Polotsk district lies in the heart of Vitebsk region whose history is closely interwoven with the history of the famous old town of Polotsk.

The District was formed in 1924. The area of the District is 3.2 thousand square kilometers with 30 thousand people concentrated in 405 locations. It is the only administrative district that has 2 regional towns, Polotsk and Novopolotsk.

District's government consists of 17 villages’ Councils of Deputies.

Primary area for the District’s economical development is agricultural sector, in which there are 16 agricultural enterprises and 40 farms. Major specializations of the enterprises are dairy and meat cattle breeding, grain, flax, and vegetable crops growing.

In accordance with the state program of Rural Revival and Development, 14 villages will get the status of agro-towns by 2010; in 2005, 2 villages, Gomel’ and Novyje Goryany, were given this status.

District’s industry consists of 8 enterprises with timber and flax processing plants, bread and grocery factories.

Woodlands, marshes, and lakes of the District create good perspectives for developing tourism. More than half of the District’s territory is covered with beautiful pine forests and there are about 114 marshes. Each fourth lake out of 270 is a valuable fish reserve.

Yanovo Lake is famous for the monument of the Pagan times of Slavic tribes. There is an ancient stone observatory located on the bank of this lake. It is comparable to the Stonehenge in the UK. As historians believe, here at Yanovo, ancient Belarusians worshiped the Pagan god, Koupala, and with its help could precisely determine the date of summer solstice.

Print version