Orthodox rarities

The exhibition is timed to the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia.

In the 10th century written language and the first manuscripts appeared in East Slavonic countries along with Christianity. Saint Brothers Cyril and Methodius created Slavonic alphabet. They translated the Holy Writ from Greek into Slavonic language. These significant events determined the development of East Slavonic written language.

The first section of the exhibition acquaints visitors with manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries, among them – gospels, missals, hagiographies, and collected works including those of Belarusian origin.

In the second section of the exhibition are displayed Cyrillic incunabula of the 16th – 17th centuries from the eminent book-printing centers of Belarus (Vilno, Mogilev, Suprasl, Kuteyn), Russia (Moscow), and Ukraine (Kiev, Lvov, Chernigov).

At the exposition are displayed original books of the Prague Bible (1517-1519) by the eminent Belarusian and East Slavonic publisher Frantisek Skaryna; the Gospel by Piotr Mstislavets (1575), a masterpiece of typography of the 16th century, the first edition of brothers Mamonich Vilno typography, and the Ostrozhskaya Bible (1581) printed by Ivan Fyodorov, the first printed translation of Bible into Church Slavonic language.

In the third section of the exhibition are displayed the modern editions of the Holy Writ.