Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: Creative culture inspires individual, nation

MINSK, 3 July (BelTA) - Creative culture inspires the development of both an individual and a nation, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he honored figures of culture in a ceremony at the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus in Minsk on 3 July, BelTA has learned.
 
The president noted that the ceremony is held on Independence Day and thus gives rise to a new tradition – to honor figures of arts and culture on this important day. Though, there is one important condition for it to continue, namely new worthy theater productions during a year, the Belarusian leader noted.

"In the run-up to the holiday and today, we talked a lot about the Great Patriotic War, our moral duty to the generation of winners, who gave us life," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Independence Day is not only a look into the past, but also a guide to the future of the country, the future that you create with your art."

The state and people need culture like air, the president believes. "Because without you, successful and talented, life is colorless and, what’s worst, unspiritual. Where there is no creative culture, people will never have an inspiration to develop. Not only personally bur also on a larger scale, as a nation."

"Belarusians had already such an experience. In the 1990s we professed ‘national -cultural revival’. Yet architectural monuments, theaters and museums were falling apart, let's be frank, before the eyes of some current creative workers," the head of state continued. “Car dealerships and casinos were opened in cinemas. Creative people were marginalized. The country was just sliding into an abyss."
 
The president stressed that everything that Belarusians are rightfully proud of today - theaters and amphitheaters, castles and estates, museums and memorial complexes, creative workshops and exhibition centers – has been created for the past quarter of a century. "I will say more: in such a short time we have actually revived what we were losing for centuries," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This became possible thanks to you, people of culture - creative, devoted to your profession, state-minded.  What you did, and what you create today, will go down in history. In many respects it depends on you what this history of our young independent country will be. It depends on you whether Belarusians will continue to be proud of their country and their past. Will Belarus remain unique and recognizable in a world where the boundaries between national cultures are blurring before our eyes? The main thing that is especially relevant today is whether we will preserve our unique national feature - moral purity. "

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that all these are the basic values on which an independent state is built.

"I want to thank those who are aware of their responsibility. It was your successes and achievements that became an occasion for this ceremony. It is with great pleasure that I congratulate you on the state holiday - Independence Day of Belarus and well-deserved awards. I would like to wish you good health, creative inspiration and new projects. I would very much like to see this new tradition continue. If there will be creative successes, then there will be someone to honor, which means that there will be a reason to meet again. Happy Independence Day! I thank everyone who stayed in Belarus in these turbulent post-revolutionary times of 2020 and gives joy and happiness to people," the president said.

The head of state presented orders, medals and honorary title badges to cultural workers. The ceremony was followed by a gala concert "Music, art and culture of Belarus in the images, emotions and inspiration of Bolshoi Theater!" The tradition of holding large-scale events on Independence Day with the participation of the best artists of opera, ballet and orchestra originated in the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus last year. The concert featured the best pieces of opera, including from the operas "Eugene Onegin", "La Traviata", "Romeo and Juliet", and choreographic pieces.

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