Press releases

20 Sep 2024

Books gifted to Belarusian president on display at National Library of Belarus

MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – A collection of books gifted to the Belarusian president are on display at the National Library of Belarus. The opening ceremony of the exhibition project “Books Given as Gifts to the President” was attended by First Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Natalya Petkevich and Chairman of the Central Election Commission Igor Karpenko, BelTA has learned.

Director General of the National Library Vadim Gigin highlighted the important date - the 30^th anniversary of the institution of presidency and a series of events held in connection with it.

He noted that the exhibition features the books given to the library by the Belarusian president from his collection. It also displays the books from the collections of the Presidential Library and the National Library. All of them were gifted to the Belarusian leader at different times by heads of other states, including leaders of the CIS countries, major public and cultural figures. The books have dedications.

Vadim Gigin noted that the history of the sovereign independent Belarus can be traced through books. The exhibition also gives an idea of the chronology of the visits of the head of state to various countries and also the broad international context of people's diplomacy.

The exposition features more than 50 items: rare books of the 18^th-19^th centuries, modern editions on various topics, including culture, history, art, economics, science, sports and tourism. Many editions have autographs and dedications, original bindings, designer dust jackets and gift boxes, which makes them truly unique and extremely valuable.

Rare items include editions on Belarusian history, ethnography and culture. The 1702 edition “The Lives of the Saints” contains an engraving with the first dated image of the city of Mogilev on the title page; reprinted editions of atlases with unique information about the regions of Belarus; “Belarusian Folk Songs...” - a valuable edition with the autograph of scientist and ethnographer Pavel Shein; Ivan Grigorovich’s “Belarusian Archive of Ancient Documents” that contains more than 50 documents from the 16^th-18^th centuries on the history of eastern lands of Belarus. The archaeographic level of the edition was rather high for that time and the book filled the blank on little known centuries-old tragic and heroic history of ancient Belarus.

Books about the CIS countries make a significant part of the collection. A number of editions collected during 30 years of presidency in the sovereign Belarus outline priorities and promising areas of Belarus' development, for example, the photo album "Belarusian spacecraft. From idea to launch".

The collection brings together the editions from all over the world: Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, UAE, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan. Bright and unusual books narrate about the sights and historical and cultural heritage of these countries.

Official photos from international visits and meetings of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko from the archive of the Belarusian news agency BelTA complement the book exposition.