Francysk Skaryna

Francysk Skaryna (IPA2|fran'tsɨsk ska'rɨna; or Skoryna; the first name also spelled as "Francis, Franciszak, Frantsiszak, Francisk, Frantzisk"; _be. Франці́шак (Францыск) Скары́на) was a Belarusian famous as one of the first publishers in Eastern Europe, laying groundwork for the development of Belarusian language.

He was born in the historical Belarusian city of Polatsk. 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. In 1517 he established a printing press in Prague, where he published his first book entitled "The Psalter", in the Old Belarusian language on August 6, 1517. The culmination of his life's work was printing a translation of the Bible in 22 books during 1517–1519. Around 1522 he moved to Vilnius and established the first printing house in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first book published there was "The Little Travel Guide". However, soon the printing house closed down and Skaryna spent his last years working as a doctor for Ferdinand I of Germany.

Legacy

Skaryna was one of the first to publish in Cyrillic alphabet, but not the first as Oktoikh was published by Schweipolt Fiol in 1491. [ [http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/libraries/Libraries.php?launch=1&language=en&page=Treasures&country=Russia-Moscow Treasures of the National Library - Moscow] , retrieved on November 3 2007.] While it was an Eastern Slavic language, 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 Skaryna Avenue ("praspekt Franciška Skaryny"). However, in 2005, under the rule of Alexander Lukashenko, it was renamed into Independence Avenue ("praspekt Nezalezhnastsi"). Old Barysau Path ("Starabarysauski trakt") was renamed into Skaryna Street ("vulica Skaryny"). Two awards presented by Belarus were named in honor of Skaryna: Medal of Francysk Skaryna and Order of Francysk Skaryna.

ee also

*Johann Gutenberg
*Ivan Fedorov
* Spread of the printing press

External links

* [http://www.artnet.com/library/07/0790/T079095.asp Skaryna, Francysk]