Archaeological research is being conducted by Vitebsk scientists in the flood zone of the Vitebsk Hydroelectric Power Station

For the international scientific and practical conference "Vitebsk Antiquities", which was held for the sixth time at the regional museum of local lore, researchers from Belarus, Russia, Latvia, and for the first time from the USA and Poland prepared fifty reports. They are related to the most diverse historical aspects of the development of the Dvina region in the chronological range from deep antiquity to the first third of the 20th century.

Currently, important archaeological research is being conducted in the area of the HPP construction on the Western Dvina. These places may be flooded, and therefore scientists are making the most of the moment. At the conference "Vitebsk Antiquities"-2014, a report on the work done was presented for the first time in the report "The Western Dvina River in the flood zone of the Vitebsk HPP: from the times of A. Sapunov to the present day" by candidate of historical sciences Anatoly Dulov (VSU named after P.M. Masherov) and Denis Yurchak, chief specialist of the department of ideological work, culture and youth affairs of the city executive committee. A significant part of the entire conference program was devoted to archaeological research, studies by historians and museum workers.

However, these scientific readings are also attractive to local historians, philologists, archivists, and art historians. This year is special – it marks the 170th anniversary of Ilya Repin's birth and the 160th anniversary of Yuri Pen's birth, artists whose lives are inextricably linked with Vitebsk. Emphasis was also placed on names that have entered the history of culture. Pen and his students are just one of the thematic areas of the conference. This year, for the first time, art historian Elena Ivanova from the American city of Orange joined "Vitebsk Antiquities". In a message specially sent to Vitebsk, she attempted to reconstruct the authentic biography of Leyba Shulman-Gaspard, one of Pen's legendary students. She discovered a number of interesting materials in archives, including those in St. Petersburg and Minsk, namely, a marriage record of his with a native of Vitebsk, confirmation of Shulman and Pen's contacts during the latter's Paris exhibition in 1897, and much more.

During the scientific readings, the name of Ilya Repin was mentioned more than once, in the reports of Valery Shishanov, Deputy Director of the Museum of Local Lore – about icons painted by the artist; Vera Rogach, researcher at the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore – about memorable places and monuments to Repin; and Mikhail Tsybulsky, art historian – about the work of Ryhor Bobrovsky, a Vitebsk native from Repin's "nest".

Within the framework of the conference

"Vitebsk Antiquities" at the Town Hall, a unique exhibition "Life and Work of I. Repin on Postcards" from the collection of local historian Arkady Podlipsky has opened. The owner of the collection said that Repin was one of the first artists who responded to the offer to provide works for printing free of charge. Thus, in 1897, "The Zaporozhian" was published. Almost all famous Russian publishers, and later Soviet ones, published Repin. Repin's "Zaporozhians" were published at least 50 times, "Ivan the Terrible" - 29 times.

The exhibition includes about three hundred collectible postcards. On the exhibited items, the Repin theme is represented not only by reproductions of paintings, but also by images of Repin's places, including Zdravnevo, monuments to Repin, and photo portraits of the artist.

In addition, rare postcards from the collection of the regional museum of local lore are exhibited at the Town Hall, one of them with Ilya Repin's autograph - an inscription to Anna Diakonova, made in 1911.

The exhibition is still open to visitors.

Natalia KRUPITSA, "Vitbichi"