Press releases

27 Feb 2019

Belarus, Poland to send joint file on forest beekeeping to UNESCO Secretariat by 31 March

MINSK, 27 February (BelTA) – Belarus and Poland will submit a joint file on forest beekeeping to the Secretariat of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for the inscription onto the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by 31 March, BelTA learned from Natalia Khvir, the head of the historical and cultural heritage protection department at the Culture Ministry.

The forest beekeeping of Polesie has the status of a historical and cultural value in Belarus. It is an ancient art of honey hunting based on keeping bees in artificially-made caverns placed high in the trees. Forest beekeeping was widespread in the times of the Common Slavic language unity which disintegrated in the 5th-6th centuries. Over time, classical beekeeping has declined as a result of the negative anthropogenic impact on the nature and the development of box hive beekeeping. In Poland the tradition was interrupted and is now being restored back. In Belarus forest beekeeping has survived in some areas till the present day.

According to Natalia Khvir, three intangible and 12 tangible cultural assets were added to the State List of Historical and Cultural Assets of Belarus in 2018. The Belarusian tradition of celebrating the Icon of the Mother of God of Budslau was nominated for the inclusion into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The UNESCO Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage approved the materials on the Belarusian ancient rite Yurievsky Khorovod (Yuriev Round Dance) in the village of Pogost, Zhintovichi District, Gomel Oblast and the periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in regard to the element “The Kalyady Tsars” (Christmas Tsars).

Currently, the State List of Historical and Cultural Assets of Belarus comprises 5,577 sites.

In 2018 repair and restoration projects were completed on 115 sites representing the country’s historical and cultural value, among which were the Byalynitsky-Birulya Museum in Mogilev, Sts Boris and Gleb Kalozha Church in Grodno, Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Financing was provided from the national budget and the president’s fund for the support of art and culture. This year the national budget will earmark around Br4.4 million for the restoration of the heritage monuments, and the president’s fund about Br2.3 million.