The unique sight of Belarus - the National Library.

The building of the National Library is a cultural heritage of the Belarusians. Nowadays, it is not just a library, it is a place where a huge amount of information stored on various media. This building featuring an unusual design and architecture continues to attract visitors.

The main library of our country was founded in 1922. It occupied an old building. At that moment, it was called the Belarusian State and University Library. There were 60 thousand exhibits. The question of a new building was considered. Georgy Lavrov presented a project of the new building. The library building is one of the most important monuments of the Constructivism era.

Excursions to the National library

It is impossible to imagine it, it's better to go to Minsk and to see it with your own eyes. That's why visiting of this masterpiece of architecture is included into the program of sightseeing tours on capital of Belarus:

You will see the most important architectural monuments of capital of Belarus. You can see the National library and celebratory Minsk during New Year's vacation. Join our fascinating New Year's excursions «New year in Minsk - 2018», «1.12 Vacation in Minsk, 3 days» and to other New Year's excursion rounds across Belarus.

The National Library is glad to see tourists

During the Second World War, 83% of all monuments of literature and equipment were lost. But later, everything was collected again. Relations with countries also contributed to cultural progress. When it was realized that the library fund is very large, it was planned to design a new building – bigger and more reliable. A competition of the best work on the design of the new building took place. Mikhail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko won, who came up with a diamond-shaped library. A new type of library combines multifunctionality and design. The shape of the building is called a rhombicuboctahedron – a polyhedron of eight triangles and eighteen squares, placed on a stylobate (podium). It is covered with glass, which performs the function of heat reflection with a mirror effect. The construction lasted 4 years. The opening took place in 2006. Its area is 100 thousand square meters and height is 72 meters. Excursions are conducted at the top of the building. Here tourists and visitors of Minsk can get acquainted with its sights, enjoy the beauty of the city through binoculars. Halls for visitors occupy three floors. A thousand people work in the library.

The library is located in the park zone, which is decorated with flowers and bushes. A monument to Frantsisk Skorina was placed in front of the building. The entrance to the library is also interesting – it has a form of an open book with inscriptions in different languages. The interior of the National Library was designed by the best artists and sculptors of Belarus.

Professor Roman Motulsky is the head of the National Library. Today, the collection of the library has about 9 million copies: manuscripts, in printed format, electronic documents and so on. Materials in the library are available in more than 80 languages. All this occupies ten floors of the library.

The President of Belarus ordered to create a Center for International Meetings in the library, equipped with up-to-date equipment.

Night illumination of the “diamond” is truly amazing. When getting dark, the entire library turns into a real light show. It is an incredible performance.