National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus



Lectures

Dolls from grandma’s chest

For first to fifth form audience

Folk Belarusian dolls as main characters of rituals and traditions of our remote ancestors make the past more interesting and understandable. This relatively small but remarkable part of folk material culture gives joy not only to children but to adults as well. During the ‘Dolls from grandma’s chest’ lecture the audience can learn about the most widespread Slavic traditional dolls and about what they served for as well as get precious pieces of advice of how to make one’s own doll.

Beliefs of ancient Slavs

For first to fourth form audience

The lecture relates about heathen beliefs of ancient Slavs, explains terms and notions like heathen temple, idol, and religion. During picturesque presentation, schoolchildren familiarize themselves with fairy-tale characters (Baba-Yaga, Dragon Gorynych, Koshchey the Immortal), spirits (domovoy, vodyanoy, leshy) and gods (Perun, Yarilo, Veles) in which our remote ancestors once believed.

Belarus a land of treasures

For first to eleventh form audience

Through this lecture, the audience will learn how treasures appear, which hoards were found in the territory of Belarus, and finally, why Belarus is called a land of treasures. The lecture is followed up by a showing of hoards and separate articles kept in the collections of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

To the stars of the universe

For fourth to eleventh form audience

Why flying into space? Why does a cosmonaut need a space suit? Who is a cosmonaut and how is he or she equipped? What is weightlessness or zero gravity? To these and other questions, children can get answers during the lecture. They will see diving suit, survival kit, space suit gloves, space food, hygiene kit, and many other things given to the museum by the first Belarusian cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk.

Urban culture at the interface of the XIX – XX centuries

For seventh to eleventh form audience

The audience will learn what Minsk looked like at the turn of 20th century, how citizens spent their free time. They can "look into" windows of ordinary townspeople; learn about their daily life, stance on sports, Belarusian and international cultural achievements, about fashion trends and salon culture of that time.

Minsk: yesterday and today

For sixth to eleventh form audience

Using post cards with images of the old Minsk, children will make a little historical trip through streets and parks of the late 19th – early 20th centuries city and the contemporary city.

Sluck sashes

For eighth to eleventh form audience

Through the lecture, the audience will learn about one of the most precious treasures of Belarus – Sluck sashes. Children will learn under what circumstances their production was started at the Sluck manufactory, how most precious sashes looked like, why they used to be so popular among the szlachta, and why we consider them a national treasure of Belarus now. The program is followed by multimedia presentation with images of Sluck sashes kept in Belarus and abroad.

Notions of szlachta and fashion of gentry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th-18th centuries

For eighth to eleventh form audience

Notions of beauty and fashion trends in clothing and appearance have always existed. The szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth made no exception to the rule. Sometimes, our noble ancestors paid even more attention to the appearances than people of contemporary society. Through the lecture, the audience will learn about ideas of szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the 16th-18th centuries, about ideals of beauty, and about fashion trends of that period.