Francysk Skaryna
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Monument to Francysk Skaryna. BSU, Minsk |
Francišak Skaryna (or Skoryna; the first name also spelled as Francis, Franciszak, Frantsiszak, Francisk, Frantzisk, Francysk; ) was a
Belarusian famous for being the
printer of the first book in an
Eastern Slavic language. He was born in the historical
Belarusian city of
Połacak. The exact dates of birth and death are unknown; the two most probable estimates are
1485 -
1540 and
1490 -
1551. Skaryna graduated from the arts faculty at
University of Kraków in
1504 with a
Bachelor of Arts. In
1512 he received doctorate in medicine at
University of Padua in
Italy.
He printed his first book entitled
The Psalter, in the
Belarusian language on
August 6,
1517 in
Prague; this work was followed by another twenty-three books. He continued his printing work in Wilno (
Vilnius). The culmination of his life's work was a printing of the
Bible in Belarusian . During
1517 -
1519 he printed 23 books of the Bible.
It is difficult to determine precisely what language he used as there was no conventional Belarusian language as we know it today. Some researchers maintain that Skaryna's books were in
Church Slavonic heavily saturated with Belarusian. But nevertheless there is no doubt that Skaryna laid the foundations of the Belarusian literary language.
After the
collapse of the Soviet Union,
Minsk the capital of
Belarus had two roads named Skaryny Street and Skaryny Avenue. However, under the rule of
Aleksandr Lukashenko, both of them were renamed.
Two awards presented by Belarus were named in honor of Skaryna:
Medal of Francysk Skaryna and
Order of Francysk Skaryna.
*
Johann Gutenberg*
Ivan Fedorov
