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Lukashenka visits site for new building of WWII museum on nationwide subbotnik

Alyaksandr Lukashenka took part in the April 24 nationwide subbotnik (day of voluntary unpaid work) in Minsk, showing up at a construction site for a new building for the State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, said his press office.

The city’s chief architect, Viktar Nikitsin, briefed the Belarusian leader on the building design and plans for landscaping work around the museum.

Mr. Nikitsin described the design concept as one of the best concepts for a museum in Europe and elsewhere in the world, noting that the WWII museum would consist of various components dedicated to certain periods of the war.

The museum, the construction of which is scheduled to be completed in 2013, will utilize a total area of around 15 square meters. It will have an information system that will allow visitors to find data on their relatives who participated in the war.

Mr. Lukashenka laid a container with a message to future generations at the site, the press office said.

“Being opened just three months after the liberation of Minsk from the Nazis, the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War became the world’s first cultural, educational and scientific establishment pursuing a key priority of preserving the historical truth about the war and people to whom we owe our lives,” the message reads. “The museum tells a story about the feat of arms of the Belarusians and the brotherly nations of the Soviet Union and educates the youth in the spirit of military virtue and fidelity to duty. Let the new building of the museum adorn the capital city and also serve as a visible sign of our unfading memory and eternal gratitude to liberation heroes.”

Mr. Lukashenka joined a team of workers who installed a concrete plate for a transformer substation and cleaned an area for a tower crane, the press office said. //BelaPAN