By Elena Bormotova: Rarities among works of art, literature, and heraldry, which for centuries belonged to Belarus, today are a source of pride of museum funds around the world. Returning such masterpieces to their historical homeland seems to be quite a simple task. But in the modern world there are tough political, diplomatic and legal norms, and proving that valuable objects were taken fr om our territory illegally is the main problem today.
Belarus began to work on restitution once it gained independence. Research work on the identification of national masterpieces and their description started at that time. Several thousand items are systematized and described in eight volumes of the collection "Return". Some of the items have already been recovered and today they are a national treasure. Among them are the world-famous Slutsk Belts, greatest books, and archival documents.
Research work on the identification and fixing of rarities continues. The list of what was exported from Belarus is constantly increasing. The database is sent to almost all embassies of our country abroad. Diplomats are involved in this work, too. Only thanks to joint efforts, we now know about the location of 95% of the entire collection of weapons and armor of the Radziwills. It is already known for a fact that paintings by Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya from the Tretyakov Gallery and the Hermitage Museum will be returned to Mogilev.
Alexander Yatsko, the Deputy Minister of Culture of Belarus:
"Now, we are working on returning the library of the Khreptovich family to Belarus. We are now discussing the conditions. It is clear that returning them in full is very doubtful, so we are talking about some conditions to work out a digital from of return."
Earlier, the process was conducted solely by the efforts of NGOs. Now, state structures are involved as well. The Council of Ministers of Belarus has a special commission to identify, return, share and introduce into the scientific and cultural circulation of our treasures. And for the first time ever, a concrete plan for the return of the Belarusian heritage has been developed. The list contains two copies of the 1645 and 1649 Alphabet Books, which are now stored in the library of the Royal University of the Swedish city of Uppsala.
Interestingly enough, neither researchers, nor diplomats and representatives of the power vertical do not name the items that are expected to be returned today. They can only talk publicly about those masterpieces, wh ere the work on the return is at its final stage.
Olga Popko, the Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus for International Affairs:
"To some extent, this list has to be kept secret, because the return of valuable cultural objects is a quiet process of negotiation and coordination. If you disclose the valuable objects that the Republic of Belarus is interested in, it will most likely be more difficult to return them, because prices increase if there is an opportunity to buy."
In parallel, work is under way to create a clear algorithm for the return of our treasures. Unfortunately, no provisions for this mechanism exist in the Culture Code.
