Unusual museums of Belarus. Unusual museums of Belarus worth visiting for tourists Belarusian museums in other cities
The most money
What did the first coins look like on the territory of Belarus? What is the "Amber Road" and where did it pass? You can learn about this and much more by visiting the exposition of the National Bank, which also includes rare Byzantine coins of the 10th-11th centuries in Belarus, a leather wallet with 127 coins of the Golden Horde of the late 14th - early 15th centuries, numismatic complexes of Prague pennies, Western European thalers, Spanish reais, etc. Among the specimens of the 19th century, a treasure found in a bottle of champagne is of particular interest. It consists of 80 large silver coins of Russia and Prussia from the period of the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. As a bonus - coins of the Soviet period, gold chervonets of 1923, rubles, commemorative coins and coins of the Republic of Belarus issued from 1996 to the present day, silver, gold and platinum bars with the abbreviation of the National Bank.
First private
The love of collecting is in the blood of many Belarusians. There are 14 private museums officially operating in the country. Since 2011, in accordance with the decree of the President, they have equal rights with the state in terms of taxation. The Ministry of Culture believes that, thanks to the participation of private business, new art galleries, local history museums will open in the country, new regional museums, museums of enterprises will appear. As an example, potential investors can cite the unique ethnographic complex "Dudutki", which is located 50 km south of the city of Minsk. Founded in 1993, the first private museum has become a real visiting card of the country, where, first of all, ordinary Belarusians invite the dearest guests and bring state officials from high government organizations.
Most feminine
The Belarusian village of Bezdezh in the Drogichinsky district of the Brest region has long been famous for its beauties and needlewomen. A Bezdezhskaya woman was recognized from half a kilometer by the patterns on her apron (a detail of the national costume in which they walked until the 80s of the twentieth century). Every woman in the village had at least 12 aprons, made by hand from self-woven fabric and embroidered with colored (dyed with soot, onion peel, oak bark and alder cones) threads.
Now a unique collection of authentic folk art patterns is kept in the Bezdezhsky Apron Museum. The oldest apron on display is over 130 years old.
Most monographic
So far, two cities can boast of a functioning monographic museum of one sculptor - Paris and Minsk.
The building of the workshop of the People's Artist of the USSR and the BSSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR Zair Azgur on Traktornaya Street (now it bears the name of the sculptor himself) in the center of the Belarusian capital was built by order of Pyotr Masherov in 1984. The sculptor worked within its walls for 11 years. After the death of Azgur, in 2000, a museum was located here, in three halls of which you can get acquainted with the life and work of the famous Belarusian sculptor. The exposition of the sculptural hall alone contains about 300 sculptures and busts of leaders, scientists, partisans, writers, musicians, artists, philosophers, created by the master since 1942 ... In total, the museum has about 4 thousand exhibits.
The Azgur Museum is also interesting in that the brightest photo shoots and unusual performances take place here.
The most childish
The Children's Museum of the city of Polotsk is the only one in Belarus where the exhibits are not allowed, but you need to touch them with your hands and play with them. It was opened in 2004 and is part of the Polotsk National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. This is the territory of children's fantasy: within the walls of the museum, young visitors can get acquainted with a variety of objects (clocks, bells, cameras, samovars, etc.), learn the history of their invention and improvement, understand that a person is inherently a creator, creator, not a destroyer. The exposition is represented by 8 collections, and these are more than 1000 amazing items. In the computer room of the Children's Museum, you can play games that develop logical thinking, memory, attention, and imagination.
most oceanic
It would seem that Belarus is a land country. But every Belarusian who is not indifferent to sea romance can satisfy the interest in the underwater depths in the cultural and educational center "Open Ocean". Touch the remains of the Kursk submarine, see the inhabitants of the world's five oceans, see how small catfish and adult piranhas coexist in one aquarium.
Five halls are dedicated to the five oceans of the Earth. Each with its own underwater inhabitants, which the specialists of the center consider as their pets. There is a workshop in the center, and a library, and a small video room with an excellent collection, and a special aquarium computer PROFILUX, which can even simulate thunderstorms, tides, and control all kinds of sea currents in an aquarium.
Most militarized
The historical and cultural complex "Stalin's Line" is located near the village of Loshany, Minsk region, 6 km from Zaslavl in the direction of Molodechno. This grandiose fortification ensemble is an open-air military history museum.
