East–West (a collection of works of Eastern and Western European art of Dondukov–Korsakov Princes)

The National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus presents the "East–West" exhibition (a collection of works of Eastern and Western European art of Dondukov–Korsakov Princes).

The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the formation of the museum collection of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus, because the modern museum owes its origin to a number of institutions that existed in Minsk at the beginning of the 20th century: the Minsk Church and Archaeological Museum (1908) and the Minsk Regional Museum (1919).

The Belarusian State Museum, created in 1923, has become the central gathering place for historical artifacts.

In the 1920s the museum collection included property of palaces and estates, including furniture, dishes, weapons, household items. The exhibition presents part of the collection of Princes Dondukov–Korsakov, which in the 19th century was in the estate of Romanovo, Mogilev province, and today it is kept in the collection of two Belarusian museums and in the Smolensk State Museum–Reserve in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, only a small part of the huge collection of princes Dondukov–Korsakov has been preserved.

The uniqueness of the project is that at the same time the exhibition presents works of Eastern and Western European art of the 16th and 19th centuries that were acquired at the Romanovo estate through the efforts of several generations of the Dondukov–Korsakov family.

The exhibition showcases Western European art, including porcelain made in Italy and at the Royal Manufactory in Meissen in Germany.

The most rare for museum collections in Belarus are dishes decorated with painted polychrome enamels, carved stone sculptures and porcelain vases of the 16th – 17th centuries from China.

The "East–West" exhibition is the result of creative cooperation between the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus. The two largest museums of the country will present at the exhibition works of Eastern and Western European art of the 16th – 19th centuries.

Most of the works of art are exhibited at the exhibition for the first time.

The exhibition runs until January 12, 2020.

Address: 12 K. Marx, Minsk

Tel.: 8017 327 43 22, 321 23 71