The State Register of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus represents monuments of architecture, history, archaeology, art as well as garden complexes, museum collections and books legally protected by the State. Material historical and cultural values are classified as follows:
0 – historical and cultural values inscribed or proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List;
1 – unique artistic, aesthetic or documentary objects of international significance;
2 – objects of historical and cultural heritage of national significance;
3 – historical and cultural values of regional significance.
An object is designated with the status of the Historical and Cultural Value according to its artistic value and relation to the most significant events or historical facts. Decision on designation is made by Belarusian Republic Scientific and Methodological Council on the Issues of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
There are 3 objects with Historical and Cultural Value status on display (2):
- Girolamo Falletti’s «Orationes XII» («12 Speeches»). The book was printed in 1558 in the Aldine Press (Venice), where Francysk Skaryna supposedly studied typographic art. The Aldine edition is the oldest printed book in the collection of Polack National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. It was bought in 1989 in the «Raritet» book store (Moscow).
- «Didactic (or Educational) Gospel» is a collection of sermons and gospel interpretations. The book is the most valuable edition of the Cyrillic book collection of the museum-reserve. The first Didactic Gospel was printed by I. Fiodaraŭ and P. Mscislaviec in the printing shop of Zabludaŭ in 1569. The Museum of Belarusian Book-Printing holds the authentic edition of 1595 printed by the Mamonič brothers in Vilna. The book was bought in 1989 in the «Mosbukkniga» store (Moscow).
- Manuscript «Chants» (post 1789) is an Old Believer collection of hooked notation liturgical singing. It includes the basic chants of Old Russian monadic singing for the church service of the 11th-17th centuries. The book was bought from a private person.