The Renaissance and the Baroque

The Belarusian lands were a meeting place of East and West back in the 12th century. From the 13th century until the late 18th century the Belarusian territory was a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where culture was based on two great Christian traditions — Eastern Orthodox and Western Latin. However, until the first third of the 16th century the intellectual and cultural life was dominated by the Byzantine-Balkan tradition.

The influence of Latin culture became visible in Roman Catholic icons where the events of Biblical history were set by Renaissance artists in the contemporary environment, while saints resembled local nobility members. The survived examples of the Renaissance in Belarus are the engravings in Frantsysk Skaryna’s editions; in other books published by Orthodox, Roman-Catholic , Protestant communities.

In 1596, the Union of Brest signalled an attempt to unify the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches to form the Uniate church, The artists of the Belarusian school of icon painting introduced into icons scenes of real life. Carved (mostly wooden) Baroque sculptures appeared in Roman Catholic cathedrals in the 17th century.

Religious tolerance encouraged immigrants to settle in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Jewish communities were the centres of jewellery art. Tartars were invited by great princes to serve in their armies and fight against the Teutonic Order. Their books were written in Belarusian or Polish with Arabic script. The Old Believers, who separated from the Russian Orthodox Church, settled in Vetka, a town near Homel, which became one of their religious and cultural centres where books and icons of high artistic value were produced.

In the second half of the 16th and in the 17th century, the aristocrats tried to follow a ‘European’ way of life. Castles were constructed and decorated with Baroque portraits in the ‘Sarmatian’ style, based on the belief that the gentry of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were descendents of ancient sarmatians, different from Slavs and West European aristocracy in their dress, manners, etc.

During the Baroque period the Radziwiłłs founded various types of manufactories , including those producing stove tiles, porcelain dinnerware in Sveržen, chandeliers, glass tableware in Naliboki and Urečča, kontusz sashes, the most distinctive items of male dress, in Sluck.

The palaces of magnates with their theatres, libraries and fine art collections were the main centres of culture of that period.