27 October 2010
Vitebsk antiquities conference to mark 90th birthday of Leonid Alexeyev
VITEBSK, 27 October (BelTA) – A scientific conference, Vitebsk Antiquities, marking the 90th anniversary of well-known historian and archeologist Leonid Alexeyev will take place in the Vitebsk Regional History Museum on 28-29 October, BelTA learnt from the oblast cultural department. Leonid Alexeyev, a native of Roston-on-Don, has dedicated the major part of his works to studying the history of the Polotsk Principality. In the 1950-70s the scientist was engaged in the excavation works in Drutsk, Braslav, the village of Kamen. The findings that included a swindle whorl and art castings were handed over to the regional museum. The outstanding scientist, Doctor of History, leading research worker of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences consulted the development of the historical department of the regional museum in Vitebsk. In the early 1950s in the Leningrad Achieves Leonid Alexeyev found photographic plates with the image of Euphrosyne of Polotsk made in the 19th century. Leonid Alexeyev’s research was used by artist Nikolai Kuzmich in restoration of the cross. Leonid Alexeyev worked at the Grodno History and Archeology Museum, taught archeology at Mogilev Teachers Training Institute. He is the author of 130 scientific papers. Leonid Alexeyev died in Moscow in 2008. In January 2011, scientists from Belarus and Russia will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the birth of the scientist. Scientists from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Latvia will go to Vitebsk to attract attention to the scientific, historical and cultural significance of scientific works and the personality of one of the leading researchers of the medieval Belarus. The conference will discuss the results of the archeological research in the Polotsk region, consider the issues related to the development of archeology, regional history, and the problems of museology and the formation of museum collections. An exhibition of photographs and documents dedicated to the 90th birthday of Leonid Alexeyev, Alexeyev and Vitebsk Regional History Museum, will stay open during the conference.БЕЛТА