Vitsebsk (Belarusian: Ві́цебск (Vitsebsk); Russian: Ви́тебск (Vitebsk)) is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia and Latvia. It has 342,381 inhabitants (calculation for 2004). It is the capital of Vitsebsk voblast.

History

Vitsebsk developed from a harbour on the Daugava River (in Belarusian, Dzvina). The mention in historical records dates from 1021. However, the official year of foundation is 974, when Princess Olga of Kiev ordered a city to be founded on place of an old settlement of Kryvichi. The city derives its name from a river Vitba (Віцьба) that flows into Daugava at the city's birthplace.

In the 12th and 13th centuries it was a well-established city on the cross-roads of the river routes between the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean seas. At these times the city was governed by veche. In 1320 it was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; in 1569 it became a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1597 Vitebsk was granted the Magdeburg Rights. In 1772 it was taken over by Russia in the First Partition of Poland. In the years 1919-1991 it belonged to the Soviet Union; since 1991 it has been a part of independent Belarus. In years 1941-1944, during World War II, the city was under German occupation.

In January 1991, Vitsebsk celebrated the first Marc Chagall Festival. In June 1992, a monument to Chagall was erected on his native Pokrovskaja street and a memorial inscription was done on the wall of his house.

Since 1992, Vitsebsk hosts the annual Slavic Bazaar, an international art festival. Its main programme is devoted to Slavic music. Main participants are artists from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, with guests from many other countries, Slavic ones, as well as non-Slavic ones.

Famous inhabitants

Vitsebsk is the birthplace of:

• Marc Chagall, famous painter
• Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, physicist
• S. Ansky, playwright, author of The Dybbuk.
• Leon Kobrin, playwright

External links

• Coat of Arms
• Photos on Radzima.org