{"id":945563,"date":"2006-10-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/?page_id=945563"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:54:48","slug":"niab-description-of-holdings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/welcome-to-the-archives-of-belarus-website\/archives-and-records-management-authorities-and-the-state-archives-network\/central-archives-and-institutions\/national-historical-archives-of-belarus-in-minsk\/niab-description-of-holdings","title":{"rendered":"NIAB. Description of holdings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\nContacts<\/a>
\r\nHistorical background<\/a>
\r\nFinding aids<\/a>
\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Description of holdings<\/h2>\r\n\r\n

Amount of holdings: <\/b>3 149 fonds, 23 collections in electronic media, 1 023 656 items
\r\n
\r\nChronological scope: <\/b>the 14th\u2014early 20th centuries, parish vital records before the early 1950s
\r\n
\r\nGeographical coverage: <\/b>\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  • Grand Duchy of Lithuania<\/li>\r\n
  • Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita)<\/li>\r\n
  • Belarusian, Vitebsk, Minsk, Polotsk and Mogilev gubernias (provinces) of the Russian\r\n Empire<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n

    Historical records held in the Archives can be divided into two parts: \r\n\r\n

      \r\n
    • for the whole territory of present-day Belarus\u2014records of the 14th – late18th\r\n centuries<\/li>\r\n
    • for the Vitebsk, Minsk, and Mogilev provinces of the Russian Empire\u2014records of the\r\n late 18th – early 20th centuries <\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
      \r\nGenealogical records held in the Archives cover the following regions of Belarus: \r\n\r\n
        \r\n
      • the whole territory of Belarus within its historical boundaries\u2014records of the 16th –\r\n late 18th centuries <\/li>\r\n
      • Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev provinces within their historical boundaries\u2014records of the\r\n late 18th – early 20th centuries\u00a0 <\/li>\r\n
      • Vileika, Disna and Oshmiany districts of the Vilno (Vilnius) province (within the\r\n boundaries of present-day Minsk Region)\u2014records of the late 19th – early 20th\r\n centuries; Sventsiany district\u2014records of the late 18th – early 20th\r\n centuries. \r\n \r\n
      • Brest, Volkovysk, Kobrin, Pruzhany and Slonim districts of the Grodno province (within\r\n the boundaries of present-day Brest Region)\u2014records of the late 19th – early 20th\r\n centuries \u00a0 <\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

        NOTE: Most of the records for the Vileika, Disna, Lida, Oshmiany, and Sventsiany\r\ndistricts of the Vilno (Vilnius) province–until early 20th century–are held at the\r\nCentral State Historical Archives of Lithuania: 10, Gerosios Vilties, Vilnius, 2009,\r\nLietuva; for the Grodno province–at the National Historical Archives of Belarus in\r\nGrodno: 2, Tizengauza Sq., 230023, Grodno, Belarus.\r\n

