Abstract: According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a lithographic apparatus including an illumination system for providing a beam of radiation, a support structure for supporting a patterning device, the patterning device serving to impart the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section; a substrate table for holding a substrate, and a projection system for projecting the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, wherein a pattern which the patterning device provides is rotatable, and the substrate is rotatable, rotation of the pattern being arranged to be proportional to rotation of the substrate, such that, after rotation, a pattern applied to the substrate is arranged to have the same orientation with respect to the substrate as it would if the pattern and substrate had not been rotated.