On January 24th a press conference dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the first Bukvar at the National Press Center was held.
The book was published on July 24, 1618 in the publishing house of the Vilna Holy Spirit Orthodox Brotherhood in Vievis. It was not only about how to read and write, but also about spirituality. There are only two saved copies of the Bukvar published in 1618. One of the books was moved to London in the early XVII century by scientific books collector Robert Ashley. Up to the present day, the book is kept in the Library of Middle Temple in the UK. The second and last known part of the Bukvar is in the Royal Library of Denmark. There were no one book on the native land territory: they are simply "read out", as it often happens with educational publications.
The press conference was attended by Director of the National Library of Belarus, Roman Motulsky; by Svetlana Kudryavtseva, head of methodical maintenance of historical and social science and the social and cultural education of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus; by Andrey Bryshtsyalov, chairman of the Belarusian Bank for Reconstruction and Development Belinvestbank; by Anton Usov, senior external relations advisor delegation of the European Bank for reconstruction and development in the Republic of Belarus; Ian Fox, deputy head of the British diplomatic mission and Northern Ireland in the Republic of Belarus.
The press conference was opened by Roman Motulsky, the Library director, who noted that the 400-years anniversary is a sufficient reason to study Bukvar as a monument of Belarusian book culture within the scientific frameworks. The purpose of the project is to study the origins of the Belarusian education and publishing, facsimile renovation and popularization of ancient edition published for the first time under the name of Bukvar. Roman Motulsky stressed that without the study of the history of textbook and national traditions of education, they can not successfully solve problems about new textbooks today.
Svetlana Kudryavtseva said that there were Belarusians who created this title, Bukvar, and were at the origins of the first edition. Facsimile reprint is a bright event in the book heritage study and research of our country.
The project of the facsimile reprint and popularization of the ancient editions of the first Bukvar was supported by the Embassy of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Ian Fox, deputy chief of Mission, told to journalists the Bukvar history in the collections of the library of Middle Temple in London. It is a closed institution, where it is impossible to get any person. Today there is the digital copy of the book, which will be published in 2018 as a facsimile edition of the oldest Belarusian Bukvar, and any person could touch it. Ian Fox said that it will be possible to bring the original edition to the National Library of Belarus. This is a very important moment in the history of cooperation between the UK and Belarus.
Andrey Bryshtsyalov and Anton Usov, the project sponsors stressed that special attention the social projects are the most important in their activities. A facsimile Bukvar reproduction is a very important and valuable event in the cultural life of Belarus.
Director of the National Library said that 2018 will be full of events dedicated to the first Bukvar.
The project partners are: the Middle Temple Library in London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, the United Kingdom Embassy of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Republic of Belarus, the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Culture of Belarus, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the European Bank for reconstruction and development, "Belinvestbank".