        Contents:<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n

        The National Historical Archives of Belarus contains records initially held in the\r\njudicial archives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth\r\n(Rzeczpospolita), and after the inclusion of Belarus into the Russian Empire in the\r\narchives of civil courts, magistrats (town councils), town halls, district courts, private\r\nindividuals, and also in the Vilnius Early Records Archives and the Vitebsk Early Records\r\nArchives. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        The Archives holds unique records of national heritage, which illustrate the political,\r\nsocial, economic, and cultural history of the Belarusian people. The earliest of them are\r\nthe original parchments of the 14th – 17th centuries, written in ancient Belarusian,\r\nPolish and Latin languages. These are records of grants from Polish kings and grand\r\nprinces of Lithuania & charters of diplomatic and domestic significance.\u00a0These\r\ninclude the charter of princes Fedor and Konstantin Koriatovich of June 20, 1391\r\nconfirming the right of the landlord Grinko to the possession of the town of Sokolets;\r\ndeed of purchase between the royal nobleman V. N. Branets and O. V. Kostiushkevich for\r\npart of land on the estates of Mochul, Ramel and Perekhodichi in the Pinsk district, dated\r\nMay 7, 1514; deed of purchase of the estate of Glusk from Prince Chartoryiski to the\r\nSlonim Marshal Aleksander Polubinski, dated June 4, 1626 (signed, among others, by an\r\nancestor of Fedor Dostoevski); charters of the Magdeburg Right granted to the towns of\r\nNesvizh (1586), Mozyr (1680), and others. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        Of especial value are the Universal by Bogdan Khmelnitski (Chmielnicki) of May 7, 1656,\r\nconferring the right of free trade in Ukraine on the merchants of Slutsk; the 1416-44\r\nregister of deeds from the local court in Drogichin; law materials of town councils, local\r\ncourts, and the Crown Tribunal in the Rzeczpospolita, treasury courts in the Grand Duchy\r\nof Lithuania and the Jesuit college in Vitebsk.
        \r\n
        \r\nAn important source for the history of the Belarusian village of the 16th – 1st half 19th\r\ncenturies are the inventories of the state and landowners’ estates. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        The Archives retains records of the provincial chancelleries, provincial\r\nadministration, chancelleries of civil governors, town councils, municipal administration,\r\nprovincial commissions for construction, provincial administration on the industrial and\r\nmining affairs, provincial committees for landowners’ inventories.
        \r\n
        \r\nAmong the archives’ records are the family collections of the dukes Radziwill,\r\nDrutski-Lubetski, Lubomirski and Paskevich-Erivanski, the counts Pliater-Ziberg and\r\nRumiantsev-Zadunaiski, etc.
        \r\n
        \r\nThe fonds of the educational, cultural & medical institutions, religious communities,\r\npublic & charitable organizations contain documents on the opening of the teachers’\r\ncolleges in Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev, agricultural educational institutions in Gorki,\r\nteachers’ seminaries, male and female schools in Bobruisk, Gomel, Polotsk and Rogachev; on\r\nthe creation and work of the Minsk Municipal Theatre (now the Ianka Kupala National\r\nAcademic Theatre), libraries, hospitals, & drugstores; on the creation of the\r\nBelarusian Free Economic Society, Doctors’ Society, Society of Fine Arts, Society of\r\nAnimals Protection, the provincial trustee boards of the orphanages, etc.
        \r\n
        \r\nThe archives’ records on the history of architectural monuments have been used in the\r\ndesign projects for the reconstruction of St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk, Mir Castle, the\r\nPalace of Oginski in Zalesie, the historical centers in Brest, Vitebsk, Minsk, Mogilev,\r\nZaslavl, Nesvizh, Polotsk, and Novogrudok, as well as for numerous dwelling houses and\r\nindustrial buildings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

        The Archives also has documents concerning the construction and abolition of Minsk\r\nCathedral, Belarusian abbeys, synagogues, Orthodox and Catholic churches, as well as\r\ninventories of their property. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        There are documents relating to Andrei Tadeush Bonaventura Kostiushko (Tadeusz\r\nKosciuszko, 1746-1817), native of Belarus, the leader of the 1794 revolt in Poland,\r\nBelarus and Lithuania, who also fought for independence of the peoples of North America\r\nand Eastern Europe. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        There are documents relating to the well-known public figures, writers, painters, and\r\ncomposers (P. Pestel, K. Lyshchinski, V. Ignatovski, A. Mitskevich, I. Turgenev, V.\r\nBelinski, M. Bogdanovich, Ia. Kolos, Ia. Kupala, M. Lynkov, I. Repin, M. Chagal, M.\r\nOginski, S. Moniushko, M. Glinka, etc.).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

        The Archives also retains documents on the history of wars: Northern War of 1700-1721,\r\nWar of 1812, Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, First World\r\nWar of 1914-1918, as well as the revolutionary events of the years 1905 and 1917. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

        A large complex of documents relate to the national-liberation, workers’ and peasants’\r\nmovement in Belarus. In particular, there are documents relating to one of the largest\r\nrevolts of the Belarusian peasants in the Krichev starostvo in 1743-1744 under the\r\nleadership of Vasily Vashchila; the file cases narrating about the formation and combats\r\nof the insurgent groups in the 1830-1831 and 1863-1864 uprisings, the arrests, searches,\r\npunishment of the participants, interrogation proceedings, lists of the insurgents, etc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

        In addition, the Archives holds documents on genealogy and heraldry of the noble\r\nfamilies; documents on the births, marriages and deaths of Belarusian citizens and\r\nforeigners who come from the territory of the former Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev provinces.\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contacts Historical background Finding aids Description of holdings Amount of holdings: 3 149 fonds, 23 collections in electronic media, 1 023 656 items Chronological scope: the 14th\u2014early 20th centuries, parish…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":503226,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-945563","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945563"}],"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=945563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022480,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945563\/revisions\/1022480"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/503226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}