The Monument to Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky in Minsk (near the BSU)

The square near the main University of the country – the BGU – is an original museum of sculptures. Apart from the statues of Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky, there you can find some other key historical figures that at the time influenced greatly the formation of cultural and historical heritage of our country. These are the famous poet Mikola Gusovsky, and the first printer Francisc Skorina, and the enlightener Euphrosyne of Polotsk, and the humanist Kirill Turovsky. And, of course, the list of great personalities would be incomplete without the famous in history Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky.

The contribution of Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky to the development of book printing in Belarus

The both future enlightener were born in 1530. Simon Budny is a great humanist and a talented writer who during all his life fought for the church reformation. He is known for his very free translation of the Bible; for this purpose that he regularly suffered from persecution of the Church and the authorities. Nicholas Radziwill patronized the scientist; thanks to his support Budny published the Bible in Polish in Nesvizh (1570 and 1572 years), and then in Western Russian. It is believed that he was one of the first to develop the culture not of the nobility’s language, but of the people’s language. Unfortunately, due to the fact that his works considered heretical were everywhere removed and actively destroyed, only a few copies of his books have survived up to now.

Vasily Tyapinsky was also a famous humanist, writer, printer, and translator. His views of life and of the Church were close to those of Simon Budny, in his time he also turned from Calvinism to the faith in one God. As he explained his publication of the Gospel in the Western Russian language, the word of God translated in such a way would be clear to ordinary people, and would let them be enlightened spiritually.

"Truth is born of arguments"

It is a famous saying of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is ideal for the description of the monument commemorating the two famous humanists of antiquity. The author of the sculptural composition established in Minsk in 2000 is Igor Golubev who portrayed the scientists sitting on the bench and discussing ardently something. It is known that Vasily Tyapinsky and Simon Budny not only were born the same year and had similar views, but also they were very familiar. So such a hot dispute between the two great minds could take place more than four years ago.

A monument to Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky is installed on a low pedestal, beautifully tiled. Anyone can approach the sculpture, sit on a bench next to one of the figures and take a picture with the local attraction. The courtyard with monuments is located in the garden with paved paths and beautiful lanterns that creates a unique atmosphere of coziness, especially in the evenings when the light of the lanterns "brings to life" the statues of great men of the past centuries.