The National library of Belarus (second floor, the Ringed gallery) hosts a book exhibition “The City Motives”, dedicated to the City Day anniversary (the second Saturday of September), from August 23rd to October 2nd.
Minsk is the capital of the Republic of Belarus – one of the ancient cities of Europe. The hero-city is a city with a many-century history and, at the same time, it is a young city, which had been rebuild from the ruins and ash by the labour feat of the citizens.
In 2022, Minsk is celebrating its 955-th anniversary from the date it has been mentioned firstly in “The Tale of the Bygone Years”. The city had a comfortable geo location – on the crossroads from the West to the East. Numerous trade routes had contributed to its economic growth. Today, Minsk is like a poem from the stone, glass, with modern houses, alleys with parks, life carpets from the grass and flower gardens. Minsk as each other metropolitan city has its trait, rhythm, unrepeated face, soul and mood. The city lives, works, joys and dreams about tomorrow.
A festival exhibition is opened by the section “The Witnesses of a distant past”. The exhibition exhibits publications, which do not only display the events from the city history, but also demonstrate the diversity of historical sources, which are stored in the stock of the National library of Belarus. A. Sapunov, a historian, archaeographer and local lore specialist is among the researches of Minsk. The exhibition represents his collections of documents: “Polotsk, Vitebsk and Minsk in the 20’s of the last century” (1902) signed by the author and “Archives in the cities of Mogiljov governorate and Minsk” (1902). The most early printed edition in the exhibition is “The collection of ancient honorable degrees and acts of the cities of Minsk governorate, the Orthodox monastery, churches and other subjects” (1848) with exlibris of K.E. Chapski, who had been a Minsk city mayor in 1890-1901.
The book by N. Osmolovski “Minsk”, published in 1952, stands out along the other presented editions. The book was the first attempt to summarize a city building experience of Minsk; show its historical past and stages of development in the early of 1950s. The series of book under a common name “Minks” are interested either. The author narrates the story about the capital of 1940s-1969s based on the archive documents, periodical press, providing a great number of rear photography.
Full-scale distinctive traits of Minsk: temples, squares, theater buildings, stations, picturesque images of the streets and suburbs, holiday and daily life can be imagined from original post cards of the end of the 19th – in the early of 20th century.
The next section of the exhibition is “The Walking on the Main Street”. The highlight of the section is the publication “The Main Street of Minsk”, which contains the stories of hundreds homes on Nezavisimosti Avenue – the street which was renamed about ten times during its existence. It includes the stories of people, who had lived there, earned their flats, visited shops and theaters. The publication contains unique photography, outlines and archive documents.
The third section is “The City and People in Digital Cameras’ Objective”. There are jubilee publications, colorful and richly illustrated albums, and popular science and fiction publications.
The exhibition will last from August 23rd to October 2nd, 2022 in the Ringed gallery of the second floor.
The end date of the exhibition can be changed.
The opening hours of the exhibition corresponds to the library’s opening hours.
Entrance to the exhibition is available by the library ticket or ticket of the library's social and cultural center.
For more info: (+375 17) 293 29 80.
The article is created by the Gallery and exhibition department.
