It was presented at the 45th Republican Art of Books Contest, for their Heritage of Belarus. In 2008, the Heritage of Belarus: Treasures album was awarded a 1st Degree Diploma at the 5th International Art of Books CIS Contest and, in 2015, the authors received the Winning Diploma at the 54th National Art of Books Contest in Minsk, for their Treasures of Belarus.

The National History Museum of Belarus’ recent hosting of an event to celebrate the launch of Heritage of Belarus featured an exhibition of photos from the edition, and a retrospective of all the albums released in the series since 2004.

The circulation figures are impressive. What’s the secret of the book’s success, despite its high cost?

Oleg Lukashevich: You need to remember how we began the Heritage of Belarus series. Alexander and I were abroad and were disappointed at having been unable to find a worthwhile souvenir to give people, to show them something about Belarus. In 1997, I interviewed Pierre Cardin in Paris and the only gift I could offer him was a 50-page album on Belarus. In Paris, we visited a bookstore and asked for a guide on Belarus. We were offered one large book, with just two pages devoted to Belarus — featuring a photo of a beautiful sunset over Polesie marshes.

Sadly, no information was available on Belarus. Every country has its own enchanting landscapes; even the Saharan sands are wonderful. However, architecture enables tourists to learn more about a country. Visitors tend to tour architectural sites first and only then the remaining sights. Architecture indicates how far a country has developed and how richly.

Visiting Warsaw in 2001, we spotted a unique edition by Polish historian and photographer Roman Aftanazy: Dzieje Rezydencji na Dawnych Kresów Rzeczypospolitej (A History of Residences in the Old Borderlands of the Rzech Pospolita). It united unique materials on places and castles situated on the territory of modern Belarus. Mr. Aftanazy toured those residences until WWII and took unique photos.

When we saw them, we were amazed: it was hardly possible to believe that our Belarus enjoyed such treasures in the past. We prepared an initial list of all sites throughout Belarus. At that time, we were working for the Belarusian TV and Radio Company and proposed a major TV project, dealing with our architectural legacy. As a result, 100 episodes were broadcast over a period of two years. Nothing of the kind had been filmed before.

Alexander Alexeev: Importantly, we began creating our own unique photo archive. You could buy a good digital camera by that time, which enabled us to begin the second stage: publishing a high quality album. We acted as photographers and designers. In October 2004, the first 3,000 copies of the Belarusian-English Heritage of Belarus edition were published and enjoyed incredible success: almost the whole circulation sold out in a month.

Only about 50 copies remained by the time the album was presented in November, at the National Art Museum of Belarus.  We received the ‘For Spiritual Revival’ award and our book was named a ‘bestseller’ in Poland.

Oleg Lukashevich: Only then did we think about the reasons behind our success. The answer was simple: we’d prepared our book with great love, wishing to show our roots in ancient Polotsk lands. These include a 12th century church built upon the order of St. Yevfrosiniya Polotskaya, which boasts amazing frescoes. The album features every region of Belarus and has been a true revelation for many. We often hear: ‘It’s hardly possible to believe

Alexander Alexeev: Of course, it’s impossible to make a high quality edition cheaply. The process is very expensive. Similar 320 page albums cost around 100 Euros in Paris. Our edition is half the price. Your albums don’t depict any ruins. Everything is so beautiful.

Alexander Alexeev: Belarus has lost much, since almost every century has brought destruction. Castles, palaces, mansions and churches have disappeared as a result. Villages in Italy and Spain each have their own castle, palace or magnificent church, although many are in ruins. We could have featured ruins but chose to catalogue buildings which have survived.

This is our Soviet legacy, which lacks beauty. The value of such photos is exclusively documentary. We do sometimes use a 25m crane for shooting: it helps us rise over a monument, to emphasise its large scale and magnificence. The wave of interest in our national legacy — born in the mid 2000s — is par tially down to your work. Speaking of your new edition, how does it differ from those you’ve released before?

Alexander Alexeev: It’s the first to be published in three languages: Belarusian, Russian and English. It features over 400 photos, taken from 2014 to 2015, and gives a clear understanding of how certain architectural monuments look today. We show our restored architectural legacy. Of course, restoration works are worthy of attention but, being in the business since 2001, we remember when public opinion was against the restoration of Mir Castle or Nesvizh. People thought we should only preserve their beautiful ruins but time has proven those people wrong.

Oleg Lukashevich: We could hardly have imagined, just 15 years ago, that the estates of Skoki and Merechevshchina, the palaces of Pinsk, Krichev and Gomel, the churches of Volchin, Vitebsk and Brest, the castles of Lyubcha and Lida, and the town halls of Mogilev and Minsk would be restored. Nesvizh now welcomes up to 500,000 tourists annually, showing that the restored site enjoys popularity. It would be great to see the Castles of Belarus project receive worthy financing. I’d like to show preserved sites rather than ‘lost heritage’ in each new edition.

Your books are held by the world’s largest libraries, as well as by prestigious universities, and cultural and diplomatic establishments.

They are found in the libraries of the Pope and of British Queen Elizabeth II. You personally presented your book to Pope Johann Paul II.

Oleg Lukashevich: We presented our first book in Italy, in October 2004, during the Days of Belarusian Culture. Our embassy worked with the Italians to organize our stand, and the Italians sent us an invitation to attend an audience with the Pope. At the end of that meeting, a limited number of people were invited to approach the Pope, to receive his blessing. We had the great honour of presenting our album to Johann Paul II. Some time later, we received a letter from the Vatican’s State Secretariat, sent with the Pope’s blessing. It expressed gratitude ‘for the interesting book — Heritage of Belarus — featuring wonderful photos’: high praise indeed.

Alexander Alexeev: Of course, it’s pleasant to visit the New York Public Library, to find a signed copy of our book, and we’re delighted to know that Belarusian diplomats give our books to heads of state when presenting their credentials. We’ve personally presented many books to famous figures of culture abroad, during our work at film festivals, in Cannes, Berlin and Venice. While preparing the Epoch TV project, about famous Belarusian countrymen, we presented our albums to relatives of Ignaty Domeiko in Chile, as well as to the family of Marc Chagall in France and the USA, and to that of Napoleon Orda in France and of Nikolay Sudzilovsky-Russel in Japan. These were tokens of our appreciation. In fact, our Heritage of Belarus work has been used to prepare an application to UNESCO to include the Nesvizh and Polotsk sites on its World Heritage List.

By Veniamin Mikheev

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