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30-883: Vitebsk developed from a river harbor where the Vićba River (Віцьба, from which it derives its name) flows into the larger Western Dvina , which is spanned in the city by the Kirov Bridge . Archaeological research indicates that Baltic tribes had settlements at the mouth of Vitba. In the 9th century, Slavic settlements of the tribal union of the Krivichs replaced them. According to the Chronicle of Michael Brigandine (1760), Princess Olga of Kiev founded Vitebsk (also recorded as Dbesk, Vidbesk, Videbsk, Vitepesk, or Vicibesk) in 974. Other versions give 947 or 914. Academician Boris Rybakov and historian Leonid Alekseyev have come to

60-684: A key location of settlement and defence of the mouth of the Daugava at least as early as the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the now destroyed fort at Torņakalns on the west bank of the Daugava in present-day Riga. From the end of the Livonian War great part of the Daugava formed the northeastern border of Duchy of Courland and Semigallia saparating it initially from the Kingdom of Livonia , later Swedish Livonia and Riga Governorate . After

90-542: A remarkable improvement and expansion of the city. The central stadium was reconstructed, and the Summer Amphitheatre , the railway station and other historical sites and facilities were restored, and the Ice Sports Palace along with a number of new churches and other public facilities were built, together with the construction of new residential areas. The city has one of the oldest buildings in

120-628: A significant Jewish population : according to Russian census of 1897 , out of the total population of 65,900, Jews constituted 34,400 (around 52%). The most famous of its Jewish natives was the painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985). In 1919, Vitebsk was proclaimed to be part of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (January to February 1919), but was soon transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later to

150-826: Is also home to the Marc Chagall Museum and the Vitebsk regional museum . Vitebsk has warm summer humid continental climate , Köppen : Dfb . Summers are generally warm, while winters are relatively cold but still warmer than in Moscow due to a stronger influence of maritime air from the Baltic Sea . Approximately 724 mm (28.5 in) of precipitation falls here per annum. The main universities of Vitebsk are Vitebsk State Technological University , Vitebsk State Medical University and Vitebsk State University named in honor of Pyotr Masherov . HK Vitebsk of

180-544: The Belarusian Extraleague is the local professional hockey team. Vitebsk is twinned with: The city was previously twinned with: In 1928, the American composer Aaron Copland composed the piano trio Vitebsk: Study on a Jewish Theme , and the work was premiered in 1929. Based on a Jewish folk song from S. Ansky 's play The Dybbuk , Copland's piece is named for Vitebsk Governorate , where Ansky

210-466: The Belarusian People's Republic , and consisted of the governorates of Smolensk , Vitebsk , Mogilev , Minsk , Grodno , and Vilna . It was considered by Bolsheviks to be a buffer republic . In a month it was disbanded. The Smolensk, Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces were included in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), and the remainder formed another buffer republic,

240-644: The Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea . The Daugava rises close to the source of the Volga . It is 1,020 km (630 mi) in length, of which 352 km (219 mi) are in Latvia and 325 km (202 mi) in Russia. It is a westward-flowing river, tracing out a great south-bending curve as it passes through northern Belarus. Latvia's capital, Riga , bridges the river's estuary four times. Built on both riverbanks,

270-708: The Baltic. In Belarus, water pollution of the Daugava is considered moderately severe, with the chief sources being treated wastewater, fish-farming, and agricultural chemical runoff (such as herbicides, pesticides, nitrates, and phosphates). Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia The Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia ( SSRB ; Belarusian : Сацыялістычная Савецкая Рэспубліка Беларусь , romanized :  Sacyjalistyčnaja Savieckaja Respublika Biełaruś ; Russian : Социалистическая Советская Республика Белоруссия / ССРБ , romanized :  Sotsialisticheskaya Sovetskaya Respublika Belorussiya / SSRB )

300-567: The Greeks . By the end of the 12th century, Vitebsk became a center of trade and commerce, and the center of an independent principality , following the Polotsk, and at times, the Smolensk and Kiev princes. The official year of the founding of Vitebsk is 974, based on an anachronistic legend of founding by Olga of Kiev , but the first mention in historical records dates from 1021, when Yaroslav

330-614: The Neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic cathedral (1884–85); and an obelisk commemorating the centenary of the Russian victory over Napoleon. Vitebsk is also home to 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 , but a few metres shorter (245 metres in Vitebsk versus 254 metres at Grodno) was completed in 1983. The city

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360-638: The Russian Empire, the historic centre of Vitebsk was rebuilt in the Neoclassical style . The Battle of Vitebsk was fought west of the city on 26–27 July 1812 as Napoleon attempted to engage decisively with the Russian army. While the French were to occupy the town for over three months (the emperor celebrating his 43rd birthday there) the Russian army was able to slip away with minimal losses towards Smolensk . Before World War II , Vitebsk had

390-640: The Soviet Union, thus saving themselves from the impending Holocaust . Much of the old city was destroyed in the ensuing battles between the Germans and Red Army soldiers. Most of the remaining local Jews perished in the Vitebsk Ghetto massacre of October 1941. The Germans also operated a Nazi prison, the Stalag 313 prisoner-of-war camp and forced labour camps in the city. The Soviets recaptured

420-686: The Wise of Kiev gave it to Bryachislav Izyaslavich , Prince of Polotsk . In the 12th and 13th centuries, Vitebsk functioned as the capital of the Principality of Vitebsk , an appanage principality which thrived at the crossroads of the river routes between the Baltic and Black seas. In 1320 the city was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as dowry of the Princess Maria,

