The Liturgikon, or the Service Book

Since May 18th, the “One book exhibition” timed to the World Museum Day and the 325th anniversary of the foundation of the Suprasl printing house runs in the Book Museum (room 348).

The Suprasl printing house, one of the biggest in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, had been founded in the 1690s at the known Suprasl Blagoveshchensky Monastery (now in Poland) by Karol Radziwill and Mitropolitul Cyprian Zhohovsky. It operated till 1803 having a monopoly in releasing Uniate liturgical literature in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The printing house was well equipped and used various fonts, figured xylography, engravings on copper. Books printed in Suprasl are remarkable with an original decorating which distinctive features are an expressive decorative effect, conviviality and splendid decors.

Within 100 years the printing house released about 500 editions in the Church Slavic, Old Belarusian, Russian, Polish, Latin and Lithuanian languages including Slavic primers and Abc-books, the first printed Slavic-Polish Lexicon (1722), the first Cyrillic printed music (1697) etc. In the XVIIІ century the printing house released Old Believers’ literature as well.

The first book published by the printing house was the Liturgikon, or the Service Book (1692–1695) which had been launched in Vilna but finished in Suprasl. The book was designed by known Belarusian engraver Leonty Tarasevich who for the first time in the history of Belarusian Cyrillic print had used copper engravings. The book features decorated head-pieces and endings, the engraved title page and a portrait of Karol Stanislav Radziwill. The Liturgikon, or the Service Book had been reedited more than once.

Contact telephone: (+375 17) 293 25 85.