Old-Ulanowicz cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Vitebsk. The story of the first Jewish cemetery of Vitebsk began with the decree of king Wladyslaw IV, which allowed the Jewish community of Vitebsk to buy the land for burial in 1633. The successor state power Jan III Sobieski confirmed the right of Jews to the cemetery's land soon after coming to power in the beginning of his reign in 1673.

However, in Vitebsk there were a large number of Jews. Soon the cemetery is full and new the dead was nowhere to bury. The community appealed to the city Council with a request to allow her to buy a new plot of land, however, the city authorities, constrained prohibitive laws of the Russian Empire concerning the property of Jews who are unable to unambiguously resolve this issue. The case was transferred to the Senate, where it was solved a few years. The new cemetery was allowed to redeem only in 1909.

During the Second World war by Nazi Germany on the territory of the Old-Ulanowicz cemetery were mass executions, and Jewish tombstones were vandalized. So, how many are actually in the cemetery graves, now nobody knows.

Today, Old-Ulanowicz cemetery is the only Jewish cemetery in Vitebsk. All other ancient burial sites, were demolished by the Soviet authorities. In 1990, a Jewish cemetery was closed by the decision of the Vitebsk city Executive Committee. Donations of former compatriots in the territory of the cemetery a little ennobled and built a new fence.