiev
Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
 gave it to Bryachislav Ezyaslavovitch
Bryachislav of Polotsk

Bryachislav Izyaslavich was the prince of Polotsk between 1001 and 1044. He was the oldest of the two sons of Izyaslav Vladimirovich.Bryachislav Izyaslavich was born in Polotsk....
, Duke of Polotsk
Polatsk

File:Polatsk Lenin street.JPGPolotsk is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Western Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast....
.

In the 12th and 13th centuries Vitebsk was the seat of a minor principality, which thrived on the crossroads of the river routes between the Baltic
Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
, Black
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 and Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
 seas. In 1320 the city was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
; in 1569 it became a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries in 16th and 17th-century Europe, formed by a Union of Lublin of Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569....
. In 1597 Vitebsk was granted the Magdeburg Rights
Magdeburg rights

Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted with it by a local ruler....
. In 1772 it was taken over by Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 in the First Partition of Poland
First Partition of Poland

The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of partitions of Poland that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795....
. Under Imperial Russia the ancient center of Vitebsk was rebuilt in the Neoclassical style. The town was a significant shtetl
Shtetl

A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in pre-The Holocaust Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Poland, Galicia , and Romania....
 in the Pale of Settlement
Pale of Settlement

The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Russian Empire, along its western border, in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish residence was generally prohibited....
, with around half its population Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
 at the turn of the 20th century. The most famous of its Jewish natives was the painter Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall ; [shuh-GAHL] , was a Jewish Russians artist, born in Belarus and naturalized France in 1937, associated with several key art movements and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century....
. In January 1991, Vitebsk celebrated the first Marc Chagall Festival. In June 1992, a monument to Chagall was erected on his native Pokrovskaja street and a memorial inscription placed on the wall of his house.

In the years 1919–1991 Vitebsk was part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
. During World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the city was under German occupation (10 July 1941 - 26 June 1944). Up to 150,000 Jewish people were murdered during this time. Much of the old city was destroyed in the ensuing battles between the Nazis and the Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
.
Belarus Vitsebsk Church of Annunciation of Virgin Mary 1
Since 1992, Vitebsk has been hosting the annual Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk
Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk

The International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" is an annual festival held in Vitebsk, Belarus under the auspices of Alla Pugacheva since 1992....
, an international art festival. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. The main participants are artists from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, with guests from many other countries, both Slavic and non-Slavic.

Sights


The city long preserved one of the oldest buildings in the country, the Annunciation Church. This magnificent six-pillared building dates back to the period of Kievan Rus. It was constructed in the 1140s, rebuilt in the 14th and 17th centuries, repaired in 1883 and destroyed by the Communist administration in 1961. Scarce remains of the church were conserved until 1992, when it was restored to its presumed original appearance, although it's a moot point how the church looked like when it was first built.

Churches from the Polish-Lithuanian period were likewise destroyed, although the Resurrection Church (1772-77) is now being rebuilt. The Orthodox cathedral, dedicated to the Intercession of the Theotokos, was erected in 1760. There are also the town hall (1775); the Russian governor's palace, where Napoleon celebrated his 43rd birthday in 1812; the Neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic cathedral (1884-85); and an obelisk
Obelisk

An obelisk An Obelisks is a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramid like shape at the top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces....
 commemorating the centenary of the Russian victory over Napoleon.

Vitebsk Cityhall Oct 2005

Other remarkable architectural structures

At Vitebsk, there is a lattice steel TV tower carrying a horizontal cross on which the antenna mast is guyed. This tower, which is nearly identical to that at Grodno
Grodno TV Tower

Hrodna TV Tower is a 254 metre tall lattice tower at Hrodna, Belarus. Hrodna TV Tower, which was built in 1984, is from unique design. Its top is similar to the Wavre Transmitter guyed at four crossbars....
, but a few metres less tall ( 245 metres in Vitebsk versus 254 metres at Grodno) was completed in 1983.

Natives of Vitebsk


  • Zhores Ivanovich Alferov
    Zhores Ivanovich Alferov

    Zhores Ivanovich Alferov is a Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics....
    , physicist
    Physicist

    A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many Physics#Major fields of physics spanning all length scales: from atom particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole ....
  • S. Ansky
    S. Ansky

    Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , better known by the pseudonym S. Ansky , was a scholar who documented Jewish folklore and mystical beliefs.He was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, then a part of the Russian Empire, but travelled around much of the western part of the Russian Empire....
    , playwright
    Playwright

    A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
    , author of The Dybbuk.
  • Marc Chagall
    Marc Chagall

