Editing Vitebsk (section)

==Attractions==
{{multiple image |align=right |caption_align=center |perrow=2 |total_width=375
| image1 = Витебск. Успенский собор..JPG
| image2 = ВИТЕБСК. Покровская церковь (бывший костёл)..jpg
| image3 = ВІЦЕБСК. Дабравешчанская царква - VICIEBSK. Church of the Annunciation - ВИТЕБСК. Благовещенская церковь (XII).jpg
| image4 = ВІЦЕБСК. Музей Марка Шагала - VICIEBSK. Marc Chagall Museum..jpg
| caption1 = [[Vilnian Baroque]] Church of the Assumption and monastery
| caption2 = Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary
| caption3 = Annunciation Church
| caption4 = [[Marc Chagall Museum]]}}
The city has one of the oldest buildings in the country: the [[Annunciation Church, Vitebsk|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 [[Orthodoxy in Ukraine|Ukrainian]] or [[Russian Orthodox Church]] or the Kievan Rus state. It was constructed in the 1140s as a pagan place of worship.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In the 14th and 17th centuries, the building was built as a [[Roman Catholic Church]], restored in 1883 and destroyed by the Soviet administration in 1961. The church was in ruins until 1992, when it was restored to its presumed original appearance.{{efn|The Annunciation Church is a six-pillared building with one apse. It is built of hewn limestone quadras, each row being separated by two rows of brick, covered with a thin layer of stucco so as to emulate large blocks of stone. This technique was widespread in Byzantium; but there are only two examples north of Crimea — one in Vitebsk and another, unfinished and long ruined church in [[Navahrudak]], probably by the same team of Byzantine builders. Another extraordinary feature of the church is that its bays are equal and the central nave is square in plan. The choir gallery occupies the western bay; it adjoins two secluded chapels over the lateral aisles. Stairs leading to the gallery are built into the western wall. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russiancity.ru/books/b57.htm|website= russiancity.ru|title=Зодчество Древней Руси|lang=ru|trans-title=Architecture of Ancient Rus|first1=P.A. |last1=Rappoport|access-date=8 February 2023}}</ref>}}

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; the Neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic cathedral (1884–85); and an [[obelisk]] commemorating the centenary of the Russian victory over Napoleon.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

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 TV Tower|Grodno]], but a few metres shorter (245 metres in Vitebsk versus 254 metres at Grodno) was completed in 1983.{{cn|date=March 2024}} The city is also home to the [[Marc Chagall Museum]] and the [[Vitebsk regional museum]].