Vitebsk Summer Amphitheatre
Covered open-air arena for over 6,000 people, main stage of the Slavianski Bazaar festival.
The amphitheatre was cut into the slope of a ravine near the Vitba river in the centre of Vitebsk and opened in 1988, replacing an earlier open-air stage. It was built to hold the song festivals that had been staged in the city since the early 1980s and which became the International Arts Festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk in 1992. A reconstruction completed in 2007 added a translucent roof over the bowl and the stage, new seating and technical galleries, raising capacity to more than six thousand.
The arena is the principal venue of the festival each July, when it hosts the opening and closing galas, the international pop song competition and the children's music competition, along with themed evenings given over to performers from individual countries. Outside the festival the amphitheatre is used through the warmer months for concerts, competitions and civic ceremonies, and it is run as a branch of the Vitebsk city culture centre.
Highlights
- Covered open-air bowl seating more than six thousand
- Main stage of the Slavianski Bazaar festival since 1992
- Roof and technical galleries added in the 2007 reconstruction
- International pop song and children's music competitions each July
