Press releases

Belarus Events Calendar: May 2013

  May 2013

Vladimir Vysotsky Exhibition

The National Library of Belarus presents a book exhibition “Vladimir Vysotsky. We Thank You!” timed to the 75th anniversary of the birthday Vladimir Vysotsky, the outstanding poet, singer, theater and cinema artist. The exhibition features books on Vladimir Vysotsky’s art and. The visitors will be able to find out interesting facts about Vladimir Vysotsky’s visits to Belarus as a singer or actor. The Belarusfilm movie studio produced seven movies featuring Vladimir Vysotsky. His tenth movie as an actor, “I Come from the Childhood”, featured his own songs for the first time…

When: from 25 January to 9 July
Where: The National Library of Belarus, Minsk

Mikola Bushchik’s art exhibition

Famous Belarusian expressionist Mikola Bushchik presents an exhibition Mundane Things in a Poetic Way timed to his 65th birthday. Such paintings as The Evening in Vitebsk, The Slutsk Gates in Nesvizh, A Clear Evening in Slonim and many more will be presented at the exhibition. Mikola Bushchik’s paintings are exhibited in the National Art Museum of Belarus, the Zimmerli Art Museum (the U.S.), the Dammarie-les-Lys town hall (France), the Sanssouci Picture Gallery in Potsdam, the National Art Museum of Latvia and private collections all over the world.

When: 10 April – 9 May
Where: Minsk, La-Sandr Art Gallery

Grigory Khraputsky’s exhibition

The exhibition is timed to the 55th anniversary of professional career of one of Belarusfilm’s most gifted make-up artists Grigory Khraputsky. The exhibition will feature unique shots depicting the making of images for the best movies of the Belarusian cinematography.

When: 20 April – 11 May
Where: Minsk, Belarusian Cinema History Museum

Historical Mosaic waxwork exhibition

Historical Mosaic is a joint project of the State History Museum of St. Petersburg “The Peter and Paul Fortress” and the National History Museum of the Republic of Belarus. The exposition will feature waxworks of famous Russian political figures from the time of Peter the Great to present-day Russia under President Vladimir Putin: emperors, Soviet leaders (Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev), military commanders (Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov, Georgy Zhukov) and other prominent historical personalities. A separate section is dedicated to foreign politicians and public figures (George W. Bush, Diana, Princess of Wales).

When: 12 April – 12 June
Where: Minsk, National History Museum
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Vasily Peshkun’s Banki-Shklyanki art exhibition

Works made by Vasily Peshkun, a scholarship holder of the special fund of the Belarus President, are on display in the National Art Museum of Belarus, the Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in Jersey City, the U.S., and in private collections in Belarus, Russia, the U.S., Israel, Japan, Italy and France. The exhibition in Minsk will showcase unusual still lives and portraits in which people’s lives are depicted through the image of glass vessels such as old-fashioned gas lamps, crystal vases, elegant fruit bowels, various faceted tumblers, glasses and decanters...

When: 18 April – 4 May
Where: Minsk, Culture University Art Gallery

Colors of Soul international ornamental art exhibition

The Colors of Soul exhibition in Minsk will bring together over 80 participants from 8 countries and will feature works in various creative techniques: beads, batik, felt, leather, plastic art, textile and thread design, scrapbooking, lampwork, metal and many others. The works will also be available for sale.

When: 8 April – 5 May
Where: Minsk, National History Museum

Radziwills’ Book Legacy exhibition

For a month Nesvizh Castle, former residence of one of the richest dynasties of Europe, will again become home to 90 rare books dating back to the 17th-19th centuries. Earlier the books made part of the family library. The exposition brings together books on history, theology, philosophy and law as well as textbooks and dictionaries, fiction books, calendars and periodicals. The most interesting of them are books about ancient magnate families, for example, the Gallery of Radziwills’ Portraits by Edward Kotlubai, and also the works made by the members of the magnate family.

