Vitebsk Region Museum of Local History, Culture and Lore
The museum is situated in the former city hall. It was founded in 1918 on the basis of Anton Brodovski’s private collection (4,500 coins and medals and around 6 thousand art works).
Today the museum has over 180,000 exhibits, including:
an archeological collection (12-13 centuries),
natural science collections,
numismatic collections (9-10 centuries, Arab Caliphate, the Great Principality of Lithuania, Russia, Rzech Pospolita,
china,
weapons,
glass goods,
a charter (13-14 centuries), charters of the times of Rzech Pospolita,
a collection of mason stamps and symbols,
a collection of tobacco pipes,
an embroidery collection (19th century).
The International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" is an annual festival held under the auspices of the Belarusian Government since 1992. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. The main participants are artists from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Poland and Bulgaria with guests from many other countries, both Slavic and non-Slavic. It is a member of the International Federation of Festival Organizations (FIDOF) since 1993. The predecessor of the festival was “Polish Song Festival in Vitebsk” that was held in Vitebsk. The main venue of the present-day festival, the Amphitheatre, was constructed in 1988 and have been reconstructed recently.The main goal of the very first festival was an attempt to acquaint Belarusian audience with pop and folk trends from Slavic countries. Cinematographic presentations and folk art fairs have become the recurrent events in the festival’s calendar. In 1998 the festival became an inter-state cultural project of Belarus and Russia. The festival was awarded the diploma 'FIDOF Festival of the Year 2000' "for impeccable quality of organization, professionalism, hospitality, and promotion of noble humanistic aims on the international level", 'FIDOF Festival of the Year 2004' and other awards.
The contest
During the festival the contest of young singers under the name "Vitebsk" is held. It has two stages, each held in a separate day. In the first day the contestants should perform their songs in their national language. All vocals are sung live using backing track. In the second day the contestants perform the song written by a composer from any Slavic country in any of the Slavic languages. On this stage the contestants sing with the National Concert Orchestra of Belarus under Mikhail Finberg's conduction. The final decision is made by the international jury usually consisting of 10 people who are usually the former winners of the contest, the former contestants or the other celebrities. After the performance each jury gives points from 0 to 10. At the end of the second day all the points are summed up and the Grand Prix winner and other places holders are defined.
The most successful country in the contest of young talents that is held during the festival is Ukraine having a record of five wins. During the first six years of the existence of the contest Ukrainian performers shared the dominance with Yugoslavian ones.
Children's contest during the festival was first held in 2003 thus becoming one of the stages of expansion of the cultural and artistic diversity of the event. It has also become one of the main events in the East European countries for children performers who are making their way to Junior Eurovision Song Contest.