Project “Digitization and Public Presentation of the Free Belarus Museum’s Resources”

‍_{*The project is carried out within the framework of the “Digital Culture 2025” program and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland through the Culture Support Fund — a state special-purpose fund. It is also co-financed by the Education for Democracy Foundation under the RITA – Region in Transition program, funded by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.}

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The Free Belarus Museum is launching a project to digitize and provide public access to its collection of artifacts.
The project is dedicated to both the modern and historical fate of the Belarusian people — those who have lived in Poland for generations as an ethnic minority, as well as the large number of Belarusians who arrived in Poland after the 2020 protests.

The project will also be of interest to researchers and anyone interested in the history of Belarus and the struggles of Central European nations for independence and democracy.

Main Goal — Increasing Access to Cultural Resources

The primary goal of the project is to preserve artifacts of the contemporary Belarusian protest against human rights violations and repression of freedom, which are held in the collections of the Free Belarus Museum.
Through digitization and publication of digital copies, these materials will become part of the global cultural heritage. The project also aims to ensure broad public access to these materials via online tools.

In today’s Republic of Belarus, there is widespread suppression of all forms of civic solidarity and systematic destruction of memory related to the people’s resistance against the dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
All material and cultural reminders of society’s desire to follow an alternative, democratic path of development are banned. Possession of objects that symbolize protest—such as white-red-white clothing or photos from the 2020 mass demonstrations—may result in years of imprisonment.

The mission of the Free Belarus Museum is to preserve these artifacts for history and ensure free access to them. Through digitization and online publication, the museum will make it possible for a broad, including international, audience to explore documents and testimonies of the Belarusian resistance.

Within the project, the following activities are planned:

• Selection and description of 200 artifacts, including key metadata, provenance, and cultural/political context.
• Digitization and processing of materials — each item will be scanned or photographed in high quality using professional equipment, with attention to artistic and material details.
• Creation of an online trilingual catalog (in Polish, Belarusian, and English) with filters, visual previews, and search features. The catalog will be open to the public.

Project outcomes:

• Preserve and make publicly accessible key artifacts of Belarus’s recent history.
• Use digital humanities tools to promote awareness of civic society and anti-authoritarian movements.
• Support Belarusian culture and resistance in the international context.

Additional components:

The project also includes the creation of a virtual exhibition of museum exhibits and the organization of educational activities for participants of the Belarusian Museum Laboratory, aimed at knowledge exchange, training, and the development of recommendations for digitizing cultural heritage.

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Media about the project:

The Free Belarus Museum is launching a project to digitize its collection dedicated to the contemporary history of civil resistance in Belarus

The Free Belarus Museum begins a project to digitize and open access to its collection of artifacts

The Free Belarus Museum is launching the digitization of its collection of contemporary Belarusian resistance