Igor Marzalyuk, the Chairman of the Standing Commission on Education, Culture and Science at the House of Representatives, told journalists before the roundtable discussion titled The National Library of Belarus — Activities for Creativity and Creation that one of the main priorities of the Belarusian state is to nurture highly intellectual and developed young people
“At its opening, the Head of State described the National Library of Belarus as a temple of culture and science. In this context, I want to highlight that this is somewhat comparable to St. Sophia of Polotsk, which stands as a symbol of wisdom, Christianity, and book printing. The National Library, along with the respect for the wisdom contained in books that we witnessed during the construction of the new building by the state, demonstrates that one of the top priorities for the Belarusian nation, the Belarusian state, and the President is to nurture highly intellectual and developed youth, as well as all those who wish to engage with this temple of knowledge. This is the reason we have chosen this topic for the seminar,” Mr. Marzalyuk underlined.
Prior to the start of the roundtable discussion, the parliamentarians were introduced to unique publications — they were shown rare and especially valuable books from the collections of the National Library of Belarus. The deputies were also given a tour of the book storage facilities. Among the items that drew special attention were original Prague editions by Francysk Skaryna, the first Belarusian printer, dating from 1517 to 1519, including four Books of Kings bound together under a single cover. In total, the library’s collection includes 10 copies of the Prague editions across six bindings.
The deputies were also given the chance to view an original copy of the Ostrog Bible, published in 1581 by the first printer Ivan Fiodorov — the earliest complete translation of the Holy Scriptures into Church Slavonic. Additionally, they were able to look through one of the early Western European editions of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, printed in Florence in 1481. The illustrations in this edition are thought to have been made by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli.
The collection features editions from the Mogilev brotherhood printing house, a significant publishing centre in Belarus. It also contains part of the personal book collection of St. George Konissky. Access to the archive storage is restricted to library staff only. However, library visitors can use these books in the rare books reading room — either by viewing digital versions or by requesting the original copies with a special letter from their employer or educational institution.
