500 Years of Belarusian Book Printing

The exhibition Francysk Skaryna and His Epoch takes us 500 years back when the book printing only started: the first printing presses were invented and traditional feather pens and inkpots had to take a back seat. Many countries have their own heroes in book printing: Ivan Fyodorov in Russia, Primoz Trubar in Slovenia, William Caxton in England and Francysk Skaryna in Belarus.

The exhibition will display the originals and facsimiles of the first printed books of the 15-17th centuries brought from Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The exhibits are impressive, especially the 42-line Bible of Johann Gutenberg of the 1450s from Germany. The major exhibits are the original editions of Francysk Skaryna published in Prague and Vilna in 1517–1525 from the collections of the National Library of Belarus.

The exhibition will give a chance to learn a lot about the printing pioneer Francysk Skaryna. The program includes the non-stop demonstration of the films about Francysk Skaryna as part of the Kinoploschadka program and presentation of books for every age. The visitors will be able to travel back in time and visit a printing workshop of the 16th century using the VR helmet and to try their hand in printing using the reconstructed printing press of Francysk Skaryna and compare it with a modern printing press and a 3D printer.

The exhibition will invite kids to take part in master classes and games, enrich their knowledge during the funny thematic lessons and to take an interactive journey across the cities and countries where Francysk Skaryna left his footprint. The children will find there unusual puzzles, coloring books and educational quizzes.

The organizers of the event are the Belarusian Culture Ministry and the National Library of Belarus.