The Vitebsk Museum of Minay Shmyrev holds "partisan weddings"

August 15, Vitebsk /Sergey Kochetov - BELTA/. The Vitebsk Regional Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Shmyrev is implementing a new project "Partisan Wedding," whose main characters are a real bride and groom. The director of the museum, Irina Shishkova, told a BELTA correspondent about the features of the interactive performance with elements of historical reconstruction, which the first newlyweds were able to appreciate last weekend.

The project involves holding a wedding ceremony on the museum's park grounds with the maximum possible recreation of the atmosphere and historical realities of the Great Patriotic War. The event's script is based on elements of a Belarusian ethnographic wedding of the early 20th century and archival materials on wedding ceremonies held in wartime in occupied territories. The museum staff owe the birth of the idea for such a reconstruction largely to the potential newlyweds themselves, who approached the cultural institution with a request to hold part of the wedding ceremony directly at the museum. Full participants in the "Partisan Wedding" project are members of the Vitebsk branch of the military-historical reconstruction club "Comrades in Arms" and the youth public association "Calypso Equestrian Club."

According to the script, the groom-to-be is a partisan scout, and his beloved actively participates in the activities of one of the underground groups. During the event, the young couple undergo symbolic trials and complete tasks that are an important emotional component of the reconstruction. All this is accompanied by folk songs and ditties. The climax of the event is a meeting of the partisan detachment's headquarters, when the symbolic marriage registration takes place, and the newlyweds become holders of the "festive order for the partisan brigade on the former Vetryanaya Street in Vitebsk."

The program is designed for approximately one hour and can be varied depending on the newlyweds' wishes.

The Memorial Museum of the partisan commander of the brigade, Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Filippovich Shmyrev (partisan pseudonym Batka Minay), was opened on July 5, 1969, during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders. It includes 4 exhibition halls dedicated to various stages of the legendary partisan brigade commander's life, as well as a park of about 0.5 hectares. A sculptural bust of Minay Shmyrev, created by People's Artist of the USSR Zair Azgur, is installed in the park area, and an oak alley planted by former participants of the partisan movement is located there. In 2010, an alley of partisan glory was created here. As a result, the museum and park exposition represent a single memorial complex dedicated to the partisan movement. The museum's collections hold about 9,000 items. The museum building was constructed at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. -0-