The Center for the Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Member States will organize the International Scientific Conference "Francysk Skaryna and His Time. The 500th anniversary of the Belarusian and East Slavic printing". It will be held on November 30 and December 1, 2017.

Francysk Skaryna is the great Belarusian first printer, an outstanding enlightener and writer of the Renaissance, who made an invaluable contribution to the development of the Belarusian and Slavic culture. In 1517, F. Skaryna organized a printing house in Prague and issued the first printed book of the Eastern Slavs. In 1517-1519, he translated and printed 23 books of the Bible. Skaryna also published "The Little Travel Book" (1522) and "Apostol" (1525) in Vilnius.

Vladimir G. Gusakov, Chairman of the NASB Presidium; Aleksandr A. Kovalenya, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Humanitarian Sciences and Arts; Yury P. Bondar, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus; A. G. Iksanov, Executive Director of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Member States; Aleksandr I. Lokotko, Director of the Center for the Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research of the NAS of Belarus; Ivan V. Saverchenko, Director of the Yanka Kupala Institute of Literature Studies, Doctor of Philology; V.P. Ragoisha, Professor of the BSU, Doctor of Philology; Yu.M. Lavrik, Leading Researcher of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus will open the conference and attend the plenary session.

75 participants from Belarus and the CIS countries will present their reports at conference sessions. The conference will consider the following issues:

The beginning and development of the Belarusian and East Slavic book printing.

The Renaissance Age as a universal phenomenon of European culture.

The translation of the Bible into national languages.

Biblical translations: history and modernity.

The role of a national language in the culture development in the context of globalization.

Francysk Skaryna and strengthening of national identity.

Spiritual and material culture of Belarus in the 16th century.

The Belarusian and East Slavic art word in the 10-18 centuries.