More than 300 Polotsk residents will take part in the presentation of Polotsk as the Cultural Capital of 2010 in Minsk

January 17, Minsk /BELTA/. More than 300 Polotsk residents will take part in the presentation of Polotsk as the "Cultural Capital of 2010", which will be held in the official capital, Minsk, on January 18-19. BELTA was informed about this by Anna Smolskaya, press secretary of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus. The vibrant cultural life and rich historical heritage of ancient Polotsk will be presented through a series of events with the participation of the best creative groups, artists, and craftspeople of the city. The culmination of the program, which promises to be bright and diverse, will be the festive gala concert "City on the Dvina - My Native Polotsk..." on the stage of the Belarusian State Academic Musical Theatre, as well as the ceremony of transferring the honorary title of cultural capital to the next Belarusian city. The audience will be presented with a concert that will vividly and originally showcase the origin and flourishing of Polotsk's rich cultural and historical traditions from ancient times to the present day. The festive events in Minsk will be opened by actors of the Polotsk Theater "Pilgrim" of the City Palace of Culture, an Honored Amateur Ensemble of Belarus. On the stage of the New Drama Theater, they will show the play "Uncle's Dream" based on the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. From January 19, a two-week exhibition "Polotsk Solstice" of decorative and applied arts by Polotsk craftspeople and creative compositions by students of the children's art school will open at the Minsk Regional Center for Folk Art. The exhibition will feature works of decorative and applied art created by famous Polotsk folk artisans and their students - pupils of the children's art school. The golden treasures of the ancient Polotsk land will leave the walls of the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve for the first time and will be presented in the exhibition hall of the National Historical Museum of Belarus. The history of modern Polotsk through the faces of its famous residents can be explored at the photo exhibition by Ernst Teteresky "Polotsk in Faces" in the foyer of the Belarusian State Academic Musical Theatre. At the beginning of 2010, the Ministry of Culture launched the "Cultural Capital of Belarus" campaign, designed to make the best achievements of national culture accessible to residents of all cities and regions of Belarus. Within the framework of the first public and cultural republican campaign "Cultural Capital 2010", over fifty events were held in Polotsk. The Belarusian State Honored Choreographic Ensemble "Khoroshki", the ensemble "Classic-Avant-garde", and "Pesniary" performed in the city. The art gallery hosted exhibitions of lithographs by Napoleon Orda from the collections of the National Historical Museum of Belarus, paintings by Ivan Khrutsky, and vernissages of Belarusian and foreign contemporary artists. -0-