Vitebsk exhibition reveals territory’s hidden history

Vitebsk’s Regional Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy (home to one of the country’s largest coin collections) has set up an exhibition at Vitebsk’s Town Hall; there are 38 treasures, including 18-19th century Arab dirhams, from the Dobrinsky dig, in the Liozno District.

Most of the museum’s exhibits date from the 16th and 17th centuries, and originate from the days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rzecz Pospolita. Curator Nadezhda Varlamova, who heads the Scientific Exposition Department, tells us that, in 2014, porcelain tableware made in the Russian town of Msta in the 1930s arrived at the Vitebsk museum: it’s most recent acquisition.

Besides marvelling at ancient coins, jewels and weaponry, visitors can also read fascinating legends connected with treasures: that of the Princess of Zamkovaya Mountain (Mountain); and about Napoleon’s carriages and sleighs loaded with gold, supposedly sunk in Dvina River area lakes.

Tekhnomuzey LLC has been responsible for the technical equipment and artistic lighting of the exhibition, working the same magic as it did at Minsk’s Museum of Great Patriotic War History.