The creators of the Smolensk region culture

The Smolensk State Institute of Arts hosted the inter-regional panel discussion on the topic: "The study of the history of books, library and museum issues in the border regions on the example of the Smolensk region".

The event was attended by the representatives of the State Historical Museum, the State Public Historical Library, the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, the Smolensk State Institute of Arts, the Smolensk Regional Universal Library named after A.T. Tvardovskiy.

Deputy Director of Information Resources of the National Library of Belarus Tatiana Kuzminich, Director of the Belsk Library of the Tver region Tatiana Chistyakov, Head of the Culture and Tourism Department of the Smolensk region Vladislav Kononov spoke on the subject of the panel discussion.

The meeting started with the presentation of the bibliographical guide book "The Creators of Smolensk culture: library and museum leaders, publishers and collectors of the late XVIII-early XX century". The guide book is created by Mikhail Ivanov, the lecture, PhD in History, author of many books on creation and development of museums in the region; Tatiana Zharova, assistant professor, Ph.D. in Pedagogics, senior librarian of the Regional Universal Library named after A.T. Tvardovskiy; Leonid Stepchenkov, an employee of the Local History Department of the Regional Universal Library named after A.T. Tvardovskiy.

The Regional Council for Assistance to the State Commission on the preparation for celebrating the 200th anniversary of Russia's victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 awarded the Cross "For immortalizing the memory of the Patriotic War of 1812" to Leonid Stepchenkov. The award was presented by Head of the Culture and Tourism Department Vladislav Kononov, who said: "It is important to celebrate the work of people who put in their heart and soul creating culture of the Smolensk region, and of the Russia nation, right now, but not centuries later. This guide book brings back many names of our countrymen. It is important that a hundred years ago, the contemporaries of these people also highly appreciated the work of the people who worked for the benefit of their native region and their Fatherland".

The participants of the panel discussion spoke about the project of creating the Center for the Study of the history of books, library and museum issues in the border regions at the Smolensk State Institute of the Arts.