Stored forever

More than 70 metres in height, several million documents in storage, sparkles like a diamond at night — this is it, the National Library of Belarus

The most valuable spiritual treasures are collected here — the original editions of the Belarusian printing pioneer Francysk Skaryna, over 90,000 early printed and handwritten books, the oldest of which are oriental manuscripts of the 14th century. Today, on September 15th, the National Library of Belarus celebrates its centenary. 

Temple of knowledge

The library is now a modern socio-cultural centre with co-working spaces, exhibition galleries, literary and musical evenings, and even a sports and recreation complex with a sauna. In addition, the observation deck offers a view of the whole of Minsk from a height of 73 metres. In special halls one can listen to vinyl records and... play the piano. The library hosts free Internet literacy classes for the elderly. The service is very popular, it allows one to learn new things and have a pleasant conversation.
The main function of the library is memorial. It keeps the book fund, national documents in order to deliver them to descendants in an unchanged form.
Almost ten and a half million copies are part of the current collection of the National Library of Belarus. This is the third repository in the CIS countries by the number of books.

In the heart of Minsk

Initially, the library was located in the Jubilee House on Zakharyevskaya Street (now Independence Avenue). In 1932, in connection with the 10th anniversary, the book temple received the title of V.I. Lenin and a new building for the next 70 years. The Belarusian Leninka became one of the first library construction projects in the USSR, and then it became one of the 30 best libraries in the world in terms of the number of copies and the value of publications. Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas, Vladimir Korotkevich and Vasil Bykov, hundreds of other well-known Belarusians worked are stored in its reading rooms. 
During the Great Patriotic War, the library lost more than 80 percent of its funds. The collections of rare and early printed books, subscriptions and reading rooms were completely removed. The building of the reserve fund was burned along with literature.
In the post-war decades, the library was revived and developed, expanding its collections and establishing international relations. Over time, the funds grew, they did not have enough space, auxiliary storage facilities were scattered around Minsk and its environs. In 2001, the President of the country visited the library. It was decided to build a new building, which is called the diamond of knowledge for its original shape.
As conceived by the authors of the National Library of Belarus project, Viktor Kramarenko and Mikhail Vinogradov, the shape of a cut diamond symbolises the value of knowledge and the infinity of the cognisable world. In front of the facade of the building there is a bronze figure of the Belarusian printing pioneer Francysk Skaryna. The main entrance is symbolically made in the form of an open book with images on the theme of the development of world and Slavic writing, as well as the words from the Bible of Francysk Skaryna — ‘May God’s man be perfect’ —in 19 languages of the world.
The interior design of the library embodied the works of contemporary Belarusian artists and sculptors.


Today the library has 17 reading rooms for 1,500 seats, of which about 300 are equipped with computers. There are a lot of greenery — flower growers take care of it. 200,000 readers come here, the youngest of whom is 9 years old, and the venerable one is 92. The funds contain not only books, but also geographical maps, sound recordings, notes, dissertations, newspapers, there is access to international databases, which can be used, among other things, through the virtual reading room. The Telelift system significantly speeds up the delivery of the document from the storage to the halls. Most libraries store books underground, but here they are upstairs in the ‘diamond’ of the building.

Here the history of the world lives

The Book Museum is the heart of the National Library of Belarus. Rare editions, especially valuable ones are stored under glass. Board binding covered with leather. Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic script reflect the religious and multinational diversity of Belarus. Chief Librarian of the Bibliology Research Department Maria Shopina is ready to talk for hours about the exposition of manuscripts and early printed books, “The oldest monuments in the manuscript collection date from the 14th to the end of the 15th century. Here are the kitabs created on the Belarusian lands. The Tatars quickly adopted the culture of the local population, began to speak the language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but kept the tradition of creating handwritten monuments in Arabic script. A separate bright page is a collection of publications of the Old Believers or Old Ritualists. Until the 20th century, they copied books and even saved the oldest way of recording melodies without the usual lines of a musical staff — entirely the so-called banners that encrypt the melody. Oriental handwritten books in our collection in five languages are perfectly preserved. Looking at them, we notice a completely different way of designing book monuments — in soft cover, but it was not customary to draw people or animals.”
The collection of early printed books includes major publishing centres in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and France. Here is the Florentine Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri of 1481. The print of the images was not made from a wooden board, but from metal. This is the first use of metal engraving in a century before it became common. Maria Shopina demonstrates rarities and tells, “Ten editions of the Bible printed by Francysk Skaryna in Prague in 1517-1519 are the pearl of the collection. In addition, we have a complete facsimile reproduction of the entire book heritage of the Belarusian first printer. The first printing house in the Belarusian lands was founded by the Radziwills, where in 1563 the Brest Bible was published. We also have the products of the Vilna printing house of the Mamonich brothers — fiction, educational literature, polemical, liturgical... Almost every publishing centre in the Belarusian lands had its own school of engravers, the books were wonderfully designed.”
The largest book in the museum is 90 by 70 centimetres. It contains 20 life-size prints of birds. And the smallest book is 9 by 4 millimetres, with the statements of Gorky and Pushkin. Nearby is the impressive first printed charter called Eye of the Church, published at the Moscow printing house in 1610. 1266 sheets are covered with the binding of the boards and leather. Impressive! As well as a glorious history the precious ‘diamond of knowledge’ of the National Library of Belarus keeps.

By Yelena Basikirskaya