Famous Mosaic-Laden Wall Under Demolition In Babruisk

• 16.12.2023, 1:25

Local residents are outraged.

In Babruisk, the municipal authorities began demolishing the old hospital building, which was decorated with a mosaic by the Belarusian artist Siemion Abramau. Despite the protests of the townspeople who wanted to save the cultural heritage, the work of art was still destroyed. A petition sent to the Ministry of Culture with a request to transfer the image to another building or to a museum did not help, Nasha Niva reports.

Abramau himself noted that he regretted the loss of this work of monumental art. However, he said, removing the mosaic from the building and moving it to a new location would be very expensive. As builders note, it is cheaper and technically easier to make a new mosaic than to save this one.

When news about the demolition of the building appeared, Belarusians set up a petition to stop the destruction of the mosaic. The petition suggested moving the image to another place or to museum collections.

“Belarusian legislation does not provide for the destruction of works of art, since this, by direct definition, is barbaric. Barbarism has no place in Babruisk!” wrote the authors of the petition.

The Ministry of Culture responded that “the Regulations on the procedure for the creation (reconstruction) and acceptance of works of monumental and monumental-decorative art... do not regulate the issue of dismantling works of art.”

The department sent a letter to local authorities, whose competence includes decisions on the reconstruction of this work of art. And they made a decision.

Another mosaic panel by Abramau is located at the Biarezina station in Babruisk — this is a map depicting the railway tracks of the USSR. A series of similar mosaics decorate a number of houses in Minskaya Street.