Press releases

MINSK, 2 October (BelTA) - Belarus and Bible has become the best-attended exhibition in the history of the National Library of Belarus, BelTA learned from the library’s deputy head Alexander Susha.

“The exhibition opened on 20 September and since then the National Library has seen record attendance every day. The Book Museum which exhibits the rarities of international importance draws up to 5,000 visitors every day. These are not only organized groups of students but also a large number of independent tourists. A significant part of visitors are foreign guests,” Alexander Susha noted.

According to him, the number of the library card holders who can visit the exhibition free has increased significantly in recent days. Alexander Susha considers this a positive fact because many of them come to the library the next day or two to get acquainted with other resources of the library.

The Belarus and Bible exhibition presents the original manuscripts of “the Bible of the Antiquity” – the Iliad by Homer – papyrus in Greek; the Dead Sea Scrolls (two thousand years old) – the oldest manuscripts of the Bible; the original Bibles of Gutenberg, Luther and Francysk Skaryna; the oldest fragments of the New Testament (2–3 A.D.); biblical manuscripts in the classical languages: Greek, Latin, Coptic, Samaritan, Armenian, Indian and Chinese; early-printed books of many nations and countries, first translations of the Bible into national languages; the old Belarusian biblical manuscripts and early-printed books; original biblical engravings by Albrecht Durer, Salvador Dali and other famous artists.

All in all, the exhibition showcases about 200 bibles of different confessions in different languages, the monuments of global significance, many of which have never been exhibited in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The unique international exhibition project has been organized by the National Library of Belarus and the Manuscript Research Group, USA). Part of the exhibits have been provided by 11 state and private collections form the USA, UK and Israel.

Visitors have a chance to attend lectured by the curators of the exhibition project, the researchers from the USA: Scott Carroll, Denise Ellen Carroll and others. They can also learn printing on a Gutenberg machine or attend a manuscript workshop. Children are welcomed to the Book Professors’ Club.