It is both a memorial in honor of the defenders of the Motherland and a museum of the first days of the Great Patriotic War. The exposition of the museum consists of bunkers, in which the atmosphere of the war years, trenches and communication passages with cells for machine guns and dugouts have been restored. All this was created according to pre-war drawings. In addition, one of the most complete collections of small arms, artillery, tanks, aviation of the Soviet Army in Belarus is collected here.
Most athletic
The Museum of Olympic Glory was established on July 6, 2006 on the basis of the State Cultural and Educational Institution "Museum of Physical Culture and Sports of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus".
The museum has two exhibition halls. The first - "Revival of the Olympic Idea" - introduces visitors to the history of the development of the international Olympic movement, the activities of international sports federations in sports, the role of the International Olympic Committee in the revival of the modern Olympic Games, as well as the work of the International Olympic Academy, the IOC Museum in Lausanne and the popular movement Fair Play ("Fair Play").
The second exhibition hall - "Belarus: equal among equals" - is dedicated to the achievements of Belarusian athletes at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, tells about the history and development of physical culture and sports in the republic. One of the main places in the exposition is given to the role of the National Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus in the modern history of the country.
Most theatrical
The State Museum of the History of Theater and Musical Culture of the Republic of Belarus was established on March 23, 1990.
The museum's exhibits comprise 10 collections, including musical instruments, music manuscripts, documentary materials (personal documents, director's developments, performance montages, role texts with performers' notes), reproductions and negatives, posters and programs, sound recordings, rare printed editions and others.
Available around the clock
The only museum in the country that operates around the clock, seven days a week, the Boulder Museum is located in the park area of the Belarusian capital. The exposition of the museum, which was established in Minsk in 1985, contains more than 2130 stones from all over Belarus. There are boulders brought to the Belarusian land by glaciers, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. As well as a stone that served in ancient times as the center of a pagan temple. According to experts, in terms of its scale (occupies an area of 6.5 hectares) and landscape design (the stones are laid out in the form of a map of the country), the boulder museum has no analogues in Europe.
As a historian and a Belarusian, this topic is well known to me. I have traveled a lot in Belarus. I'll tell you about the places that I saw with my own eyes.
Museums in western Belarus
I myself come from Grodno, Therefore, first of all, I would like to say about the museums of my native city. Located in Grodno historical and archaeological museum. There are probably similar museums in every major city in Belarus. It contains exhibits found in the Grodno region and inherited from private collections. Grodno has Museum of the History of Religion(once the Museum of Atheism), and a number of other smaller museums. I would especially like to mention two places in Brest. This is, of course, a memorial complex Brest Fortress. Large-scale buildings, rich expositions can captivate visitors for the whole day. Near the walls of the fortress there is a rather large pavilion - museum "Berestie". Brest had this name in ancient times. The museum "Berestye" contains exhibits from middle ages:
- tools;
- remnants of clothing;
- decorations;
- Houseware;
- Kids toys.
But the pearl of the exposition is the preserved, preserved part of the ancient city. Crowns of houses, cobbled streets recreate the atmosphere of the Middle Ages in our lands. Surprises the size of houses, tools, shoes. They are very small. Apparently, indeed, our ancestors were smaller than us - living conditions affected.
Museums in Minsk
Among other museums in Belarus it is worth mentioning National Art Museum of Belarus. I would love to visit it again. I was lucky to be able to visit Museum of the Great Patriotic War still in the old building. The museum recreates not only the war itself, but the entire Soviet atmosphere. Everything is different in the new museum. Multimedia equipment, bright, spacious rooms. It looks very modern, but it seems that some part of the historical atmosphere has been lost.
Worth to visit Ethnographic Museum "Dudutki". It is located 70 kilometers from Minsk. Here, the traditional life of a simple Belarusian is recreated as much as possible.
Belarusian museums in other cities
I will also say that I also had a chance to visit the museums of Gomel and Polotsk. The exposition in the Gomel Palace is extremely modest. This building is rather adapted for receiving official delegations, rather than being a museum. But in the oldest city of Belarus - Polotsk there is something to see. This is an exposition in the St. Sophia Cathedral, and a number of archaeological museums. Even a special ticket is sold, giving the right to visit all the museums in Polotsk. So travel for fun.
What is a museum in our view? Exhibits behind glass, solemn silence in the rooms, a guide who knows everything in the world. But there are other museums where, for example, visitors faint with horror or find out where to find an example of a pact with the devil. Do you think such places are somewhere in other countries? Not at all. Having set a goal to find the most unusual Belarusian museums, we ourselves did not expect to find so many "treasures". So, we present to your attention the TOP-15 most unusual museums in Belarus.
