Photo-documentary exhibition at the awards ceremony for the winners of the annual competition «Top of Law»

On May 31, 2024, a solemn ceremony was held to award the winners of the annual competition «Top of Law», organized by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. As part of this event, the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus, the National Historical Archive of Belarus, the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Sound Documents prepared a photo-documentary exhibition «The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus: History and Modernity».

The National Historical Archive of Belarus presented at the exhibition documents from the 16th – early 20th centuries, reflecting the development of legal proceedings in the Belarusian lands during the periods of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. The oldest document dates back to 1597. This is an entry in the register book of the Brest Zemstvo Court about the beginning of judicial «rocks» (meetings). Among the documents presented are the text of the oath («Oath Promise») of the assessors of the Minsk Criminal and Civil Chambers (1837), a model project of a prison castle in the county towns of Belarus (1846) and a number of others.

Documents on the formation of judicial bodies since the 1920s. can be seen in the display cases of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus: a list of legal literature available in the People’s Commissariat of Justice, digital information about the composition of legal institutions of the BSSR, the first orders of the People’s Commissariat of Justice and reports of its leaders, as well as personal documents of justice workers: certificates, questionnaires, mandates, referrals to Congress of Justice Workers and others. Impressions of seals and corner stamps of republican and local justice bodies have been preserved. Several documents reveal the complexity of the work of legal scholars during the Great Patriotic War.

The Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Sound Documents supplemented the exhibition with photographs reflecting the main stages of the formation of the Belarusian legal system.

Employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus and numerous guests of the event got acquainted with the exhibition.

1. Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.L. Voinov and Deputy Director of NARB E.A. Stukanov get acquainted with the exhibition of archival documents

2. Head of the Department for the Use of Documents and Information of NARB M.A. Starostenko introduces the exhibition to the event participants

3. Head of the Department for the Use of Documents and Information of NARB M.A. Starostenko introduces the exhibition to the event participants

4. Head of the Department for the Use of Documents and Information of NARB M.A. Starostenko introduces the exhibition to the event participants

5. Head of the department of research and publication activities of NIAB S.N. Ryndin at the exhibition of archival documents

6. Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.L. Voinov at the exhibition of archival documents