Region

Gomel to issue medal to mark 255th anniversary of Count Nikolai Rumyantsev’s birthday

GOMEL, March 16 (BelTA) – A medal “For good enlightenment” will be issued to mark the 255th anniversary of Count Nikolai Rumyantsev’s birthday in Gomel, BelTA learnt from Oleg Ryzhkov, Director of the Rumyantsevs-Paskevichs Palace and Park Ensemble. The medal was instituted by the oblast association Rumyantsev’s Society. It will be bestowed upon Belarusians and foreign citizens with a view to encouraging philanthropy in culture, arts, architecture, preservation of antiquities as well as literature, arts, and book publishing. The commemorative medal is part of an extensive programme of events timed to the jubilee. In particular, the first international contest of research projects dedicated to Nikolai Rumyantsev will take place between March 20 and May 20. It will gather students of secondary schools of the Gomel, Bryansk and Chernigov oblasts. Winners will become participants of the international festival Spring of Slavonic Friendship, which is supposed to take place in Gomel on May 30 – June 1. Various exhibitions will also be held. An exhibition featuring photos and documents will be opened at the Rumyantsevs-Paskevichs palace. It will showcase exhibits previously stored in the palace reserves such as pictorial art, photos, books, and various documents. Apart from that, mini exhibitions will take place in showcases of Gomel shops. A roundtable session scheduled for May 9, the birthday of Nikolai Rumyantsev, will be the key event of the celebration. The roundtable session is expected to gather around 40 scientists, diplomats, public figures, including representatives of the Embassy of Russia in Belarus. Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev owned Gomel for almost 30 years and made a huge contribution to the city development. He also arranged a series of expeditions to remote parts of Belarus, which resulted in the preservation of priceless ancient Belarusian manuscripts. In 1824 Rumyantsev published the Belarusian Archive of Ancient Papers. The count’s library was the basis for creating Lenin’s Russian State Library in Moscow.

БЕЛТА