On September 6 the presentation of a facsimile reproduction of the world's first "Primer" for representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in the Republic of Belarus and members of the National Commission of the Republic of Belarus for UNESCO was held in the Labyrinth Gallery.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and the National Library of Belarus.
Welcoming speeches were made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, the Chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO Vladimir Makei and the Director of the National Library of Belarus Roman Motulsky. The presentation was attended by foreign diplomats, representatives of international organizations, members of the National Commission for UNESCO, creative intelligentsia and the media.
During the event Vladimir Makei noted that the "Bukvar" published in the Old Belarussian language served as a serious foundation for the development of educational activities and spiritual culture not only for Belarus, but for the whole region, and that the facsimile reproduction of the oldest primer is a particularly significant event in the cultural life of the country.
"This is just one of many examples of the fruitful activity of the National Library of Belarus. Over the past decades, the library has implemented a number of major projects to preserve, multiply and popularize the book heritage of Belarus", the minister added.
In this regard, the National Library of Belarus was awarded a diploma of the National Commission for UNESCO for its significant contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage and active work in the field of international humanitarian cooperation.
Roman Motulsky spoke about the history of the "Primer" and its significance for the Belarusians:
"The book was published in 1618 in the printing house of the Vilnius Holy Spirit Brotherhood in the town of Vievis. It is one of the oldest Belarusian publishing houses, which were publishing books in Church Slavonic, Old Belorussian and Polish. Today we have something to be proud of: the title "Bukvar", created by our ancestors, was included in modern Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Bosnian and other languages".
Roman Motulsky thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and the National Commission for UNESCO in the person of Vladimir Makei for fruitful cooperation. He also expressed gratitude to representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Belarus.
It is known that only two originals of the Vievis "Bukvar" have came down to us. One of them, incomplete, is in Denmark, in the Royal Library. The second, a complete copy, is in the United Kingdom in the Middle Temple Library.
The honorable guests got acquainted with the international exhibition "The Peoples of the World and their Primers", where various ABC-books are presented. There are about 1,400 alphabets in 587 languages in all from the collections of the National Library of Belarus, as well as from the private collection of the Latvian teacher, author of primers and books about the peoples of the world Juris Cibuļs.
The guests could see the performance of the student choir of the Belarusian State Academy of Music under the leadership of Inessa Bodyako.
The partners in the facsimile reproduction of the world's first "Bukvar" are the Middle Temple Library in London, the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, the International Association of Belarusians, the Belarusian State University, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the European Bank reconstruction and development, as well as the Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction Belinvestbank.
See also the TV-spots about the presentation:
