The origin of Vitebsk is shrouded in mystery. According to legend, Princess Olga of Kiev, wife of Prince Igor, son of Ryurik, was so impressed by the beauty of the place that in 974 she ordered the foundation of a city at the intersection of the Dvina and Vitba rivers, from which the city takes its name. Legends aside, the town is first mentioned in the Chronicles in 1021 as the domain of Brjačislav, Prince of Polotsk. In the 12th and 13th centuries, exploiting its strategic position on the western Dvina, it developed through trade with Kiev, Novgorod, Constantinople and Europe. At the beginning of the 14th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1597, it received the right of Magdeburg. However, in 1623, during a popular uprising against the ban on Orthodoxy, Josaphat Kountsevitch, a Uniate archbishop, was shot in the centre of Vitebsk. As a result of this event, Vitebsk lost the right to Magdeburg until 1644.At the beginning of the 18th century, the city was deeply damaged by the Northern War between Russia and Sweden. In 1772 it became part of the Russian Empire. When Napoleon's army invaded in June 1812, Vitebsk was on the way to Moscow. Napoleon bought the loyalty of the local nobility by promising to restore the right of Magdeburg. He then established his headquarters in the governor's palace, but the peasant majority supported the tsar. Vitebsk later experienced a new economic boom at the end of the 19th century, after the construction of the Moscow-Riga and St Petersburg-Kiev railways.The October Revolution, the Stalinist purges and the two world wars left an indelible mark on the city. It was not until the end of the 1960s that the population returned to its 1939 level. Today, Vitebsk is one of the main industrial and cultural centres of Belarus. An elegant and refined city, it is considered the second cultural capital of the country after Minsk. It is particularly known for its artistic traditions. In the early 1890s, the famous Russian painter Ilia Repine settled in Zdravnevo, in the vicinity. Here live and work painters like Chagall, Malevič, Dobujinski, Pen and other artists who come to teach at the art school founded by Chagall in 1919. Nowadays, the city remains the centre of the country's cultural life. Every year, around June 7, Marc Chagall's birthday, days dedicated to the famous painter, with exhibitions, concerts and lectures, are organized in the city and its surroundings. The international Slavyansky Bazaar festival brings together singers from all over the world and turns the city into a festive place to be.

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