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Minsk marks Taras Shevchenko’s 205th birthday with literary evening

Photo by Alina Grishkevich

MINSK, 6 March (BelTA) – The works of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko were read out in different languages during an event held in the House of Friendship in Minsk on 6 March to mark the 205th birthday of the great poet, BelTA has learned.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Belarus Igor Kizim spoke about the importance of the creative work of the outstanding Ukrainian writer, poet and artist. His literary heritage is viewed as the basis of the Ukrainian literature and the contemporary Ukrainian language. The diplomat emphasized the role of Taras Shevchenko for the national culture and national identity.

According to the ambassador, Belarusians appreciate Taras Shevchenko’s creative works. A bronze sculpture of the writer erected in a park next to the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk was Kiev’s present to Minsk.

At the literary evening foreign ambassadors read Taras Shevchenko’s poems translated into their languages. Among them was Austria’s Ambassador Aloisia Worgetter, head of the Polish diplomatic mission Artur Michalski, and Slovakia’ Ambassador Jozef Migas

Host of the literary evening, professor of the Belarusian State University Ivan Charota stressed that Taras Shevchenko’s works became part of the world culture. Belarusian writer Yakub Kolas was among the first to translate Taras Shevchenko’s poems into Belarusian.

Attending the event were representatives of the Ukrainian embassy, members of the Belarus-Ukraine society, and the Ukrainian music society Krinitsa.

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