When: 12 April – 12 May
Where: Nesvizh, National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve Nesvizh
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Arts of St. Petersburg: Glass, Enamel and Pottery

Held as part of the project The Days of Culture of St. Petersburg in the Republic of Belarus, the exhibition features works by several generations of craftsmen from St. Petersburg that create unique works from glass, pottery and enamel. The major part of the exposition is an extensive collection from Yelagin Palace, home to the unique Russian Museum of Glass Art. Yelagin Palace also plays host to international projects named “Masters of the 20th century” and “Glass and Pottery on Grass.”

When: 15 April – 20 May
Where: National Art Museum
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TECHLABS CUP BY 2013

TECHLABS CUP BY 2013 is the Belarusian season of the biggest IT competition in Eastern Europe TECHLABS CUP which is held in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Participants in the cup compete in three events: cybersport, overclocking and a competition featuring radio-controlled models. World Champions in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive videogame are expected to come to Minsk to attend the final of the TECHLABS CUP BY 2013 on 18 May.

When: 19 April – 18 May
Where: Minsk, shopping center Stolitsa
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Mill of Fashion 2013

The Final of the 22nd nationwide fashion and photo festival Mill of Fashion will feature over 110 collections. Participating in the festival will be foreign fashion experts from Great Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The gala concert of the festival will feature fashion shows by the winners and guests of the festival. The highlight of the show will be the Design Kick project featuring Belarusian sports champions and prize winners of both the London Olympic Games and the Belarusian Ice Hockey Extraleague. Another project organized by the Musson Beauty House is called “Eternal Movement”.

When: 3-4 May
Where: Minsk, Palace of Sports

Victory Day concert

Gala concert “Victory Milestones” dedicated to the 68th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War will take place at the Palace of the Republic on 8 May. The highlight of the event will be a show by the Guard of Honor; the audience will perform the Den Pobedy song, which has become the hymn of the Victory Day celebrations.

When: 8 May
Where: Palace of the Republic, Minsk

Victory Day – 9 May

One of the main events on this day will be a procession of veterans of the Great Patriotic War and a ceremony of laying flowers and wreathes at the Victory Monument in Minsk. All cities and towns of the country will honor veterans, remember those who fought for peace and sacrificed their lives defending our homeland. The program will feature cultural and sports events, concerts, youth competitions and contests, art exhibitions and previews, screenings of patriotic films. The celebrations will conclude with fireworks in Minsk, Vitebsk, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev and Brest Fortress.

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Museums Night at Nesvizh Castle

Nesvizh Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, will play host to the Night of Museums in 2013. Visitors will be able to see a performance at the castle, get into the most mysterious places of the Radziwills’ palace, enjoy the theater of shadows and visit an 18th-century fancy-dress ball. The unique underground cellars of Nesvizh Castle will be opened for public for the first time. The event will conclude with a fire show in the courtyard of Nesvizh Castle.

When: 10 May
Where: Nesvizh, Nesvizh Castle Complex

International puppet festival

An international theater festival bringing together puppeteers from Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and Russia will be held for the first time in Grodno, Belarus. The best performances for children and adults will be held on stage of the oldest puppet theater in Belarus and the Grodno Oblast Drama Theater. The jury of the festival will choose the best work that will be awarded Grand Prix. Other nominations include best directing, best production design and best actors. Children’s performances will be assessed by kids themselves.

Where: 10 – 13 May
Where: Grodno

World Open Minsk 2013

World Open Minsk 2013 will bring together best dancing duos of the world. The two-day festival under the aegis of the World DanceSport Federation will be held in Minsk Arena. The program includes the intriguing competition and also exhibition performances of the dancing sport stars.

When: 18-19 May
Where: Minsk, Minsk Arena

Yekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya’s Private Collection in Brest

A personal exhibition of the Russian photographer Yekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya featuring 70 works from her largest project Private Collection has opened in the exhibition hall of the Brest Hero Fortress Memorial. The photos and pictures depict famous politicians, artists and media persons who are transformed into the characters painted by the world’s famous artists such as Durer, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Monet, Renoir, Repin, Surikov and others.

