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48-666: The Radimichs lived in the interfluve of the upper Dnieper and Desna rivers along the Sozh and its tributaries (the south of Vitebsk , the east of the Mogilev and Gomel regions of modern Belarus , the west of the Bryansk and south-west of the Smolensk regions of modern Russia . Written evidence on Radimichi falls on the period from 885 to 1169. The lands of the Radimichs were conveniently connected with

96-526: 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

144-601: 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

192-501: Is a city in northern Belarus . It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District , though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2024, it has 358,395 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest city . It is served by Vitebsk Vostochny Airport and Vitebsk Air Base . Vitebsk developed from a river harbor where the Vićba River (Віцьба, from which it derives its name) flows into

240-802: 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

288-505: Is featured on a Rbls  300 national stamp. The original name was Sozh' ( Russian : Сожь ), from Old East Slavic Съжь. With the previously suggested Baltic and Finnic etymologies considered unsatisfactory, Vadim Andreevich Zhuchkevich proposed that the name is derived from Old Russian/Old Belarusian sozhzh' (сожжь) 'burned parts of a forest prepared for plowing,' which has parallels to other place names. The Sozh rises in Russia and

336-685: Is little information on the Radimichs. According to Nestor the Chronicler , the tribe of Radimichs "sprang from the Lyakhs " or after the conquest by Vladimir the Great became part of the race of Lyakhs ( Lendians ) and used to live in areas of Sozh river. According to tradition recorded by Nestor, their name derives from the name of the forefather of the tribe, Radim, who was one of the Lyakh brothers, other being Vyatko from whom emerged Vyatichi . Historians know that in

384-476: Is located in an area radioactively polluted as a result of the Chernobyl disaster that occurred on 26 April 1986. High radiation levels due to iodine-131 (20,000 kBq/m ) and strontium-90 (137 kBq/m ) were measured in the soil in the entire Vetka district after the accident. This disaster also resulted in a large-scale relocation of population. A Folk Art Museum, founded in 1987, has exhibits depicting

432-590: Is mostly snow fed. The river freezes over between November and early January. The ice thaws from late March or April. The Vikhra and Pronia , on the right, and the Ostyor , Besed , Iput and Uts on the left are its main tributaries. It is one of the six tributaries longer than 500 km that join the Dnieper – the third longest river in Europe at 2,201 km. The Sozh has navigational locks in its upper reaches where it

480-476: Is navigable from Krychaw . Timber is floated along the river. The mouth of the river is 150m broad and swampy. The catchment area of the river is 42,140 square kilometres (16,270 sq mi) along its 648 kilometres (403 mi) length, 21,700 square kilometres (8,400 sq mi) and 493 kilometres (306 mi) within Belarus. The mean discharge recorded at Gomel, 100 kilometres (62 mi) upstream from

528-404: Is recorded that the Radimichs, Vyatichi, and Severians "had the same customs", all lived violent lifestyles, "burned their dead and preserved the ashes in urns set upon posts beside the highways", and they did not enter monogamous marriages but practiced polygamy , specifically polygyny , instead. The Radimichs were last mentioned in a chronicle in 1169. The Tale of Bygone Years tells about

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576-530: 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

624-655: The Polish origin of the Radimichi. Aleksey Shakhmatov tried to support the annalistic report about the Lechites origin of the Radimichi with linguistic data, referring to the fact that the Radimichi region now belongs to the territory of Belarusian language , in which there are many coincidences with the Polish. However Yefim Karsky spoke out against the theory of the Lechites origin of

672-611: The Rumyantsevs and the Paskeviches who were statesmen and military commanders of the Russian Empire. The town is now an important industrial center with a population of about half million. Located in the region of the Chernobyl disaster , Gomel and its surrounding area still suffers from subsisting levels of radiation. Vetka is a small town, 22 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Gomel, surrounded by forest and marshy land. It

