Vitebsk museum workers and archivists published an unusual book about the history of Vitebsk
The Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, the Marc Chagall Museum, and the State Archives of the Vitebsk Region have for the first time pooled their extra-budgetary resources and published an unusual book, Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya, author of the book and director of the Marc Chagall Museum, told a BELTA correspondent.
The book is titled "A Walk with an Old Map," and its concept was inspired by a 1904 plan of the city of Vitebsk, which is kept in the regional archives. "A Walk with an Old Map" is a guide to the provincial city of the early 20th century, a collection of essays on the history of its streets and architectural monuments, and excerpts from archival documents and memoirs of its famous citizens. Thanks to these recollections, it is known that during the visit of Tsar Nicholas II to Vitebsk, a traffic jam formed on the central square due to cab drivers, and the emperor and autocrat had to wait in his car. And then Nicholas drove past the photo studio of Goloshchekin, the brother of the very Filipp Goloshchekin who later became one of the organizers of the execution of the royal family.
A separate chapter of the book, "The Theater Presents an Opera," is dedicated to the cultural life of Vitebsk at that time. By the way, visiting artists staged 28 operas a month in the provincial city, and all of them were sold out. Shortly after its premiere in St. Petersburg, Vsevolod Meyerhold brought to Vitebsk a play based on Alexander Blok's drama "The Puppet Show," but the public did not accept the aesthetics of the new art, and the production failed.
Of course, the book mentions Marc Chagall, Ossip Zadkine, and other equally famous personalities associated with Vitebsk at the beginning of the last century. Photographs of the city from that time, postcards, and pictures of modern Vitebsk are used as illustrations. "I wanted to write not a scholarly work, but, based on scientific and archival sources, to create an engaging read," admitted the author.
The book was published in an edition of 500 copies and saw the light of day thanks to the financial resources of three institutions being pooled. This is the first such experience in the region, and museum and archive workers hope it will be continued. Such publications, based solely on reliable sources, well-illustrated, and written in an easily understandable style, maintain interest in the history of one's city and homeland, attracting not only local historians but also tourists. Alongside bookstores, the book will also be sold by its publishers – the regional museum and the Marc Chagall Museum.