"Time. Events. People". Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore Celebrates 105th Anniversary

The official birthday of the cultural institution is considered to be November 12, 1918, when, on the initiative of the Vitebsk Governorate Department of Public Education, the Governorate Museum was established at the Vitebsk private collection of Anton Brodovsky. For 105 years now, it has been a center of socio-cultural and scientific-educational activities.

Deputy Head of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Culture Department Oleg Ageev

The exhibition, dedicated to this significant date, reveals the most important stages of the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore's development: the opening of the Governorate Museum, the formation of museum collections, the creation of an exposition in the former town hall building in the 1920s, the evacuation of the museum fund during the Great Patriotic War, the resumption of the museum's activities immediately after the liberation of Vitebsk in June 1944, the creation of a permanent exposition, the renovation of the town hall and the opening of new branches in the 1990s, as well as the museum's activities in the modern era. It is based on documents and photographs from the collections of the cultural institution, the regional state archive, the V.I. Lenin Regional Library, and private collections. They introduce viewers to the significant events, facts, and people who left their mark on the museum's history.

The cultural institution is one of the oldest and richest museums in Belarus, comprising a town hall and three branches. The museum's collection totals over 300,000 exhibits, and its archives house, for example, a birch bark letter from the 13th-14th centuries, the "Book of Privileges of the City of Vitebsk," works by Yuri Pen, representatives of the Vitebsk Art School, and much more.

Head of the Culture Department of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee Natalya Shienok

Guests who came to the museum's celebration did not leave it without gifts. For example, Gleb Lapitsky, General Director of the Vitebsk Culture Center and Director of the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk International Arts Festival, presented the museum director Tatyana Starinskaya with a "Crystal Lyre," the original version of which is the main prize for the young performers' competition at the large-scale forum. "We have much in common, we hold many joint events, and we always remain good neighbors," he noted, presenting the gift.

Residents of Vitebsk and guests of the regional center will be able to visit the exhibition until December 25.

"BelTA"