Rogachev Museum of National Glory

In 1962, by decision of the Rogachevsky district Council of Workers' Deputies, a local history museum was established in the city on a voluntary basis. Its founder and first director was the local historian Semyon Matveevich Sverdlov, one of the organizers of the partisan movement in the Rogachev region. The collection of materials was actively supported by Karp Mikhailovich Drachev, a former commissar of the Zhuravichi partisan brigade.

In 1967, by decision of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR, the Museum of National Glory was opened on the basis of the Museum of Local Lore, and on October 3 of the same year, its personnel and staffing were approved. In April 1970, the first exposition, consisting of two halls: "Revolutionary events in the Rogachev region" and "The Great Patriotic War and the Liberation of the city and district", was opened to visitors. It occupied an area of 58 sq. m., and the entire area of the museum was 82 sq. m.

In November 1991, the Museum of National Glory was allocated a former bank building to house a new exhibition, which needed repair and reconstruction.

In October 1995, after reconstruction, the museum building was re-equipped, and the museum moved to a renovated room. From 1996 to June 2000, artistic and design work was carried out to create a new exhibition and halls of the museum. The artistic design of the new exhibition was made by the artist Valery Pavlovich Khramtsevich (Minsk Art Combine). Local residents also participated in the design of the museum and the new exposition: Boris Pavlovich Malinovsky, Evgeny Ilyich Poladenko, Vladimir Ilyich Poladenko, Anatoly Alexandrovich Lupsiakov, Valery Nikolaevich Sherstnev, Mikhail Vasilyevich Brave, as well as Igor Nikolaevich Yezepenko, a researcher at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus. The museum was opened on July 2, 2000.

There is a branch of the Rogachev Museum of National Glory in the village of Ilyich Rogachevsky district. The Ilyichevsky branch of the museum was transformed from the V.I. Lenin School Museum (established in 1963) on the basis of letters from the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR, the Department of Culture and the order of the City Executive Committee in 1989. Initially, the branch was located in one room and a corridor of the school with an area of 150 sq.m. In 1990, the Rogachev Museum of National Glory was given materials collected by the Ilyichevskaya Secondary School on the history of the school and the village of Ilyich. Construction began on a building for a branch of the museum, which was subsequently located in the courtyard of a school in the village of Ilyich Rogachevsky district. Work began on the creation of an exposition of the museum branch in the new building, the halls were decorated: "The Life of the villagers", "The History of the village of Ilyich", "The History of the Ilyich school". The museum also has an exhibition "Drylyany karunki", dedicated to wooden architecture and traditions of decorating houses with platbands and shutters.

More than 40 unique handwritten and old-printed books, real masterpieces of book art, are the pride of the exhibition. Among them are illustrated editions by Vasily Vashchenko (Mogilev) and Mikhail Slezka (Lviv), books from Moscow and Belarusian printing houses of the XVII—XVIII centuries, as well as rare samples of Old Believer manuscripts from the Branch, demonstrating the rich book-writing heritage of the Gomel region. Of particular value are personal notes and notes in the margins of books, revealing their fascinating history.

The study of ancient traditions and the preservation of ancestral heritage remains a priority area of the museum's scientific research. The staff gathered extensive information about the history of the Old Believers in the Rogachev region within the framework of the project "Bearers of old and eternal truths". The study of the history of the Jewish population of the region continues. The museum has carried out extensive work to collect memories and materials about the participants of the Great Patriotic War, natives of the Rogachevsky district, missing, repressed, as well as to identify the dead fighters based on orders and medals found at the battlefields. Additional information about the available funds is being sought by correspondence. The museum staff published booklets "Ragachoy turystychny", "Feudal closed Ragachoyshchyny" and others, as well as a brochure "The history of the fire service of the city of Rogachev". The museum took part in the preparation of materials for the publication of the historical and documentary chronicle "Memory. Rogachevsky district". 14 excursion routes have been developed to the historical sites of the Rogachev region, lectures and museum classes are held.