In 2017 the world celebrates the 500th anniversary of Francis Skaryna’s Belarusian Bible and the beginning of East Slavonic book printing. To mark this occasion, the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London will hold an exhibition.

The exhibition will include rare Belarus-related manuscripts and printed books dated from 1495, including:

• a fragment of the Skaryna’s original edition of the First Book of Kings, 1518;
• a copy of the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1588 (3rd ed.);
• a manuscript of the Belarusian Tatar Tefsir (in the Arabic script), copied in 1725;
• some 16th century maps from the Library’s fine cartographic collection.

Programme

Friday 3 November 5pm-8pm

• the opening of the exhibition and presentation of the highlights from the Skaryna Library collection of the rare books and manuscripts;
• readings from Skaryna in Old Belarusian, Modern Belarusian and English;
• a tour of St Cyril’s Belarusian Religious and Cultural Centre;
• refreshments.

Saturday 4 November

• 1pm-5pm exhibition open.

Sunday 5 November

• 1pm-4pm exhibition open.

Address 37 Holden Road, London, N12 8HS United Kingdom

Order your free tickets now

Download the invitation

In 1517, Francysk Skaryna published a book of Psalms in the Old Belarusian language. It was one of the first to use the Cyrillic script. Only two years later, he had translated large swathes of the Bible.

This year, the world celebrates the 500th anniversary of the Skaryna Bible and the Belarusian book printing. These links are dedicated to the anniversary.  Continue reading →

I first visited the Library, then housed on the first floor of Marian House in 1963, soon after I had started doctoral work on the history of the Belarusian (then known to my supervisor, Professor Robert Auty, as White Russian) literary language in the 19th century. At that time there was a true Belarusian community in Finchley, with four houses, a number of priests, and many post-war emigrants and their children. Before long the ebullient Guy Picarda, was sent by the priests, who had somehow heard of my research interest, to see who I was and to invite me to visit the Library.

Prof McMillin, Guy Picarda and boys from the school managed by Fr Alexander listen to Professor Reginald de Bray, 1960s

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On Saturday 25 February the Second Annual Conference on Belarusian Studies will take place at University College London. Continue reading →

The Economist has published a great piece about Francysk Skaryna. It says that a Bible scholar and printer, Skaryna lacks renown because he remained loyal to the structures of the Orthodox Church.

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The Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum together with the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) and the Ostrogorski Centre invite proposals from established academics and doctoral researchers for individual papers and panel discussions on various aspects of contemporary Belarusian studies. Continue reading →

Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library in London was founded in 1971 and has developed the largest collection of Belarus-related publications in Western Europe. Nowadays, it is the only library outside Belarus to collect exclusively in the field of Belarusian studies and its collection is the most comprehensive in this field in Western Europe. This extract from the book “Ceslaus Sipovich: the first Belarusian Catholic Bishop in the 20th century (1914-1981)” by Alexander Nadson tells its story. Continue reading →

The documentary is about Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum, the Belarusian Church, and the Belarusian community in London, UK. It was produced in 1992.

The documentary was digitised by Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum.
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