Travel Guide Polotsk (Полацк)

As a spiritual and cultural cradle of all Belarusian cities, Belarus begins with Belarus, its culture and its history. Polotsk was first mentioned in ancient Chronicles in 862. Its name comes from the name of the river Polota. From the th to the th century, the Principality of Polotsk plays a very important role in the region. The Dnieper and Dvina rivers provide links between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and allow the city to develop through trade with the Scandinavian, Baltic and Byzantium countries. From 1307, Polotsk is part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1498, the city obtained the right of Magdeburg. In the early th century, Polotsk became the richest and most powerful city in the Grand Duchy after the capital, Vilna. In the th and th centuries, the wars between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia led to a gradual decline in the city. Plundered by Ivan the Terrible in 1563, she fell in the hands of the Russian czar in 1654. Nevertheless, it manages to retain its cultural and spiritual potential. In the th century, the Jesuits opened a college, a printer, a pharmacy and a theatre, and Evfrosinija Polotskaja, daughter of Prince Svatoslas Vseslavitch, founded two convents that became the educational, spiritual and cultural centres of the Principality. Thanks to its efforts, the library of the Cathedral of St. Sophia is enriched by precious volumes that mysteriously disappear during the war of Livonia (1558-1582). Polotsk is the birthplace of Francysk Skaryna, the first Belarusian printer, and the poet and philosopher Simeon de Polotsk. Integrated into the Russian Empire in 1772, Polotsk transforms into a small province. Today, it is the second town in the region, after Vitebsk. Its industrial centre, located in the suburb of Navapolatsk, is among the largest in the country. Stretching along the western Dvina, the historic centre of this city plunges you into an ancient atmosphere thanks to its beautiful churches and small mansions of the th and th centuries.