Liozno

Liozno is the place where Marc Chagall comes fr om and where a German painter Faber du Faur found inspiration.

The settlement of urban type Liozno is one of the most quiet and peaceful places, but at the same time, it is very remarkable and interesting to foreign tourists. Moving to the eastern part of Vitebsk region, one will certainly get into this city, which, by the way, used to belong to the famous Belarusian aristocratic family of Prince Oginski.

Liozno district occupies an area of almost 1.5 thousand square kilometers with the population of about 19 thousand people. The soil in this district is rich in minerals. Sand, dolomite, peat, and sapropel are intensively mined here.

 SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE URBAN SETTLEMENT OF LIOZNO:

• The town of Liozno is the birthplace of the famous avant-garde artist Marc Chagall. Some relatives of the great master of painting still live there. By the way, Chagall was very fond of coming to Liozno: his a little bit strange, but beloved grandfather lived there, he helped the future avant-garde painter to see unusual essence in the most ordinary things.
• At the beginning of the patriotic war in 1812 one of General Marchand’s French regiments stayed in Liozno, wh ere Faber du Faur, a German artist, served at that time. This was that place that inspired the artist to paint a number of famous battle paintings, which showed the battle between two opposing camps of the French and Russian armies. Later these works were exhibited in the largest world exhibition galleries.
• During the second world war Yakov Dzhugashvili, the son of Joseph Stalin himself, was in captivity near Liozno.

THE SETTLEMENT OF LIOZNO. THE HISTORICAL SKETCH

The very first information about this place can be found only in the 15th century. At the same time the settlement occurs on the maps. Two centuries later this village became the property of Prince Oginsky, who held high positions in political and state activity of the country.

In the early 19th century well-known personalities started coming to a little-known town of Liozno. Apart from the French marshals, in 1800 it was visited by Russian poet and political leader G. R. Derzhavin. He came there on the order of Paul I with the purpose to find out the living conditions of the peasants suffering from starvation.

In the late 18th century, like many other Belarusian towns, the settlement passed to Russia, but a century later the village was owned by private person. Only in 1924 the settlement became a territory of the Byelorussian SSR.

MODERN LIOZNO

The settlement is famous for its flax production not only in Belarus but also abroad. 5 years ago there was a regional festival Dazhynki in Liozno honoring the workers of agriculture and harvest. After that celebration the town, of course, has changed a lot.

You won’t see any panel high-rise buildings and hear the noise of a big city in this small town. Life flows quietly here, but the locals will certainly tell tourists about the archaeological monuments of the Neolithic period, which were found in Liozno district. Liozno residents like to talk about the fact that their little homeland was a center of pottery a few centuries ago and Babinov's famous ceramics were produced here. By the way, craftsmen from other regions of Belarus were coming to Liozno in order to learn the unique technique of sculpting in clay.

For foreign tourists Liozno is of great interest, despite its small size and lack of world-famous attractions. One seems to breathe easier here, as if green forest, small streams, meadows and fields can dip into the world of fairy tales, epics and legends...