720-500: The biblical worldview of the author rather than a real historical fact. This article includes content derived from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia , 1969–1978, which is partially in the public domain . Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk ( Belarusian : Віцебск , romanized :  Vitsyebsk , IPA: [ˈvʲitsʲepsk] ; Russian : Витебск , IPA: [ˈvʲitʲɪpsk] ; Yiddish : וויטעבסק )

768-568: The Great's commander Volchiy Khvost ("Wolf's Tail"). Since then, there had been no mentioning of the tribe in the chronicles . They continued living on their land, gradually assimilating with neighboring tribes and peoples and forming the Belarusian nationality . Subsequently, the lands of the Radimichs became a part of the Chernihiv and Smolensk principalities. In the Primary Chronicle , it

816-553: 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

864-526: The Lechites origin of the Radimichi: “…radimichi bo… from the Lechites” and “The former Radimichi from the Lechites family; before that, you are all-powerful, and pay tribute to Russia ”. These words of the chronicler had a great influence on many researchers. Medieval Polish chroniclers - Jan Długosz , Maciej Stryjkowski and others, as well as historians of the 18th and 19th centuries unconditionally recognized

912-566: The Museum of Ancient Belarusian Culture. The remains of pantheist temples were excavated in the mounds of Tushemlia and Haradok on the Sozh River and dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries. These temples have been inferred as temples erected by Balts for worship of gods and goddesses. Through the end of the 14th century, during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania period, pantheistic religion was prevalent in

960-594: 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

1008-522: The Radimichi, showing the independent development of those features of the Belarusian language that bring it closer to the Polish. According to Karsky, the chronicle of the Lyash origin of the Radimichi does not indicate that they were a Lyash tribe, but that they moved to Sozh from more western regions, where they neighbored with the Lyash tribes. This opinion was also supported by Lubor Niederle , who considered

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1056-565: 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

1104-623: 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

1152-607: 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,

1200-451: The ancient artefacts, carved wooden entrance doors, manuscripts, traditional costumes and woven rushniki . Anthropomorphized forms of Russian myths include tales of rivalry between the Sozh, described as wild and turbulent, and the Dnieper, which is described as quiet and leisurely. Excavations have unearthed a Palaeolithic boat in the soils of the Sozh River, which has been preserved in

1248-425: The basins of Bug and Nareva . Repeated attempts were made to determine the area from which the Radimichi came to Sozh by mapping toponyms with the base rad- . However, such toponyms, apparently, come from anthroponym Radim , distributed over a much larger territory than the defined regions. On the basis of hydronymics data, it was possible to establish some similarity between the hydronyms of Sozh area and

1296-626: The border between Khislavichsky and Shumyachsky District of Smolensk Oblast in the east, and Mogilev Region of Belarus in the west. Many of the cities and towns located in the river valley are part of the river's history of events. Several centuries ago, the East Slavic Radimichi tribal people lived in the Sozh River basin and established the Gomel town. The They were involved in agricultural practices, rearing cattle, fishing and honey collection. They were craftsmen, and they were good tradesman as

1344-557: The central regions of the Kievan Rus by waterway. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Radimichs had a few known cities: Gomey (today's Homel ) and Chechersk on the Sozh river, Vshchizh on the Desna River , Vorobyin, Ropeysk, Starodub, and others. Seven-beam temporal jewelry made of bronze or silver represent a specific ethnic trait of the Radimichs of the 9th - 11th centuries. There

1392-499: 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

1440-521: 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

1488-631: 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

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1536-431: 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

1584-600: 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,

1632-543: The hydronyms of a small section of the Upper Dniester region that, according to some historians, is the area from which the Radimichi moved to the Sozh basin. The connection between the Radimichi and the pre-Radimichi population of Sozh area, observed both in objects of material culture and in rites , suggests that the newcomer Slavs felt the influence of the Baltic population here. It is also possible to make an assumption about

