History and Culture: Exhibition “Origins of an Alphabet Book. The First Edition of Karion Istomin’s Illustrated Alphabet Book Turns 325”

On February 1, 2019 the Novgorod Museum-Reserve Children’s Museum Center is staging the exhibition “Origins of an Alphabet Book. The First Edition of Karion Istomin’s Illustrated Alphabet Book Turns 325”.

The display gives an insight into the spread of literacy in Ancient Rus’. It showcases a wide spectrum of various writing materials and tools for writing used in Novgorod in medieval times. In the spotlight of the exhibition is the history of Karion Istomin’s “Alphabet Book”. Back then, the illustrated book compiled by a priest-monk of the Chudov Monastery (Moscow) was considered to be the best educational book.