For the first time in the written sourses the Verhnedvinsk city was mentioned in 1386 (the name in the cronicles Drys, Drisa, Driza).

During the Levonian war Drisa was occupied by Ivan the Terrible troops. He maintained the mastery of it for 19 years. During the Russian-Polish war of 1654—1667 Drisa inhabitants sweared allegiance to Russia. At the beginning of the Patriotic war of 1812 a fortified camp and the headquarters of the Russian army commander M. B. Barklai de Tolli were situated in Verhnedvinsk.

As the railway station Drisa has been one of the main point of flax export abroad since 1866. In December 1962 Drisa was renamed Verhnedvinsk which is the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the Verhnedvinsk region.

Here we find: a flax treating plant, the building materials plant, a butter and cheese factory, a bakery factory, the artistic products plant, a service center, a logging chance. There are many architectural monuments in the region: a cloistral hospital (the middle of the XVIII century), a park — one of the most interesting examples of the park art in Vitebsk region (XVIII century) in Osveia, the Bowery (the second half of the XIX century. It includes the bowery house, a chapel, a farmery, a park with a pond) in the v. Opytnaya, a Troitsky church (the beginning of the XX century) in the v. Rositsa, a church (1857—1867) in the v. Saria.

Guide to towns and district centers of Republic of Belarus. A.V. Varivonchik [etc.]