The culture of Belarus (culture is here defined as the whole complex of\r\nknowledge, belief, art, morals, customs and other skills and habits acquired by\r\nindividuals as members of society) is noted for the diversity of its forms and the depth\r\nof its content. Belarus has a rich history and has always been considered an\r\n"open" society, since it has always enjoyed a close interaction with the\r\nneighbouring Slav nations and with other European traditions and cultures. A rich\r\nheritage of folk art and creativity lies at the heart of Belarusian culture. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
It was between the Fifth & Tenth centuries<\/strong>, within the territory\r\nof present-day Belarus, that the folk & farming traditions, the main types of utensils\r\n& implements, as well as the first framing practices in the construction of wooden\r\nhouse, were all formed. High aesthetic standards were achieved in handicrafts and applied\r\nart. The peaceful and gradual conversion to Christianity affected the national and\r\ncultural character of the Belarusians. As time went by, the powerful combination of the\r\nChristian spirituality and pagan mythology became a significant factor for the flourishing\r\nBelarusian folklore. <\/p>\r\n\r\n Belarusian culture of the Eleventh & Twelfth centuries<\/strong> is\r\ncharacterised by a number of distinctive features. It was the heyday of the Polotsk, Turov\r\nand Pinsk principalities, marked by the enlightenment activities of Euphrosine of Polotsk\r\nand Kiril of Turov, when architecture, literature, applied and fine arts flourished. In\r\nthe 11th & 12th centuries the first schools of architecture were established in\r\nPolotsk (St. Sophia’s Church) and in Grodno (Kolozha Church), & various masterpieces\r\nwere created, including the cross of Euphrosine of Polotsk created by the master Lazar\r\nBogsha. <\/p>\r\n\r\n The period between the Thirteenth & Fifteenth centuries <\/strong>is\r\ndescribed by the formation of the Belarusian nationality and statehood & the old\r\nBelarusian language. The peculiar features of the Belarusian fortified architecture formed\r\nat that time are exemplified in the castles at Novogrudok, Lida and Krev. Church painting\r\nand music flourished, many Belarusian literary masterpieces were created, as well as those\r\ntranslated from other languages. Local traditions were synthesised with the achievements\r\nof Western European culture, and local variations appeared influenced by Romanesque and\r\nGothic styles. <\/p>\r\n\r\n It was during the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Time (the 16th –\r\nfirst half of the 17th centuries<\/strong>) that the specifically Belarusian example of\r\nRenaissance culture appeared. The modern Belarusian language, literature, the theatrical,\r\nmusical and other arts were intensively developed. In architecture, the Renaissance style\r\nbecame widespread, alongside the Gothic.Printing played an important role in the\r\ndevelopment of the Renaissance in Belarus, a part of the upheaval in Belarusian culture.\r\nThe founder of the Belarusian (and the whole Eastern Slavonic) book printing was the\r\nenlightener and humanist, Fransisk Skorina.<\/p>\r\n\r\n From the end of the Sixteenth Century<\/strong>, as a result of the Union of\r\nLiublin of 1569, the enforced dissemination of Polish culture had a very strong affect on\r\nBelarus. Belarusian nobility, the town administration officials, schools and the press –\r\nall became subject to the Polish influence. However, Belarusian remained the official\r\nlanguage in the management of state records until the end of the Seventeenth Century. But in\r\nthe second half of the Seventeenth Century<\/strong>, Belarusian was replaced by Polish and\r\npartially by Latin. The dominant style of Belarusian architecture and arts of the 17th and\r\n18th centuries was Baroque. This took two forms: the Eastern Slavonic – based on the\r\nsynthesis of the local culture and Western European influences, and the Western Slavonic –\r\nexemplified in Belarus by Catholic and Uniate (Greek Catholic) orders. Both styles were\r\nparticularly visible in architecture. In the Seventeenth Century, secular philosophy,\r\nschool education, printing, theatre, illustrations, portraiture, wood folk sculpture,\r\npoetry & music, both religious & secular, developed intensively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n As a result of the unification of Belarus with the Russian Empire after the three\r\nPartitions of Rzecz Pospolita (the end of the Eighteenth Century<\/strong>), the\r\nPolish influence on the ruling estates and the official "elite" culture became\r\neven stronger. But after the suppression of the national liberation uprisings in Poland,\r\nBelarus and Lithuania in 1830-1831 and 1863-1864, Polish influence was replaced by Russian\r\ndominance. Under these conditions, the cultural and creative skills of the Belarusians\r\nwere mainly manifested in the ethnographic culture (folklore, popular theatres,\r\narchitecture, applied arts, and custom culture) which produced a significant impact upon\r\nthe Belarusian national art of the 19th & 20th centuries. In the Nineteenth\r\nCentury,<\/strong> folk culture and the old Belarusian writing traditions became the main\r\nsources for the national rebirth and