The project of museification of the frescoes of the Transfiguration Church received a grant from Belarusian and Russian funds

April 15, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Five projects by Belarusian scientists on the history and culture of ancient Polotsk have received grants from the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research (BRFFR) and the Russian Foundation for Humanities (RGNF), the BRFFR informed a BELTA correspondent. Funding from the Belarusian and Russian foundations will be provided to: the project on the museification of frescoes of the 12th-19th centuries of the Transfiguration Church of the Spaso-Yefrosinievsky Monastery, presented by the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve; research by scientists from the K. Krapiva Institute of Art Studies, Ethnography and Folklore of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the musical art, intellectual life, and written culture of ancient Polotsk; and the work of scientists from the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences on the anthropological characteristics of the population of the Polotsk land. According to the competition terms, the project implementation period should not exceed two years. Therefore, it can be expected that in the year of the 1150th anniversary of Polotsk (which will be celebrated in 2012), the public will be introduced to new scientific works dedicated to the history of the oldest city in Belarus. A necessary condition for granting the funds is the scientists' commitment to make the research results public by publishing them in scientific journals. In accordance with the cooperation agreement concluded between them at the end of 2010, the BRFFR and RGNF announced a joint thematic competition of fundamental research projects "BRFFR - RGNF "Polotsk-2011". Thus, the foundations consolidated their efforts to finance relevant scientific research on the problems of ancient Polotsk, carried out jointly by scientists from Belarus and Russia. Twelve research teams and scientists expressed their desire to participate in the competition. -0-