07 October 2009
The third meeting of the international council on the project for the virtual reconstruction of the Radziwills’ documentary heritage and book collections was held on October 2, 2009 at Mir Castle, Mir, the Republic of Belarus in the framework of the Regional Project "Documentary Heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth/Rzeczpospolita". The meeting was organized by the Belarusian Research Centre for Electronic Records with the participation of the National Commission of the Republic of Belarus for UNESCO and with the financial support of the UNESCO Moscow Office.
The participants of the meeting included specialists and officials from archives and libraries in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Finland, and representatives from the Belarusian Culture Foundation and the National History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh".
The participants welcomed the decision of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee taken on August 31, 2009 to include the Radziwills’ documentary heritage and book collections into the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register and emphasized the importance of the joint efforts undertaken in the framework of the project.
The council members reported about their work in pursuance of the previous decisions, and in particular about the implementation of the project "Documentary Heritage of Rzeczpospolita" and the preparation of a demonstration compact disc "The Radziwills’ Documentary Heritage (registers of the library and museum collections of the Nesvizh entail)". It was noted that all conditions have been available for completing the projects by the end of 2009. This will result in the creation of a unified information resource that would describe the contents of the major archival holdings and libraries’ manuscript collections covering the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including a more detailed description of the Radziwills’ Nesvizh archives. The compact disc will present the digitized copies of the most important registers of the Nesvizh Library and descriptions of the museum pieces which had been preserved at Nesvizh, thus helping specialists to further the virtual reconstruction of this collection.
The participants confirmed that the newly-created information resource would be given to all participating countries for free use and that their archives and libraries would provide all interested persons with access to the information, also by means of its placement on their websites. They also confirmed their readiness to continue, on the basis of the existing agreements, the exchange of archive and library copies and the joint acquisition of the information resource.
The participants made the decision that it would be advisable to create a Centre of Studies of the Radziwills’ Documentary Heritage, based at the National History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh", which could assume responsibility for the maintenance and acquisition of the database and a specialized website. In this connection, they requested the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus to take an appropriate decision. It was also decided that before the creation of the centre the Belarusian Research Centre for Electronic Records would continue the coordination of works for the project.
A final document was adopted on the results of the meeting, which set out several steps for further implementation of the project. In particular, the Council requested the respective bodies in the participating countries to initiate the adoption of international projects, within the European Union, the Council of Europe and other international organizations, for studies and virtual reconstruction of the documentary heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The participants of the meeting included specialists and officials from archives and libraries in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Finland, and representatives from the Belarusian Culture Foundation and the National History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh".
The participants welcomed the decision of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee taken on August 31, 2009 to include the Radziwills’ documentary heritage and book collections into the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register and emphasized the importance of the joint efforts undertaken in the framework of the project.
The council members reported about their work in pursuance of the previous decisions, and in particular about the implementation of the project "Documentary Heritage of Rzeczpospolita" and the preparation of a demonstration compact disc "The Radziwills’ Documentary Heritage (registers of the library and museum collections of the Nesvizh entail)". It was noted that all conditions have been available for completing the projects by the end of 2009. This will result in the creation of a unified information resource that would describe the contents of the major archival holdings and libraries’ manuscript collections covering the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including a more detailed description of the Radziwills’ Nesvizh archives. The compact disc will present the digitized copies of the most important registers of the Nesvizh Library and descriptions of the museum pieces which had been preserved at Nesvizh, thus helping specialists to further the virtual reconstruction of this collection.
The participants confirmed that the newly-created information resource would be given to all participating countries for free use and that their archives and libraries would provide all interested persons with access to the information, also by means of its placement on their websites. They also confirmed their readiness to continue, on the basis of the existing agreements, the exchange of archive and library copies and the joint acquisition of the information resource.
The participants made the decision that it would be advisable to create a Centre of Studies of the Radziwills’ Documentary Heritage, based at the National History and Culture Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh", which could assume responsibility for the maintenance and acquisition of the database and a specialized website. In this connection, they requested the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus to take an appropriate decision. It was also decided that before the creation of the centre the Belarusian Research Centre for Electronic Records would continue the coordination of works for the project.
A final document was adopted on the results of the meeting, which set out several steps for further implementation of the project. In particular, the Council requested the respective bodies in the participating countries to initiate the adoption of international projects, within the European Union, the Council of Europe and other international organizations, for studies and virtual reconstruction of the documentary heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.