Vitebsk biography

Archaeological studies indicate that at the mouth of the VITB there were settlements founded by the Baltic tribes, who were replaced by the Slavic tribes of Krivichi by the 9th century. According to legend, the city was laid down by the Kyiv princess Olga in the year and in ancient Russian chronicles is mentioned from the year. Located at the intersection of the most important trade routes of antiquity “from the Varangians to the Greeks” and the Great Volga Bulgarian, by the end of the XII century Vitebsk turns into the center of craft and trade, becomes the center of the specific principality, subordinate to the Polotsk, and at times, the Smolensk princes.

On Castle Mountain was the residence of the prince, and below people lived simpler - merchants and artisans. Already in the XII century, the first stone temple was built in the city-the Orthodox Holy Blagoveshchensk Church, where the standards of weight measures and the length used in trade operations were stored; Books, annals were corresponded; Children studied.

The last East Slavic specific prince was Yaroslav Vasilievich, who in the year issued his daughter for Prince Olgerd, the son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gedemin. Being as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the city used benefits and autonomy, powerful fortifications were erected around it. In the year, from King Sigismund III, Vitebsk received his coat of arms and letter to Magdeburg law, which made it possible to regulate the life of the city with the help of its own system of legal norms.

For the Commonwealth, Vitebsk remained a strategically important fortress on the eastern borders. By virtue of its position, the city constantly became a participant in the bloody wars, destroyed and restored. In the year during the Northern War between Sweden and Russia in alliance with the Commonwealth, the city on the orders of Peter I was burned, for financial support, the Swedes provided by the Vitebsk nobility.

During the Patriotic War of the year, the troops of Napoleon were occupied proud, causing him significant damage. At this time, the Catholic monks arrived in the city, first of all, the Jesuits, who built their residences and temples in the city, opened schools for training secular persons. All Orthodox churches and monasteries are transferred to the Uniates of Greek Catholics, and the confession of Orthodoxy is prohibited, up to a year.

At the Jesuits collegium, a philosophical studio, a musical bursa, a nobility for a gentry, a library and a pharmacy that served the inhabitants of the city acted. Here was the tomb of the princes of the Oginsky governor Vitebsky, who, in wealth and power, competed with Radzivils. In the year, Vitebsk became part of the Russian Empire and in the year became the center of the Belarusian, since the year of the Vitebsk province.

The city began to develop rapidly. Already in the first decades of the twentieth century, he is one of the largest centers of Belarus of thousands of inhabitants, 45 enterprises, 2 gymnasiums, a teacher's institute, aological seminary, 5 libraries, a private art school of Yu. A significant part of the city’s population, who began to settle in the city from the 17th century with the advent of the Jesuits.

In the twenties of the twentieth century, Vitebsk becomes the center of artistic life. In the city of Mark Shagal, a People’s Art School was founded in which artists worked in different directions and style - Yu. Pan, K. Malevich, G. Falk, M. Dobuzhinsky and others. They held exhibitions, participated in disputes, formalized the city.

The Vitebsk People’s Conservatory was opened, the theater of the revolutionary satire Tervsat was created. In these years, the life and activities of M. Bakhtin - a famous philosopher, a scientific literary critic; I. Solletinsky - musicologist. Historian and theorist of ballet art. The most severe trials fell to Vitebsk during the Great Patriotic War.

Fierce battles were going on on distant and close approaches to the city, but it was captured by the Nazi invaders. Captured, but not submissive. The city liberated on June 26 from the Nazi invaders lay in ruins, in the basements of the houses all the residents of the all -Union census of the year survived. Over the years of occupation in Vitebsk, tens of thousands of inhabitants were destroyed, tortured in concentration camps and stolen to hard labor in Germany.

Entire quarters of the city, all industrial enterprises, architectural monuments were destroyed. Thanks to the heroic efforts of the working people of Belarus, Vitebsk was revived from the ashes. Modern Vitebsk is one of the largest industrial centers of the republic, a city with highly developed industry, science and culture. The streets and squares of the city again decorate the monuments of architecture and monumental art, which now give the ancient streets of the city over Dvina Beauty and originality.

The leading industry of the economy of Vitebsk is industry. The main priorities of the city’s development are today to attract foreign investment in the creation and implementation of energy -saving and environmental technologies, the reconstruction of priority enterprises and increase the competitiveness of products they manufactured.