During that day Borisov bewildered us: everything was prepared really fundamentally in the country for the anniversary, the 15th Belarusian Authorship Day. For the first time the guests were given the chance to see the sign-symbol of the festival, witnessing before that a wondrous theatricalized procession: there was unfolded an extemporaneous map of the country with 13 cities — the capitals of the Belarusian Authorship Day — at the square, and in the evening the guests were impressed by a great concert. Every publishing house and every editors office prepared their own surprises. By the way, so many people came to little Borisov — a city near Berezina, that none of the cities, where this festival was celebrated last time, could have been that much proud of that.A Promenade with Nikolay Gusovsky
The most colourful event was a carnival of all the recent capitals of the Authorship festival. About 500 people took place in that theatricalized event. At the central square of Borisov was created a “selected” map of Belarus, where all the recent Authorship festival’s capitals were demonstrated. Moreover, the delegations from the cities, where the festival took place earlier, created their own grounds — a kind of a city inside the city. And there were prepared some exhibitions, local foods and drinks and performances of the local singers and actors. That’s why the guests got pleasure from the “rapid-excursion” around Belarusian cities in little.
For the first time in the history of the Authorship Day’s celebration the sponsors decided to hold a theatricalized procession of the official delegations, writers, diplomats and other guests around the extemporaneous avenues of the festival cities-capitals (the procession started at the Revolution Avenue at 11.45 a.m. and changed into a theatricalized performance at the square which continued till 2 p.m.). The passing of the procession did not take a lot of time but the entertainment was not worse than the world famous Brazilian carnival though it had a Belarusian colouring. The heroes of the performance were the enlighteners Nikolay Gusovsky, Francisco Skoryna, Kiryla Turovsky, Petr Mstislavets, Davyd Garadzensky and the daughter of prince Borys, religious enlightener Evfrasinnya Polotskaya Zvyanislava — everybody was almost real!
By the way, about the guests: every collector of the modern famous people’s autographs should have come to Borisov, because so many representatives of different entertainment spheres visited Borisov for the Belarusian Authorship Day’s celebration for the first time in the history of the festival. There were writers from Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, from the Baltic States, Moldova at the festival. About 30 diplomatic embassies in Belarus became its guests. As it had never been before a great delegation of Belarusian writers visited Borisov — about 130 members of the Belarusian Writers Union. And together with the stage stars, sportsmen and other guests there were about one thousand people.
A monument weighing 4 tons
The anniversary year of the Belarusian Authorship Day’s conduction should have been rich in different surprises. At that one of such things stayed with the Borisov citizens after the festival had left the city. The question is an opening of the authorship sign-symbol, which should be called a “monument” because of its dimensions and weight, in the city park.
The sculpture’s history is not long but is already very rich, because, first of all, there was an idea to create just an abstract sign in honour of the 15th anniversary of the Belarusian Authorship Day, where all the cities where the celebration took place would have been marked. There was a variant of a “bunch” from metal truncheons, each of which would have presented one of the cities-capitals of the Authorship Day. But then it was thought over and decided to create a tradition, according to which some symbols would be left in every other place of the festival’s celebration. It was not a good idea to put a new truncheon into the already existing “bunch” every year! That’s why the first idea, let’s say so, died without the chance to be born but there was a new simple and symbolic decision to substitute it. The one who follows the history of the Belarusian Authorship Day’s celebration can immediately remember that in Postavy within the framework of solemnity of the competition “Book’s pictorial art’s” winners there started a tradition to present statuettes “Golden folio” to the winners. As the presentation of the “folio” was decided to become a traditional one, then exactly the image of that statuette crossed the monument authors’ minds.
“A girl with a book”, as should be mentioned, was created quite large by the sculptor Vladimir Slobodchikov: together with the base its weight is about 4 tons and it will look at the pedestrians in the city park of Borisov from the height of 4 meters. The sculpture was brought for the “permanent place of residence” on the eve of the festival to the city park but it was disclosed only on the celebration’s day at 2.50 p.m. But the sponsors are thinking over the question whether it is worth to clone such compositions for their maintenance in all other cities-capitals of the Authorship Day, or to invent something original in every new place for the citizens to have their own unique festival symbols.
Varnishing and acts
Two interesting events took place in the central district Borisov library at once. There was opened a memorial plaque of the patron of arts and statesman Ivan Kolodeev. As related the chief of the library Galina Slesarenko, Ivan Kolodeev came from the hereditary noblemen of the Chernigovskaya province and from the beginning of the 70’s of the XIXth century he was connected with Borisov area. The Emperor Alexander II for his industrious work presented him some lands around the local villages Upirevichi and Krasnoye. Kolodeev started a great activity: he was a founder and a stockholder of the industrial enterprises in the new part of that district city, from his free hand there started the acquaintance of local people with telephones, and it was exactly he who being the expert of the 1812 year war’s history, created “Novo-Borisovskaya collection of books, manuscripts, engravings, plans and maps of the Minsk province landowner I.H. Kolodeev”. These facts had been well-known still only to some specialists. But on the festival day the patron of arts’ name became known for many people who stayed near the library building. In that library many people had the chance to visit the exhibition of the Belarusian artist Valery Shkaruba. He is one of the most interesting landscape-painters in the modern world and he acted by himself as a guide at that exhibition. By the way, his personal exhibitions were held in the prestigious museums and galleries in Russia, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, Japan, many pictures are kept in private collections in Belarus and abroad, some are situated in the National Museum in Minsk, that’s why the chance to look at the works in Borisov, where the artist was born, could have been called a unique one.
An informative well-doing act “Crystal heart” is as unique. The essence of this high-blooded project is to pay the public’s attention to the problems of childhood. “Crystal heart” will be given to the enterprises and organizations, which were the most active to help children. The act will continue during the whole year, and the results will be summoned during the next Belarusian Authorship Day, which will take place in Grodno area.
Nadezhda Lapkovskaya
