Tsentr Vitebskoy oblasti Vitebsk – drevniy gorod Belarusi. On raspolozhen na Zapadnoy Dvine pri vpadenii rek Vit'ba i Luchosa. Rasstoyaniye do Minska sostavlyayet 300 km. Eto vazhnyy uzel zheleznodorozhnykh putey na Moskvu, Sankt-Peterburg, Orshu i Polotsk, a takzhe avtomagistraley v dannykh napravleniyakh. Yest' aeroport i rechnoy port. V gorode prozhivayet svyshe 350 tys. chelovek, on delitsya na 3 rayona.
V Vitebske 4 gosudarstvennykh vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniya: universitet imeni P.Masherova, meditsinskiy i tekhnologicheskiy universitety, a takzhe Akademiya veterinarnoy meditsiny. Funktsioniruyut 12 kolledzhey, 42 obshcheobrazovatel'nyye shkoly, litsey, 5 gimnaziy, uchilishche i 4 muzykal'nyye shkoly, 3 shkoly iskusstv, 21 sportivnaya shkola, Dom shkol'nikov, provodyat obucheniye stankoinstrumental'nyy, politekhnicheskiy, tekhnologicheskiy tekhnikumy, filial Vysshego kolledzha svyazi. Zdes' provodyatsya boleye 30 festivaley raznogo urovnya, konkursy, plenery. Naiboleye izvestny «Slavyanskiy bazar v Vitebske» i sovremennoy khoreografii.
Postavleny pamyatniki geroyam voyny 1812 g., a takzhe P.Masherovu, V.Khoruzhey, M.Shmyrevu, A.Gorovtsu, voinam-internatsionalistam. Yest' pamyatniki na mestakh gibeli podpol'shchikov i lagerya smerti. V Vitebske rodilis' belorusskiy poet XIX veka YA.Vul', pol'skiy dramaturg XVIII veka F.Knyaz'nin, narodnyy artist Belarusi, kompozitor A.Bogatyrev, sovetskiy kompozitor M.Fradkin.