The Library has organized an exhibition dedicated to the 550th anniversary of the appearance of the miraculous Zhirovichi icon of the Virgin and the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Stavropigial Men's Holy Assumption Monastery.
There is a small village of Zhirovichi in the Hrodna region, ten kilometres from the town of Slonim. It is there that the majestic Orthodox Holy Assumption Monastery, a unique architectural ensemble known not only in Belarus but also abroad, is located.
The Holy Assumption Men's Monastery in Zhirovichi became one of the main spiritual centres of Orthodoxy on the Belarusian land, as well as one of the largest architectural ensembles of the 17th and 18th centuries in the country. It has never closed and maintained a continuity of traditions for five centuries. The miraculous icon of the Virgin of Zhirovichi is kept here. It is one of the most revered icons of believers, part of the list of 100 great Orthodox sacred objects.
The exhibition presents about 60 exhibits: encyclopaedias, books, articles from magazines and visual materials. They tell about the history of the origin, veneration and fate of the icon of the Zhirovichi Mother of God, as well as the foundation of the Holy Assumption Monastery on the site of the appearance of this miraculous icon.
The central place in the exhibition is given to books of the 19th century. Among them, there are the "Zhirovichi Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God and the Zhirovichi Monastery" published in 1867 in Vilnius, and "The Ancient Tradition of the Zhirovichi and the Miraculous Image of the Zhirovichi Mother of God" published in 1897.
A separate section is dedicated to the devotees of the Monastery, thanks to the prayers and courage of which the monastery survived during the war and continues to be the center of the Orthodox Church in Belarus.
The exhibition, located in a circular corridor on the third floor, is for a wide range of readers. It awakens interest in Orthodox local studies and the history of Orthodoxy in Belarus.
The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by library card or by the ticket of the library's social and cultural centre.
The books presented at the exhibition can be ordered through the electronic catalogue of the National Library of Belarus.
For more info: (8 017) 293 29 80.
Gallery and Exhibition Department
