Updated at 13:52,22-04-2024

Vandals broke monument to Short U letter in Polatsk

charter97.org

The plate with the words of Ryhor Baradulinon the monument is destroyed.

“Nasha Niva” has been informed about that by a writer Uladzimir Arlou.

Yesterday, June 24, a presentation of the book by Uladzimir Arlou “My Polacak, the Cradle of the World” was held in the most ancient town of Belarus. The presentation was a great success. However, as the writer says, the celebratory impression of his friends and the audience was marred by a barbaric attack of Belarusophobes.

It is possible that exactly in the minutes when the speeches of Uladzimir Arlou, the publisher of the book Syarhei Plytkevich and its sponsor Pavel Berahovich were heard in the Museum of Belarusian Book-printing, and Belarusian musicians played ancient melodies, someone armed with a sledge-hammer, furiously chipped off the writing on one of Polatsk monuments.

What is meant here is the monument to “Ў” (“Short U Letter”). This unique cultural object situated right in the centre of the city, in Fransic Scaryna Avenue, the lines of Ryhor Baradulin are cast in metal: “The World started with Euphrosyne, Skaryna, the world started from Polatsk.”

After the death of the People’s Poet these words started to be understood as the first, one of a kind monument to the master of Belarusian language. Now only a few letters from these lines are left intact.

Arlou believes that the writing should not just be restored, but a criminal case should be opened against the vandals-Belarusophobes.