We thought long and hard about how to arrange them. But each museum is so unique that arranging them according to any criterion turned out to be an impossible task. Therefore, we put the geographic factor as the basis: from the capital to the regions. And the first place where we will go will be - neither more nor less - the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.
Exposition on the history of monetary circulation of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and the Münzkabinet of the Faculty of History of BSU.
The unusual exposition on the history of monetary circulation of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus begins already at the threshold. In the room where it was located, in the days of the USSR, all the cash of the republic was kept. To get here, you need to open huge doors by turning two keys at the same time. In the museum today you can find out what the first coins were on the territory of Belarus, what the "Amber Road" was and where it passed, how the denarius differs from the dirham and what Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who was part of the embassy of the Baghdad Caliph, wrote in his diary in the 10th century about our ancestors.
Meeting of the Romans with the local population. Diorama
Among other things, there are Byzantine coins of the 10th-11th centuries, very rare in Belarus, a leather wallet in which 127 coins of the Golden Horde of the late 14th - early 15th centuries were found, numismatic complexes of Prague pennies, Western European thalers (patagons of the Spanish Netherlands; levendaalders ( levkovy), riksdaalder (sword) of the Northern Netherlands; Spanish reals, etc.).
Museum showcase. Monetary circulation of the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Do you know how the Scottish double penny became the first copper coin in the Belarusian lands? And what is a copper solid and what a disservice did Italian Titus Livius Boratini of the Commonwealth? Or how many coins has the Brest Mint minted since its opening on December 4, 1665? In the museum, you will not only be given detailed answers to all these questions, but will also be shown how the above coins looked. Viewing the exposition further, visitors are transferred to XIX century. Among the specimens of this period, a treasure found in a champagne bottle is of particular interest. It consists of 80 large silver coins of Russia and Prussia from the period of the late 18th - first half of the 19th century. Probably some dashing hussar, having hit the jackpot in a game of cards, decided to hide his unexpected wealth!
"Hussar" treasure
However, there are no less interesting items here. For example, a copper vessel in which, in the early years of Soviet power, someone hid coins, banknotes, jewelry interspersed with coins, and cult objects of the period XIX - early XX century.
Copper vessel and its "treasures"
Banknotes of the early twentieth century
Here, visitors will see what the coins of the Soviet period looked like, gold chervonets of 1923, rubles, commemorative coins and, finally, coins of the Republic of Belarus issued from 1996 to the present. Dimensional ingots with the abbreviation of the National Bank - silver, gold and platinum - also attract attention.
Unfortunately, due to renovations, the Numismatic Museum of the National Bank is closed to the public. The museum will be ready to receive visitors not earlier than in a year. But you can see many coins and find out the answers to questions in another, no less interesting museum - the classic münzkabinet *, which is located on the top floor of the building of the Faculty of History of the Belarusian State University.
General view of the museum exposition
Here, visitors will be happy to be told not only about the development of money circulation on the territory of Belarus, but also about where and how to look for a treasure, why a gallows tooth and tear-grass can come in handy in this matter, how to conclude an agreement with the devil correctly ... The museum exposition Coins and paper money of various periods are presented, the rarest treasures of real and counterfeit coins - you can talk about all this for hours. One of the most famous Belarusian treasures, the so-called Vishchinsky treasure, is kept within the walls of the museum. It also contains hryvnia silver bars - settlement funds XI I century, and the most beautiful women's jewelry: silver beads, pendants, earrings with the image of birds on shields, a bracelet with an amazing ornament and much more. In addition to the numismatic collection, the museum has a hall dedicated to Belarusian archeology and ethnography, and a hall of ancient sculptures.
Coin treasure of the 1620s, found near Logoysk
Women's jewelry from the Vishchinsky treasure of the end XII - early XIII century
This pot from a burial mound contains human ashes
Museum address: Minsk, st. Krasnoarmeyskaya, 6
Working hours: from 9.00 to 18.00 (except Saturday and Sunday)
Admission ticket:free, only for organized groups by appointment
Contact phone numbers: (8-017) 227-42-44
* Münzkabinet (German: Münzkabinett) is a common name in Germany for scientifically systematized collections of coins, medals, paper money, and other objects of interest to numismatists (coin stamps, toolscoinage, seals, stamps, securities, etc.), which are stored and studied by numismatists.
To be continued
