Нацыянальны акадэмічны тэатр імя Янкі Купалы | |
 National theatre in 2013 | |
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| Address | Vulica Enhieĺsa 7, Minsk 220030, Belarus |
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| Construction | |
| Opened | June 5, 1890 |
| Renovated | 2010-2013 |
| Architect | Karol Kozlowski, Kostantin Vvedensky |
| Website | |
| http://kupalauski.by/en/ | |
Janka Kupala National Academic Theatre (Belarusian : Нацыянальны акадэмічны тэатр імя Янкі Купалы, Minsk) is the oldest existing theatre in Belarus. [1] It is included in the list of the cultural heritage of Belarus. [2]
The building of the theatre was designed by architects Konstantin Vvedensky and Karol Kozlowski and was built in 1890.
The main facade faces the square at the intersection of two central streets, vulica Karla Marksa and vulica Frydrycha Enhielsa. [3]
The modern theatre was established on September 14, 1920, in the building of the Minsk Provincial Theatre. In 1944, it was renamed after Janka Kupala, a poet and classic of Belarusian literature.
The building served as a venue for several congresses in the first half of the 20th century.
On December 2–8, 1917, the First Congress of the Armies of the Russian Western Front took place in the theatre building. The congress was attended by 714 delegates, including 473 Bolsheviks. Vladimir Lenin was elected honorary chairman. Representatives of central Bolshevik units Sergo Ordzhonikidze and V. Volodarsky were also present. The congress declared the recognition of Bolshevik rule in Russia and elected a new command of the Western Front, in which the Bolsheviks took dominant positions.
On December 18–31, 1917, the theatre hosted the First All-Belarusian Congress, a representative national congress of Belarusians. The event brought together almost 1,900 delegates from all Belarus regions to discuss the future political status of Belarus and its system of government. The congress was forcibly dispersed by the Russian Bolsheviks, who controlled Minsk at the time. The Council formed at the congress continued to operate underground; in February–March 1918, it announced the creation of the independent Belarusian Democratic Republic and still exists today as the Rada BNR.
On February 2–3, 1919, the Bolshevik Provisional Government of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus held the First All-Belarusian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Red Army Deputies in the theatre building. 230 delegates from various Bolshevik structures approved the first constitution of Soviet Belarus. They passed resolutions to declare a federation of Soviet Belarus and Soviet Russia, and ceded significant Belarus territories to Russia.
On June 27, 1944, during the Nazi occupation of Belarus, the theatre hosted the Second All-Belarusian Congress convened by Belarusian political forces united around the collaborationist Belarusian Central Rada. The congress brought together 1,039 delegates representing various regions of Belarus, including Bielastok and Smolensk, and organizations of the Belarusian diaspora. The congress adopted resolutions condemning Soviet and Polish policies toward Belarus, reaffirming Belarus' status as an independent state and declaring the Belarusian Central Rada as the temporary supreme Belarusian state body.
On August 12, 2020, actors and employees of the Janka Kupala National Academic Theatre recorded a collective video address demanding to stop the use of violence against people who protested against falsified results of the 2020 presidential election of Belarus. On August 13, 2020, the theater staff also called for the recount of votes with the participation of independent observers. On August 16, 2020, theatre actors and director-general, Pavel Latushko, signed an open address to the Belarusians - in particular, to the army, calling for immediate dismissal of those who gave "criminal orders" and "all officials guilty or involved in these crimes", and for initiation of criminal proceedings against them. On August 17, 2020, Pavel Latushko was fired. On the same evening, white-red-white flags were hung on the theater building. On August 18, 2020, theatre actors informed Yuri Bondar, Minister of Culture, who came with a visit to the theatre, about their resignation. The next morning theatre staff could not get into the building, which was supposedly closed for cleaning. On August 26, 58 actors and staff were fired, including People's Artists of Belarus Zoya Belokhvostik and Arnold Pomazan, honoured artists Aliona Sidorova, Yulia Shpilevskaya, Igor Denisov, Natalya Kochetkova, and Georgiy Malyavskiy, artists Pavel Kharlanchuk, Roman Podolyako, Mikhail Zuy, Dmitriy Esenevich, Valentina Gartsuyeva, and Svetlana Anikey, art director Nikolai Pinigin, and all stage directors.
