Exhibition, The Documentary Heritage of 16th-19th Centuries in Belarus: Archives of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Slutsk

The official opening of the exhibition “The Documentary Heritage of 16th-19th Centuries in Belarus: Archives of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Slutsk” took place on 3 April 2017 in Minsk. The exhibition has been prepared as a result of the collaboration of the National Historical Archives of Belarus and the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

The purpose of the project is attribution, description and creation of digital copies of manuscript documents of the 16th-19th centuries held by the Museum, and making them accessible to a wider circle of researchers. The event stands out as especially important in the current year announced as the Year of Science in the Republic of Belarus.

The archivists have conducted a scientific treatment and digitization of a complex of documents from the Holy Trinity Monastery in Slutsk. The Holy Trinity Monastery in Slutsk was a residence of Slutsk archimandrites and one of the major centers of the Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Thus the Monastery Archive has preserved many documents compiled not only in the town of Slutsk and Slutsk Duchy, but also in Vilna, Kiev, Zabludow and many other towns in Novogrudok, Mozyr, Pinsk, Lida and Grodno districts.

The exhibition offers several dozen of the most interesting documents, including the autographs of King Augustus II, Princes Christopher, Janusz and Boguslaw Radziwill, Count Palatine Charles Philip Neuburg of the Rhine.

The speakers at the opening ceremony were Chairman of the Commission for Education, Culture and Science at the Chamber of Representatives I. Marzalyuk; Director of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus A. Ryzhkou; Director of the National Historical Archives of Belarus D. Yatsevich; Director of the History Institute at the National Academy of Sciences V. Danilovich; Deputy Director of of the National Historical Archives of Belarus D. Liseichykau.

Among the participants at the opening ceremony were members of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry, Ministry of Culture, Belarusian Orthodox Church, members of the scientific community, students of the higher educational institutions.