Vyerkhnyadzvinsk

Vierchniadzvinsk Verkhnedvinsk Верхнядзвінск Верхнедви́нск
City
Coat of arms
Vierchniadzvinsk Verkhnedvinsk
Coordinates: 55°47′N 27°57′E
Country	Belarus
Region	Vitebsk Region
Raion	Verkhnyadzvinsk Raion
First mention	1386
Administrative center	1924
Population  (2009)
• Total	7,600

Vierchniadzvinsk (Belarusian: Верхнядзві́нск, Lithuanian: Drisa, Polish: Dryssa) or Verkhnedvinsk (‹See Tfd›Russian: Верхнедви́нск) is a city in Belarus in the northwest of Vitebsk Region; it is the administrative center of the Verkhnyadzvinsk Raion. Until 1962, it was named Drysa (‹See Tfd›Russian: Дрисса, Drissa). It is located at the confluence of the Drysa River and the Daugava River.

Its population in 2009 was 7,600.

History

Drissa is first mentioned in a chronicle of the year 1386. During the medieval period it formed part of the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1801 it was the center of the Drissa uyezd of the Vitebsk Governorate, and during the War of 1812 it was the site of a fortified camp described by Leo Tolstoy in Book Three of War and Peace.

It became a raion center in 1924. During the Second World War it was occupied by Germany and most of the local population was massacred.

External links

• Official website
• Vyerkhnyadzvinsk, Belarus at JewishGen