On August 26, 2020, after the mass resignation in solidarity with the Belarusian nation, the actors and staff of the Janka Kupala National Theatre founded the Free Kupalauski Theater, which continues their long-standing traditions, including broadcasting their work for free on their YouTube channel.
Art director: Nikolai Pinigin, Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus, awardee of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus.
Director-general: Pavel Latushko was fired on August 17, 2020, for open criticism of the 2020 presidential election process and of extreme brutality by law enforcement forces towards peaceful protesters (both during their arrest and in detention centers) as well as for the failure to prevent theater actors from striking during the 2020 Belarusian protests.
Minsk is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region and Minsk District. As of 2024, it has a population of about two million, making Minsk the 11th-most populous city in Europe. Minsk is one of the administrative capitals of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Yanka Kupala, was the pen name of Ivan Daminikavich Lutsevich, a Belarusian poet and writer.
Radasłaŭ Kazimiravič Astroŭski was a Byelorussian collaborator with Nazi Germany who served as president of the Belarusian Central Council, a puppet Belarusian administration under German hegemony from 1943–1944, and in exile from 1948-1976.
The Slutsk uprising or the Slutsk defence was an unsuccessful armed attempt to establish an independent Belarus. It took place in late 1920, near the end of the Polish-Soviet War, in the region of the town of Slutsk. It involved a series of clashes between irregular Belarusian forces loyal to the Belarusian People's Republic and the Soviet Red Army, ending in a Soviet victory.
Ivan Mikitavič Sierada, better known by the pseudonyms of Jan or Janka was a Belarusian statesman, pedagogist and writer who served as the first president of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.
The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants.
Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno is а higher education institution located in Grodno, Belarus. It is the largest regional higher education institution in the country, integrating all levels of education. It is named after the poet and writer Yanka Kupala.
Maladzyechna District or Maladziečna District is a district (raion) of Minsk Region in Belarus. The administrative center is Maladzyechna. As of 2024, it has a population of 128,742.
Andrei Olegovich Sannikov is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations, also serving as a Belarusian diplomat to Switzerland. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, resigning as a form of political protest. He co-founded the civil action Charter 97, and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2005.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Minsk, Belarus.
The Rada of the Belarusian National Republic was the governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919, the Rada BNR has been in exile where it has preserved its existence among the Belarusian diaspora as an advocacy group promoting support to Belarusian independence and democracy in Belarus among Western policymakers. As of 2024, the Rada BNR is the oldest existing government in exile.
The First All-Belarusian Congress was a congress of Belarusian political organisations and groups held in Minsk in December 1917. The congress gathered 1872 delegates from all regions of Belarus and was violently dispersed by the Bolshevik military.
October Square is a square in the center of Minsk, Belarus, which is located between Independence Avenue, Engels streets and International Street. To its east side there are areas limited to buildings of the Palace of Culture of Trade Unions, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War and the Minsk Palace of Republic. Around the Square is the Central House of Officers, the residence of the President of Belarus, and the Janka Kupała National Academic Theater. On the square there are the main metro stations in Minsk: Kastryčnickaja and Kupawaŭskaja.
Irina Florianovna Zhdanovich was a Soviet and Belarusian actress. She received numerous distinctions including the People's Artist of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940 and Stalin Prize in 1948.
The Coordination Council, originally known as the Coordination Council for ensuring the transfer of power is a non-governmental body created by presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus. The council, founded during the 2020 Belarusian protests in response to the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election, originally had 64 core members with a 7-member leadership presidium.
Pavel Pavlovich Latushko is a Belarusian politician and diplomat. He was the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus from 2009 to 2012.
Zoya Belakhvostik is a Belarusian theater and film actress. She is the People's Artist of Belarus, Honored Artist of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Honored Artist of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater, and the holder of the medal of honor of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus "For the contribution to the development of Belarusian culture".
Svetlana Anikey is a Belarusian theater and film actress. She is the actress of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre. Anikey is a recipient of First National Theater Award (2011) and Francysk Skaryna Medal (2020).
Andrei Kureichik is a Belarusian screenwriter, playwright, director, and publicist.
Natalya Vasilyeva-Kachatkova is a Belarusian actress. She was awarded Honored Artist of Belarus in 1990.
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