Preservation of book heritage was discussed at the Minsk Theological Academytranslated

With the blessing of His Eminence Stefan, Archbishop of Gomel and Zhlobin, restoration artists of the Gomel diocese Elena Glushakova and Natalya Lazebnikova took part in a discussion of theoretical and practical issues of working with rare books. The meeting took place on September 29, 2026 in the library of the Minsk Theological Academy and brought together employees of the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, representatives of church libraries and museums of the Belarusian Exarchate.

Olga Pirogova, head of the research department of library science of the Central Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, spoke about the criteria for determining rare books and the main directions of working with them, presenting the author’s electronic resource “Working with rare books: a compendium.”

Secretary of the Publishing Council of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Tamara Samoiluk shared her experience of creating the “Register of Book Monuments of the Belarusian Exarchate” and identifying handwritten and early printed publications in monastic and parish collections. Participants discussed the safety of book collections, restoration and measures to prevent damage to books. The ancient guardian of the Gomel diocese Elena spoke in the discussion of restoration issues...