    Marc Chagall ; [shuh-GAHL] , was a Jewish Russians artist, born in Belarus and naturalized France in 1937, associated with several key art movements and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century....
    , famous painter
    Painting

    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
  • Yehuda Pen
    Yehuda Pen

    Yehuda Pen was a Lithuanian Jews-Belarusian artist-painter, a teacher and an outstanding figure of the Jewish Renaissance in the Belarus art of the beginning of XX century....
    , painter
    Painting

    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
  • Joseph Günzburg
    Joseph Günzburg

    Baron Joseph G?nzburg Having acquired great wealth during the Crimean war, G?nzburg established a banking firm at St. Petersburg. There he began to labor on behalf of the welfare of the Jewish community....
  • Leon Kobrin
    Leon Kobrin

    Leon Kobrin was a playwright in Yiddish theater, writer of short story and novels, and a translator. As a playwright he is generally seen as a disciple of Jacob Gordin, but his mature work was more character-driven, more open and realistic in its presentation of human sexual desire, and less polemical than Gordin's....
    , playwright
    Playwright

    A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
  • Immanuel Velikovsky
    Immanuel Velikovsky

    Immanuel Velikovsky was a Russian-born American independent scholar, best known as the author of a number of controversial books reinterpreting the events of ancient history, in particular the US bestseller Worlds in Collision, published in 1950....
    , psychiatrist
    Psychiatrist

    A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy....
    /psychoanalyst and controversial author
  • Kazimierz Siemienowicz
    Kazimierz Siemienowicz

    Kazimierz Siemienowicz was a szlachta from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, General of artillery, gunsmith, military engineer, artillery specialist and pioneer of rocketry....
    , an engineer, pioneer of rocketry.
  • Simeon Strunsky
    Simeon Strunsky

    Simeon Strunsky, A.B. was a Jewish American essayist, born in Vitsebsk. He graduated from Columbia University in 1900. He was a department editor of the New International Encyclopedia from 1900 to 1906, editorial writer on the New York City Evening Post from 1906 to 1913, and subsequently was literary editor of that paper until 1920....
     (born, 1879) author in New York City
    New York City

    The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
  • Joseph Solman
    Joseph Solman

    Joseph Solman was a Jewish American painter, a founder of , a group of New York City Expressionism painters in the 1930s. His best known works include his "Subway Gouaches" depicting travellers on the New York subways....
     (born 1909), American painter
  • Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk
    Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk

    Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk also known as Menachem Mendel of Horodok was an early leader of Hasidic Judaism. Part of the third generation of Hasidic leaders, he was the primary disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch....
     (born 1730), Hasidic Rebbe
    Rebbe

    Rebbe which means master, teacher, or mentor is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew language word Rabbi. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Judaism Jewish movement....
  • Isser Harel
    Isser Harel

    Isser Harel was spymaster of the intelligence and the security services of Israel and the Director of the Mossad .Childhood and Youth ...
     (born 1912) Israel
    Israel

    Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
    i intelligence chief
  • Tanya Dziahileva
    Tanya Dziahileva

    Tanya Dziahileva , is a Belarusian Model known for "elfish" and "alien" looks....
     (born 1991), top model
  • Leonid Afremov
    Leonid Afremov

    Leonid Afremov is a Belarusian Painting. His painting are often vividly-coloured Landscape art, cityscapes and figures, and are typically painted using a palette knife and oil paint....
    , painter
    Painting

    Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
  • Lazar Lagin
    Lazar Lagin

    Lazar Lagin was a Soviet satirist and children's writer.He is best known for his book, "Starik Hottabych" , a fairy tale telling the story of a genie who is freed from captivity by a Soviet schoolboy ....
    , Writer
    Writer

    A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
  • Ruben Dario Reyes Blanco, Colombian Biologist


Bibliography

  • "Shishanov V. A. Vitebsk Museum of Modern Art
    Vitebsk Museum of Modern Art

    Vitebsk Museum of Modern Art was an art museum in Vitebsk, Belarus organized in 1918 by Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich and Alexander Romm. In 1921 it exhibited 120 paintings "representing all the movements of the contemporary art from the Academic art to Impressionism to Suprematism"....
    : history of creation and collection. 1918-1941. - Minsk: Medisont, 2007. - 144 p. In Russian.
  • ???????? ??? ????? ???????…. ??????? ? ?????????. ????? XVIII — ?????? XIX ?. / ?????. ??., ????., ???????., ????., ????. ?. ?. ????????. ??.: ?????? ???, 2005. 40 ?.
  • ??????? ?. 974, 947 ??? 914? // ????????? ????????. 2005. ?45. 10 ????. ?.3.


External links