450-653: The cities and towns built along the Daugava: The river began experiencing environmental deterioration in the Soviet era due to collective agriculture (producing considerable adverse water pollution runoff) and hydroelectric power projects. This is the river that the Vula river flows into. Upstream of the Latvian town of Jekabpils , the river's pH has a characteristic value of about 7.8 (slight alkaline ). In this area,

480-731: The city centre is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the river's mouth and is a significant port. According to Max Vasmer 's Etymological Dictionary , the toponym Dvina cannot stem from a Uralic language ; instead, it possibly comes from an Indo-European word which used to mean river or stream . The name Dvina resembles strongly Danuvius which itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European *dānu , meaning "large river". The Finno-Ugric names Vēna ( Livonian ), Väinajogi ( Estonian ), and Väinäjoki ( Finnish ) all stem from Proto-Finnic *väin , meaning "a large, peacefully rolling river". The total catchment area of

510-503: The city during the June 1944 Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive , as part of Operation Bagration . In the first postwar five-year period the city was rebuilt. Its industrial complex covered machinery, light industry, and machine tools. In 1959, a TV tower was commissioned and started broadcasting the 1st Central Television program . In 1990, a club of voters " For Democratic Elections " was founded in Vitebsk. In January 1991, Vitebsk celebrated

540-519: The concentration of ionic calcium is around 43 milligrams per liter, nitrate is about 0.82 milligrams per liter, ionic phosphate is 0.038 milligrams per liter, and oxygen saturation is 80%. The high nitrate and phosphate load of the Daugava has contributed to the extensive buildup of phytoplankton biomass in the Baltic Sea; the Oder and Vistula rivers also contribute to the high nutrient loading of

570-532: The conclusion, based on the chronicles, that Princess Olga of Kiev could have established Vitebsk in 947. Leonid Alekseyev suggested that the chroniclers, when transferring the date from the account of the Byzantine era (since the creation of the world) to a new era, obtained the year 947, later mistakenly written in copying manuscripts as 974. It was an important place on the trade route from the Varangians to

600-602: The country: the Annunciation Church . The building dates back to the period of Kievan Rus . The city at the time was pagan and did not belong to the Ukrainian or Russian Orthodox Church or the Kievan Rus state. It was constructed in the 1140s as a pagan church, rebuilt in the 14th and 17th centuries as a Roman Catholic Church , restored in 1883 and destroyed by the Soviet administration in 1961. The church

630-431: The first Marc Chagall Festival. In June 1992, a monument to Chagall was erected on his native Pokrovskaja Street and a memorial inscription was placed on the wall of his house. Since 1992, Vitebsk has been hosting the annual Slavianski Bazaar , an international music festival. The main participants are artists from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, with guests from many other countries, both Slavic and non-Slavic. There has been

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660-612: The first wife of Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas . By 1351 the city had erected a stone Upper and Lower Castle, the prince's palace. In 1410 Vitebsk participated in the Battle of Grunwald . From 1503 it was the capital of the Vitebsk Voivodeship . In 1569 it became part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In 1597 Vitebsk was granted Magdeburg rights and a coat of arms by Sigismund III Vasa . However,

690-483: The incorporation later in the Russian Empire the river formed a border between governorates of Courland on the western bank and Livonia and Vitebsk on the eastern bank. From 1936 to 1939 Ķegums Hydroelectric Power Station was built on the Daugava river in Latvia. Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station was put into operation in 1968 and Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant in 1974. The following are some of

720-587: The rights were taken away in 1623 after the citizens revolted against the imposed Union of Brest and killed Archbishop Josaphat Kuntsevych of Polotsk. In 1641 Władysław IV Vasa restored Magdeburg rights. The city was almost completely destroyed by the Russians in 1708, during the Great Northern War . In the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the Russian Empire annexed Vitebsk. Under

750-562: The river is 87,900 km (33,900 sq mi), of which 33,150 km (12,800 sq mi) are in Belarus. The following rivers are tributaries to the river Daugava (from source to mouth): Humans have settled at the mouth of the Daugava and along the shores of the Gulf of Riga for millennia, initially participating in a hunter-gatherer economy and utilizing the waters of the Daugava estuary for fishing and gathering. Beginning around

780-496: The short-lived Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (February to July 1919). In 1924 it was returned to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . During World War II , the city came under Nazi German occupation (11 July 1941 – 26 June 1944). During Operation Barbarossa , 22,000 Jews, or 58% of Vitebsk's Jewish population, managed to successfully evacuate to the interior of

810-520: The sixth century CE, Viking explorers crossed the Baltic Sea and entered the Daugava River, navigating upriver into the Baltic interior. In medieval times, the Daugava was part of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks , an important route for the transport of furs from the north and of Byzantine silver from the south. The Riga area, inhabited by the Finnic -speaking Livs , became

840-660: Was an early republic in the historical territory of Belarus for only one month in 1919 after the collapse of the Russian Empire as a result of the October Revolution . Bolsheviks first established the Republic on 1 January 1919 in Smolensk when the Red Army entered Belarusian lands following the retreating German army, which had been occupying the territory as a consequence of World War I . The SSRB replaced

870-523: Was born, and where he first heard the tune. Daugava River The Daugava ( Latgalian : Daugova ; Polish : Dźwina ; German : Düna [ˈdyːna] ) or Western Dvina ( Russian : Западная Двина , romanized :  Zapadnaya Dvina ; Belarusian : Заходняя Дзвіна ; Estonian : Väina ; Finnish : Väinäjoki ) is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into

900-685: Was in ruins until 1992, when it was restored to its presumed original appearance. Churches from the Polish-Lithuanian period were likewise destroyed, although the Resurrection Church (1772–77) has been 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;

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