1680-700: 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

1728-509: The middle of the 9th century they were paying tribute to the Khazars . In 885, the Radimichs were conquered by Prince Oleg of Novgorod and became part of Kievan Rus . In 907, the Radimichs are mentioned as a part of Oleg's army in his military campaign against Byzantine empire . In 984, the Radimichs tried to break away from the Kievan Rus, but were defeated on the Pischan River by Vladimir

1776-489: The mouth, is 207 m /s. Important historical towns on the banks of the main river and its tributaries are: Krychaw , Cherykaw , Slawharad , Gomel and Vietka . In Russia, the Sozh has its source in Smolensky District and flows through Pochinkovsky and Khislavichsky Districts of Smolensk Oblast. The urban-type settlement of Khislavichi is located on the banks of the Sozh. It flows further south, making

1824-530: The region. Another Palaeolithic site, discovered by Konstantin Mikhailovich Polikarpovich , is located on the hill above the bank of Sozh river, in Berdizh village. Remains of woolly mammoth have also been found along the Sozh River. Sozh River deposits that extend into Smolensk Oblast providing a supply of ground phosphate to Krychaw and Klimavichy rock plants. Phosphorite is found along

1872-625: 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

1920-471: The river between Mstislavl and Krichev. Many other construction materials, such as chalk, clay, sand, and gravel are also distributed in the river region as are many mineral water springs. The Sozh is one of the two chief rivers of Mogilev in the Smolensk Oblast where the trade in the early part of the 20th century, involving primarily paper, oil, wire nails, flour, glass, and matches, was predominantly in

1968-491: The river provided navigation to the northwestern and southeastern parts of Europe . Gomel, a river port and a railhead, is also known as Homyel or Homiel. It is situated to the southeast of Belarus, and is the capital (administrative centre) of the Gomel Region . It is located on the western bank of the Sozh River, about 300 km from Minsk , and close to the border with Russia and Ukraine. The earliest reported occupation of

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2016-481: 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

2064-690: The small number of alien Slavs. Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov compared the basis of the ethnonym Radimichi with the Iranian Scythian stem radam- from the Iranian fratama- < *pratama- "first", used in the Scythian royal names (' Radam-furt- , Radam-sad- , Radam-as- , Radam-mizda- , etc.). Georgy Vernadsky derived the name radimichi from Ossetian : rad - "order", "line", Ossetian : radomun, radĕmun - "to subdue", "to conquer". Georgy Khaburgaev,  [ ru ] believed that

2112-514: The term "radimichi" was formed from the historically earlier name of the Baltic ethnic community, which was Slavicized by the 9th-10th centuries. The chronicle tells about the origin of the Radimichi from the legendary person Radima : “... Radimichi Bo and Vyatichi from the Poles. For 2 brothers in laces, Radim, and the other Vyatko, and the gray-haired Radim came to Szhya, and was called Radimichi ... ”. Some modern authors believe that this legend reflects

2160-451: The town was in 1142, under Kievan Rus. This was followed by Lithuanian control in 1537, then Polish under the Truce of Andrusovo , and later under Russia in 1772. Embankments were built on the banks of the Sozh River . As a result, "a unique nature-architecture ensemble grew on the high picturesque bank of the Sozh River right in the historical center of Gomel." These monuments are credited to

2208-588: Was born, and where he first heard the tune. Sozh The Sozh ( Belarusian : Сож , romanized :  Sož , IPA: [sɔʐ] ; Russian : Сож ; Ukrainian : Сож ) is a river flowing in Russia , Belarus , and Ukraine . It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper . The Sozh passes through Gomel , the second largest city in Belarus. The river is crossed by the Sozh Floating Bridge at Karma and an elegant steel arch at Gomel, which

2256-405: Was gutted twice by invading Tsarist forces in 1735 and 1764 which forced the residents to resettle in Eastern Russia. It was renowned for the unique icon style paintings and also wood carvings. It was annexed by the Russian Empire , in 1852. Ships were manufactured here from 1840. During World War II , the town was occupied by the Nazis who killed many of the residents. Vetka, on the Sozh River,

2304-430: 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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