Culture of Belarus

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has four sites in Belarus, with two of them being partly in other states, being put on the World Heritage List: Belovezhskaya Pushcha (also in Poland), Mir Castle Complex, Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Niasvizh and Struve Geodetic Arc (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Russian, Sweden and Ukraine). ^[1]

Belarusian theatre also began to spring up in popularity in the early 1900s with various plays being performed in Belarus, Ukraine and in Siberia. One of Belarus's famous plays, Paulinka, which was composed by Yanka Koupala, was being performed in Siberia for the Belarusians who were being be sent to the region. ^[2]

Documentation of Belarusian folk music stretches back to at least the 15th century. Prior to that, skomorokhs were the major profession for musicians. A neumatic chant, called znamenny, from the word 'znamia', meaning sign or neume, used until 16th century in Orthodox church music, followed by two hundreds of stylistic innovation that drew on the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation. In the 17th century, Partesnoe penie, part singing, became common for choruses, followed by private theaters established in cities like Minsk and Vitebsk. Popular music groups that came from Belarus include Pesniary, Dreamlin and NRM.

However, parts of the culture have been lost over time due to the Russification period. While poets like Koupala were trying to revive the Belarusian language and tried to prevent the Russification of Belarus, the Russian language is still being used in official business and in other sections of Belarusian society. Other symbols of culture that faced Russification were the symbols of Belarus in 1991 and the Belarus National Republic, the white-red-white flag (бел-чырвона-белы сцяг) and the Pahonya coat of arms. While the coat of arms are similar to that of Lithuania (Vytis), these were replaced by the current symbols in a 1995 referendum, which have been deemed reminisant of the Soviet-era.

Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since the 1952 Helsinki Games as part of the Soviet Olympic squad. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and Albertville, Belarus competed as part of the Unified Team and began their Olympic quest alone since the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Since begining to participate in Olympic competition as their own nation, Belarus won a toal of 52 medals; 6 gold, 17 silver and 29 bronze. The first Olympic medal for the Soviet Union was won by Belarusian Mikhail Krivonosov at the 1956 Summer Games held in Melbourne, Australia. ^[3] It is also worth noting that President Lukashenko is the only head of state to be the head of a nation's National Olympic Committee. Lukashenko has been the head of the Belarus Olympic Committee since 1997. ^[4]