National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus was established in 1939. It was originally known as the Belarusian State Picture Gallery and was renamed the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus in 1957. It is the largest museum in Belarus in terms of the collection of fine art works, and its holdings rank among the top in the CIS countries.

The pre–World War II collections mainly consisted of Belarusian icons, wood carvings from the 16th to 18th centuries, paintings from before the October Revolution, and artworks by some Soviet artists, which were collected from regional museums in Belarusian cities such as Minsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev. During the German invasion in World War II, the museum was bombed, and most of its collections were looted by Nazi forces and remain missing to this day. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Belarusian artist and collector Aladrova, the museum was later rebuilt. It currently houses over 25,000 exhibits in its display and storage collections, including works by artists from Belarus, Russia, and other countries in the fields of painting, sculpture, and decorative applied arts.