Verkhnedvinsk

(until 1962, Drissa), a city, administrative center of Verkhnedvinsk Raion, Vitebsk Oblast, Byelorussian SSR. It is located on the Drissa River (tributary of the Zapadnaia Dvina), 3 km from the Verkhnedvinsk railroad station on the Polotsk-Daugavpils line. Population, 4,900 (1969). The city has an art objects factory, a flax plant, a butter and cheese plant, a brick plant and a museum of regional studies. Verkhnedvinsk has been well known since the 14th century and became a city in 1777. In 1812 the Drissa Camp was set up near Verkhnedvinsk.