Enough showpieces for everybody

For the website: Saved art treasures and sophisticated lighting equipment: what is inside the new building of the Art Museum

A month ago, a new building of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus was opened. It was opened just in time for the New Year and Christmas as if making a kind of gift to all Minsk residents and guests of the capital. It was made so quietly and modestly that the museum gave way not only to high-profile exhibitions in the main building but also to the most ordinary ones. Our correspondents carried out an inspection at the new halls exactly a month after the opening and can state: you must admit that the art territory is gorgeous.

Even more space

Any museum has at least three main tasks: to preserve the cultural heritage, study it and demonstrate it to visitors. It was with this that the Art Museum had problems. There are more than 30 thousand works of Belarusian, Russian, Western European, and Oriental art here: one building was not enough to appreciate the scale of the collection for a long time. In 2006, the museum was attached to the first large-scale extension, which made it possible to significantly expand the permanent exhibition. Among other features, the new so-called ‘glass’ building received a super-advanced technical stuffing: climate control and lighting equipment. By the way, it was made in the image and likeness of the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery. 
Nevertheless, it was still not possible to finally ease the congestion of the museum. Vladimir Prokoptsov, Director General of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, recalls, “So we got a new extension and a separate building of the directorate, it seemed that everything is fine, that this is more than enough! However, when we settled down, it turned out that there was still not enough space and our richest collection would not fit here. That is how the idea to get more areas by attaching adjacent buildings around the main building of the museum came about. There were simply no other options. If there was a wasteland behind the building, it would be possible to build something new, but there are only buildings around...”
Thus, with the support of the President and the city administration, every effort was made to review the occupancy of nearby buildings.
Thus, a month ago, almost 10 years after the start of reconstruction, the building on Karla Marksa Street, where the BSU dormitory had previously been located, received its first guests. You can get there both from the street and through the gallery of the extension of the main building.
“It is very convenient,” affirms Vladimir Prokoptsov. “You can come to the museum and visit all the exhibition hall, without leaving the building. If you want to have a snack or drink coffee with a croissant, you are welcome — there is an art cafe on the ground floor. And then you can go on watching the exhibition with a renewed vigour.”

The yearlong line

Next to the art cafe on the ground floor, there is a great joy and pride of the museum staff — a large-scale souvenir shop. The local assortment is in no way inferior to any department store. The main target audience, sellers say, are tourists who often make an emotional, spontaneous purchase — a souvenir that, in their opinion, is associated with the museum, Minsk, and Belarus in general. Decorative dishes and plates, T-shirts with the museum masterpieces, cups, and postcards are in the tops of sales. Tourists also appreciate books and gladly buy them: here you can find all the novelties from Belarusian publishing houses related to the theme of art.
“So, first of all, we sent here several copies of our album-catalogue called Icon Painting and Altar Painting of Belarus in the 16th – Early 19th Centuries. This is the first album of the scientific and educational series The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, which we prepared in November for the museum’s birthday,” says Vladimir Prokoptsov.  One floor above there are scientific departments, a lecture hall, and an art studio, where children can develop emotional intelligence, a sense of taste and style. The third floor is connected by a passage to the main building. Now there is the Saved Art Treasures exhibition, dedicated to the painstaking work of art restorers. It incorporates the works of ancient Belarusian, Russian and European art of the 17th-20th centuries from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, which were restored in 2010-2021.
“These works brought from the expeditions, as a rule, were in poor condition, as they were removed from the attics of temples, abandoned bell towers, found in the cellars of churches. After undergoing initial conservation, many of them have been waiting for a full-fledged restoration for years,” highlights the Head of the Department of Scientific and Restoration Workshops Arkady Shpunt.
Angel with a Lyre is the earliest of the works presented at the exhibition. It is dated 1642-1649 according to the time of interior decoration of the Church of the Annunciation — the Monastery of St. Brigitte in Grodno, where it decorated the balcony parapet for the organ. Its wooden base was split into pieces, the frame was lost, and the painting was damaged. Thanks to the efforts of the restorers, the panel acquired an appropriate expositional state. For many years, the drawing The Adoration of Shepherds by an unknown artist of the 17th century was waiting for restoration. This is one of the earliest monuments of original graphics by European masters in the museum collection.

From heavenly to earthly

On the last, fourth floor, there is one of the museum’s most successful exposition projects of recent times. The Movement of the Earth exhibition is, in fact, a great artistic story about the sacred relationship between man and nature.
“The land could not but become one of the main motives for the work of Belarusian artists of different generations. The main goal and concept of this exhibition is to present a multifaceted image of the native land both in time and themes, as well as in artistic styles,” says the Head of the Department of Belarusian Art of the 20th-21st Centuries Yekaterina Izofatova.


The connection of the earthly and the cosmic has different expressions: from landscapes by Valery Shkarubo and Aleksandr Grishkevich to ritual folklore and mythological works by Mikhail Filippovich and Nikolai Seleschuk. The romanticism of working days and holidays of Belarusians, in turn, is presented in the works of Boris Kazakov, Georgy Skripnichenko, and Mai Dantsig. In these halls, there is a piece of lighting equipment, unprecedented for Minsk museums, which makes every piece of art stunning. However, for all its novelty, there is no feeling that the new building arose just yesterday.
“Seems like it’s been here for a long time,” says Vladimir Prokoptsov with a smile. “Now the permanent exhibition presents about four percent of the works of the entire collection. When the next stage of the museum quarter is completed, it is planned to show the audience at least seven percent of the masterpieces. There are enough exhibits to fill the buildings, believe me. Where there is a will, there is a way.”

The museum will continue to review the occupancy of nearby buildings and adapt them to the new life, but someday (we believe!) there will be a whole museum quarter in Minsk

By Yuliana Leonovich
Photos by Egor Ermalitsky