The only museum of private collections in Belarus has opened in Vitebsk

The only museum of its kind in Belarus appeared in the city on the Dvina River in 1993 as a branch of the regional museum of local lore and was located for a long time in the former house of the land bank manager on 1st Dovatov Street. In 2012, a decision was made to move the exhibition to the historical center of the city and place it in the building of the first city power station. The new premises also allowed for the expansion of the exhibition.

If we look into the earlier history, it turns out that the first private museum in Vitebsk was opened in the second half of the 1880s by lawyer Vaclav Fyodorovich. By the way, at that time there were many people in the city who were passionate about the history of their region and were keen collectors, including Mikhail Kustinsky, Karl Bergner, Alexander Sementovsky, Alexei Sapunov, and Evdokim Romanov. And these are only some of the enthusiasts who laid the foundation for the current regional museum of local lore.

By the way, the provincial museum was also initiated by the private collection of Anton Brodovsky, which included a rich collection of numismatics, weapons, antiques, and archaeological finds. The first exhibition opened in May 1919. And in 1924, all collections of Vitebsk were united into one museum, which was located in the town hall.

– Currently, it is among the largest museums in Belarus, with over 210,000 items in its collection. However, no more than 20% of them are exhibited. Therefore, the increase in exhibition space and the opening of new branches are very important for us, – emphasized the director of the regional museum of local lore, Gleb Savitsky.

Over 4.4 billion non-denominated rubles were spent on the renovation of the building on Frunze Avenue, and about 700 million on the creation of the exhibition. Construction work was carried out by the enterprise "Ekoorgstroy," and the artistic implementation of the exhibition was done by ODO "Mastakservis."

– It is wonderful that our regional center has a new museum in the Year of Culture. The city needs it, as evidenced by public appeals after the temporary closure of the exhibition, – noted the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies Vladimir Terentyev and presented the management of the regional museum with a certificate for 3 computers.

The updated exhibition presents the most interesting items from the collections of Vaclav Fedorovich, Anton Brodovsky, Mikhail Kolkov, and most fully the collection of Ivan Galkevich. In total, over 1200 items. Here you can see archaeological artifacts, weapons, porcelain, embroidery, smoking accessories, sculpture, coins, commemorative and award medals and badges. An exhibition hall is also provided, where it is planned to present other collections, both from museum and private collections.

– The museum will become attractive for residents and guests of the city, local historians and numismatists, historians and museum workers. After all, every coin, every medal carries the memory of events – long gone and recent. Among the unique exhibits is a basset horn, for which the great Mozart wrote his works. It has an inscription that it belonged to the Polish King Jan Sobieski. True, this is just a legend, but this musical instrument itself is a great rarity in our times, – said the head of the branch, Tatyana Kolesnikova, who conducted a tour for the first visitors of the Museum of the History of Private Collecting.

And then everyone went to an improvised ball in the traditions of the 19th century, at which the very basset horn was played.

Tatyana Pasternak, "Vitebskiye vesti".