self-identification. The formation of the Belarusian\r\nnational culture and its separation from the hitherto dominant Russian and Polish\r\ncultures, were manifested in the development of the revolutionary-democratic & peasant\r\nthought, the social & critical motifs of folk arts, the national themes & styles\r\nof fine art and also in the scholarly research of the Belarusian life & culture. <\/p>\r\n\r\n In the Twentieth Century <\/strong>during the revolutionary years from\r\n1905 to 1907 <\/strong>and after the revolution, Belarusian classical literature was\r\nformed, the most prominent representatives of which are Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas. The\r\nbasic standards & regulations of the modern Belarusian literary language were then\r\ndeveloped. This period was also marked by the creation of the national press, printing and\r\ntheatre.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The declaration of the Belarusian People’s Republic in 1918<\/strong> <\/strong>and\r\nthe Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919 <\/strong>gave rise to the\r\npolitical & state self-identification of Belarusians. In the 1920s<\/strong> a\r\nprocess of "belarusianization" was conducted in Soviet Belarus. This brought\r\nabout the establishment of the Institute of Belarusian Culture, the Academy of Sciences of\r\nBelarus, Belarusian State University and other higher educational institutions, as well as\r\nthe system of public education in the Belarusian language. The Belarusian language\r\nof poetry & belles-lettres was then being actively formed. The national theatre,\r\nliterature, music, fine arts, cinematography and architecture were also highly developed.\r\nFrom the late 1920s, the ideological influence of the Communist Party became stronger in\r\nall spheres of the political, public and cultural life. By contrast, the process of\r\n"belarusianization" began to weaken. This weakness turned into the repressions\r\nof the 1930s<\/strong>, as a result of which the Academy of Sciences, educational\r\ninstitutions, literary organisations and printing offices suffered big losses. Many\r\nscholars, literary men and art workers were subject to repression. In the Second World War, <\/strong>the representatives of Belarusian culture\r\nwere actively engaged in the struggle against the Nazi enemy. Many of them continued their\r\nactivities at the front, in partisan groups and during evacuation. Patriotic and heroic\r\nthemes and a journalistic genre were prevalent in their creative activities of that\r\nperiod. Despite the German Occupation (1941-1944), Soviet Belarusian periodicals continued\r\nto be issued in Belarus. <\/p>\r\n\r\n After <\/strong>the <\/strong>XXth Congress of the Comunist Party of the\r\nSoviet Union in 1956<\/strong>, <\/strong>the process of rehabilitation\r\nbegan for the repressed scholars, cultural workers and literary men. Historic truth &\r\nthe unjustly forgotten names and literary works began to return to the public conscience. A new stage in the development of Belarusian culture began in the late 1980s<\/strong>.\r\nThe adoption of the Law on Languages in 1990 in Belarus and the creation of the Skorina\r\nSociety of Belarusian Language were significant events. In 1990, the Belarusian and\r\ninternational community marked the 500th anniversary of Fransisk Skorina, the first\r\nprinter and enlightener. In the late 1980s & the 1990s, several encyclopaedias\r\ndedicated to the national sources of Belarusian culture were published. The national and\r\ninternational associations of specialists in Belarusian culture, based at the Skorina\r\nNational Research and Education Center, supervise cultural research in Belarus and abroad.\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The culture of Belarus (culture is here defined as the whole complex of knowledge, belief, art, morals, customs and other skills and habits acquired by individuals as members of society)…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":976243,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-493530","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/493530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/493530\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/976243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\r\nIn the 1920s – 1930s, Belarusian culture was developed in Western Belarus<\/em> as\r\nwell, despite the resistance of the Polish authorities, who pursued a policy of Polish\r\ndominance and liquidation of the Belarusian national movement in the region. Various\r\nnational organisations operated there. Independent Western Belarusian periodicals and\r\ntheatrical art was being developed. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\nThe second half of the 1950s and the 1960s <\/strong>was marked by the development\r\nof Belarusian fine arts, theatre, music and other arts. Many monographs, encyclopaedias\r\nand reference books on the history of Belarusian literature and art were compiled and\r\npublished from the second half of the 1960s to the first half of the 1980s.<\/strong>\r\nA number of research works on the history of philosophy and aesthetics & the\r\nBelarusian Soviet Encyclopaedia in 12 volumes were published. <\/strong>Museum\r\nstudies also received further development. <\/p>\r\n\r\n