x-default

Marc Chagall Art Center

Belarus


The first museum on every itinerary should be the excellent Chagall Art Center, which was established in 1992 and has about 300 of Chagall's graphic works, mostly bequeathed to the museum by the artist's granddaughters and a German donor, Heinrich Mandel. Less than one-quarter of the collection is on display at any given time.

The highlights are several collections of lithographs, including illustrations of Bible stories (1956–60) drawn to accompany Gogol's Dead Souls (1923–25), and graphic representations of the 12 tribes of Israel (1960). Sadly, there aren't more Chagall paintings in Belarus because his work was banned by the Soviet government: it even rejected a priceless cache of paintings bequeathed to it by the artist himself.

Downstairs is a space for temporary exhibitions.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Belarus attractions

1. Assumption Cathedral

0.28 MILES

Vitsebsk's two most prominent churches command high ground in the Old Town above the spot where the tiny Visba River empties into the Dvina. The larger…

2. Holy Resurrection Church

0.37 MILES

This twin-spired beauty is a 2009 reconstruction of an 18th-century baroque church and features gorgeous interior frescoes. It lies at the base of vul…

3. Marc Chagall House Museum

0.46 MILES

Across the town's river, a good 20-minute walk away from the Chagall Art Center, is the Marc Chagall House Museum, where the artist lived as a child for…

4. Vitebsk Art Museum

0.48 MILES

The highlight of this surprisingly impressive collection are the moving realist scenes of early 20th-century Vitsebsk street life painted by Yudel Pen,…