When: 18 April – 18 May
Where: Brest, exhibition hall near the Kholm Gate of the Brest Hero Fortress Memorial

Legacy of Gentry’s Archives exhibition

The exhibition features a collection of unique historical monuments of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which helps people to feel the atmosphere of majestic and heroic past. The collection includes original monuments of cartography, sphragistics, graphics, paintings and documents of the 15th-19th centuries. Some documents are of a special historical value such as the 1631 map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania made by Tomasz Makowski, some royal charters, privileges and other documents of the 16th-18th centuries.

When: 18 April – 12 May
Where: Minsk, National History Museum

26th international festival of old and modern chamber music

A festival in Belarus’ oldest town Polotsk will bring together outstanding performers from Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, France, Israel, Argentina and Cuba. During a month and a half amazing music will be performed in the hall of St. Sophia Cathedral. In April the guests of the festival will be People’s Artist Vladimiras Prudnikovas of Lithuania, famous Estonian conductor Erki Pehk, one of Russia’s best chamber collectives the Mikhail Glinka State String Quartet, unique musician and multi-instrumentalist  Yuri Medianik, outstanding Belarusian pianist Yuri Gildyuk, Russian violinist Stepan Yakovich and France’s organist Pierre Zhivo.

When: 5 April – 18 May
Where: Polotsk, St. Sophia Cathedral
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Slutsk Belts exhibition

Slutsk belts are a Belarusian relic famous all over the world. These belts were created in the 18th-19th centuries at manufactories, the most famous of which was the one located in Slutsk and belonging to the Radziwill family. The belts were made to an intricate technology using silk, gold and silver threads. Back then they were part of a men’s costume being the evidence of power and wealth of their owner. Four belts will be exhibited, all dating to the late 18th to early 19th century and loaned by the Lviv History Museum. Other exhibits worth seeing are portraits of the Belarusian gentry dated by the 18th-19th centuries.

When: 8 May 2013 – 18 April 2014
Where: Minsk, National History Museum
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First International Student Slavonic Forum

The final events of the 1st International Student Slavonic Forum in Vitebsk will be held in May. Teachers and students will present their universities at the Student Arbat exhibition. The 1st international business project competition “Invest Weekend” will be held, too. Other events include social advertising contest Open Show, competitions to choose the best vocal art, choreography, original genre and art of declamation and a mixture of a concert and a discotheque named “Vivat, Student Forum!”

When: 21-23 May
Where: Vitebsk
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Naliboki 2013 Marathon

The fifth amateur marathon Naliboki 2013 will take place in the northern part of the Naliboki Forest Reserve. Apart from traditional events (running, bikeathlon and a combined running- bikeathlon discipline) the organizers will present such novice as a multi-marathon that will include the Berezina river rafting and the rope stage. The motto of the festival is “Minimum of asphalt, maximum of joy.”

When: 25-26 May
Where: Naliboki Forest Reserve, the valley of the Zapadnaya Berezina river.

Hugh Laurie’s concert in Minsk

One of the world’s most popular actors, lead actor in the Fox TV series House, M.D. and record breaker of the Guinness Book of Records Hugh Laurie will come to Minsk to present his new blues album “Didn’t It Rain” at the Palace of the Republic. The album will go on release on 6 May, with Minsk being Hugh Laurie’s first destination in his promotional tour that begins on 31 May. Hugh Laurie will perform the songs of such American bluesmen as William Christopher Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, Dr. John and Alan Price.

When: 31 May
Where: Minsk, Palace of the Republic

International children’s festival Golden Bee

The town of Klimovichi, Belarus, will play host to the 13th international festival which will bring together over 600 young artists from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Slovenia and Moldova.  The festival encompasses a variety of genres. The festival is traditionally timed to the International Day for Protection of Children. Nominations include vocal art, choreography, painting and ornamental art. The guests will be able to take part in mini-performances, get the feel of the countryside, try a hand in the traditional Belarusian crafts and taste the national cuisine.

When: 29 May – 2 June
Where: Klimovichi, Mogilev Oblast