From 9 to 10 April, the National Library hosted the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Museums of the 21st Century: New Meanings, New Space, New Images”.
The two-day conference was attended by museum professionals and researchers in the field of museology and cultural heritage of Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, the USA and Ukraine, as well as the staff of the National Library of Belarus.
Natalia Karchevskaya, the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus; Tatiana Bembel, the chair of the Belarusian Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and Alies Susha, the deputy director of the National Library of Belarus spoke at the opening of the conference.
The plenary session heard the reports of Dr Prof Hans-Martin Hinz, museum professional and ex-president of ICOM (Germany); Mikhail Gnedovsky, Candidate of Historical Sciences, leading analyst of the Moscow Agency for Recreation and Tourism (Russia); Alexander Guzhalovsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor and museum professional (with Tatiana Bembel, Belarus); Pavel Sopotko, director of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus (Belarus).
A panel discussion was about challenges and issues of the day for museums. During the discussion, reference was made to the international exhibition "Belarus and the Bible," which was held at the Book Museum in September-October 2018. The experts assessed the exhibition as one of the largest and most successful projects in Belarus.
The conference’s first day included two sections titled "Museums and Cultural Memory" and "Social Role of Museums". Tatiana Sapieha, head of section of the Bibliology Research Department of the National Library of Belarus, spoke at the second section. She presented a report about the activity of the Book Museum and announced the results of the National Library’s exhibition projects "Francysk Skaryna and his Epoch" (2017), "Belarus and the Bible" (2018), as well as the education project "The Book Professors Club."
The second day included four sections: "Museum and Society", "The Museum as an Art Area and Cultural Space", "Inclusive Projects at the Museum" and "Various Spaces of the Museum." Deputy director Alies Susha introduced the listeners to the exposition of the Book Museum and discussed the prospects for its renewal. Anna Stanislavenko, an expert of the Bibliology Research Department, made a report about foreign and domestic experience in volunteer work in the museums. Tatiana Sapieha was as moderator at the section "Various Spaces of the Museum."
The conference under the auspices of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) was attended by best Belarusian and foreign experts in the field of museum science, who discussed the pressing issues that Belarusian museums face today.
The organizers are the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus in cooperation with the State Literary Museum of Yanka Kupala, National History Museum of the Republic of Belarus, National Library of Belarus, Cultural Heritage and Modernity Foundation (Belarus), Belarusian Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the Republican Council of Museums Directors.
Bibliology Research Department
