- published: 24 May 2010
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Polotsk(Polatsk, Belarusian: По́лацк, Russian: По́лоцк, Polish: Połock), is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast. Its population is more than 80,000 people. It is served by Polotsk Airport and during the Cold War was home to Borovitsy air base.
The Old East Slavic name, Polotesk, is derived from the Polota River (the real meaning of the name is Puolauta and this in the Lithuanian language means 'falling into', i.e., the river which flows into a bigger river), that flows into the Dvina nearby. The Vikings rendered that name as Palteskja.
Polotsk is one of the most ancient cities of the Eastern Slavs. The Primary Chronicle listed Polotsk in 862 (as Полотескъ, /poloteskŭ/), together with Murom and Beloozero. However, Polotsk was not yet in existence in the 9th century, and this record was an invention of the compiler, but an archaeological expedition of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus suggests that Polotsk already existed in the first half of the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe the city as the most heavily fortified in all of Rus.