The Big Atlas of Belarus' History, a fundamental four-volume edition, was presented in the National Library on November 21.
In ancient Greek mythology, there was a huge mighty titan Atlas (or Atlantis), who held the sky on his shoulders. The Atlas presented in the library is not inferior in scale. For more than 10 years, cartographers, historians, proofreaders and other specialists worked on the first in Belarus comprehensive historical and cartographic publication, which covers the period from the appearance of the primitive man on Belarusian soil to present day.
The guests got acquainted with the content of all four volumes, learning about the preparation of maps and the value of The Big Atlas of Belarus' History in the cultural context.
The event was attended by representatives of the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus and the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the ministries of foreign affairs, culture, information and education of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian Research Center for Electronic Documentation, the Republican Unitary Enterprise “Belkartografiya”, of the State Committee on Property of the Republic of Belarus, the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography of the Russian Federation, and also diplomats, academics and journalists.
A copy of the Atlas was ceremonially donated to the National Library of Belarus.
The project was initiated by the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Belkartografiya" of the State Committee on Property of the Republic of Belarus. Inna Shlyk, director of the organization, told that such a large edition was a new stage in the development of national cartography.
Director of the National Library of Belarus, Roman Motulsky, thanked the authors for their long-term work assuring that the four-volume Atlas would occupy a worthy place in the country’s main book treasure.
The first volume of The Big Atlas of Belarus' History was published in 2009, and the last in October 2018. The book’s thematic sections cover military-political events, administrative transformations, socio-economic and cultural development and the spiritual life of society. The Atlas includes more than 400 unique maps, each of which is based on the original source. Each volume is supplemented by general maps with all more or less significant settlements of the corresponding time with the designation of affiliation. The geographical index acquaints the reader with the historical and modern names of all settlements located on the general map, belonging to districts and estates, the time of the first mentioning in sources, variants and changes of names.
Along with the staff of the "Belkartografiya" Enterprise, the project engaged scientists of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, specialists of the Belarusian Research Center for Electronic Documentation, Belarusian State University and other educational institutions, as well as various state bodies and other organizations.
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The article is created by the Public Relations Department.
