Mufti Abu-Bekir Shabanovich visited the National Historical Archive of Belarus

On March 23, 2023, as part of the events of the Year of Peace and Creation declared in the Republic of Belarus, the National Historical Archive of Belarus was visited by the mufti of the Muslim Religious Association in the Republic of Belarus, the chairman of the Belarusian public association of Tatars «Zikr ul-Kitab» Abu-Bekir Yukhyanovich Shabanovich.

During the visit, Maxim Makarov, Deputy Director of the NEA of Belarus, told the guest about the history and funds of the institution, as well as about the specifics of its activities and the main areas of work.

Vladimir Denisov, Leading Researcher of the Department for the Use of Documents and Information, gave the guest a tour of the archives, where he acquainted them with a number of unique documents, as well as samples of sources on the history of Islam in Belarus, which are stored in the archive. Then the leading archivist of the department of information retrieval systems Alyona Lyubaya introduced the mufti to the documents on the history of the Muslim religious community in the Belarusian lands from the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century, which were revealed in recent years. The archive staff paid special attention to the fact that for centuries Belarus remained a country where representatives of different peoples and different faiths lived peacefully, and all of them had opportunities for free development and creative work.

As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed on long-term cooperation in the cultural sphere, which should contribute to interfaith dialogue and the consolidation of the Belarusian society, which are especially important in the Year of Peace and Creation. In particular, in April 2023, the NIA of Belarus and the Minsk Cathedral Mosque are scheduled to hold a joint exhibition of documents.