A museum lesson “The Belarusian ABC-Book” with Alies Susha, timed to the 400th anniversary of the first “Bukvar”, was held within the framework of the project “Book Professors’ Club”, on April 22nd.
Tatiana Sapiega, the head of section for research and project work and coordinator of the project "Book Professors’ Club", spoke about the first book for the teaching of reading and writing. Francysk Skaryna believed that with the Bible one could comprehend not only the dogmas of Christianity and ethical standards of the Christian life, but sciences as well. The ornamentation of Skaryna’s publications and different fonts made the book more attractive and understandable to students. The founder of the first special book under the name of "ABC" for the teaching of reading and writing was Ivan Fedorov.
What did students use for writing in the old days? Parchment and paper were a luxury. One of the oldest written materials were wax tablets and sticks known as "pisalo", "stil", or "stylus", which were used as a pen. At the lesson the "book professors" wrote Old Slavonic letters using styluses and wax tablets.
When did the word “bukvar” (ABC-book), so familiar to today's students, appear? Alies Susha, the deputy director of the National Library of Belarus, PhD, researcher of culture and the history of the book, told a fascinating story about the Belarusian primers. The world's first book entitled "Bukvar" was published by Vilna Orthodox Brotherhood in the town of Evye near Vilnius, belonging to the glorious Bogdan Oginski, in 1618. The book was intended for the initial teaching of reading and writing. Later publications with the same name became well-known on the territory of modern Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia and other countries. “Bukvar” is a unique book, which lays the foundations of culture, forming the most important values at the very beginning of education.
