The exhibition “Book Heritage” marking the 1150th anniversary of the invention of Slavic Writing was opened in the House of the Father Superior of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum-reserve.
It presents manuscripts and early printed books from the collection of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum-reserve and its branch - the Museum of Dionisy’s Frescoes. Its goal is to demonstrate abundance and variety of the museum collection, to show the process of making manuscripts and early printed books, to present books as an integral and significant part of Russian people’s life during the 15th-20th centuries.
The most ancient manuscript from the museum collection dates back to the early 15th century. It is a liturgical book written on parchment which belonged to the founder of the monastery – St. Kirill Belozersky. He was a well-educated man and he started the monastery library. 13 manuscripts written in the monastery during his lifetime have come down to us.
Books created by famous Russian printers of the 16th-17th centuries are displayed as well. Issues of the Moscow Print Yard and the Synod Printing House prevail in the museum collection, but there are some of the St. Petersburg Synod Printing House, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the Pochayiv Lavra, and many other printing centres. Along with the books written in Cyrillic script, the exhibition presents books in Civil type dating back to the 18th – first third of the 19th century, including works of several metropolitans.
One more section of the exhibition is about N.K. Nikolsky, outstanding researcher of the Old Russian book-learning, famous historian of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery.
The exhibition will be open till November 1, 2013.
