Evolution of Belarusian books on display in St. Petersburg

              The exhibition Belarusian Book From Ancient Times Until Today opened in St. Petersburg in the main building of the National Library of Russia, the press service of the library informed. Thanks to the exhibition for the first time residents of St. Petersburg will have an opportunity to see a retrospective of the Belarusian book - from the Polotsk New Testament of the 12th century to editions by modern Belarusian typographers. “The cultural ties between Belarus and St. Petersburg are multifaceted and are closely connected with the National Library of Russia,” the press service noted. “The exhibition features the first dictionary of the Belarusian language edited by director of the Imperial Public Library Afanasy Bychkov. Famous Belarusians — revolutionary Kastus Kalinovsky and orientalist Kaetan Kossovich — were staff members of the library,” the press service added. A part of the exhibition is dedicated to the manuals that were published in Minsk and were used to train junior officers for the Red Army. These very manuals were studied by the legendary Vasily Margelov, creator of the Airborne Forces of the USSR, who turned airborne divisions into elite troops.