Aleg Trusau
(a story about Valer Slyunchanka)
Sometimes, when I recall the times of my youth and maturation, the times of my work in the Belarusian restoration system, I remember the smile of a tall, lanky man with a beard as black as coal. This was Valer Slyunchanka. He was born in 1945 in the city of Starodub in the Bryansk region, but later moved to Minsk for study and permanent residence.
I met him in 1976. That year, I graduated from the Department of Archaeology of the Historical Faculty of the Belarusian State University, received a Lenin scholarship of one hundred Soviet rubles, and had the first choice at my distribution. At first, I hoped to stay at my native department, but before my distribution, that position was taken by an attractive woman, and my fate turned me in another direction. Since I had studied well, there were various interesting offers, such as the Department (and postgraduate studies) of Scientific Communism, the KGB school, and a brilliant career in the special services, as well as work as an archaeologist in the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR.
Since I had dreamed of becoming an archaeologist since childhood and had the appropriate training, I chose the latter without hesitation. From July 1, 1976, having refused vacation, I was enrolled in the staff of the scientific design bureau of the SRPM of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR as a research associate with a salary of 135 rubles. It was then that I met one of the best architects-restorers of that time in Belarus, Valer Slyunchanka.
Our close acquaintance was facilitated by my Mstislavl origin, as Slyunchanka had a restoration project in my hometown – the building of the former Carmelite church of the 17th – 18th centuries with unique frescoes.
However, the main restoration project to which Valer dedicated many years of work was the Polotsk Sophia. This site required extensive archaeological research, but at that time, there was only one person in Belarus experienced in masonry architecture – researcher-archaeologist Mikhail Tkachov. However, his research topic was military architecture, and he studied the Polotsk Sophia only as a temple adapted for defense in the 15th – 17th centuries.
Slyunchanka was interested in the early history of Sophia, the Sophia of the 11th – 12th centuries. Therefore, for its study, in 1975, Leningrad architect-archaeologist Valentin Bulkin was invited.
When I came to work in the workshops, I realized that I knew nothing in the field of architecture and could not even distinguish a facade from a portal. At the Belarusian State University, I studied Latin and ancient Greece, the history of Japan and Egypt, but no one taught us the history of Belarusian architecture, and the archaeology of Belarus reached only the so-called pre-Mongol period, that is, to the mid-13th century. The cultural layer of the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was not studied at that time, and it was often bulldozed to quickly reach the era of the famous “Ancient Rus’ State.”
Finding out what kind of archaeologist I had received after distribution, the workshop leaders, together with Valer Slyunchanka, sent me for two months to Polotsk, to Bulkin’s expedition, with one goal – to learn how to conduct excavations of architectural monuments.
Excavations of the Polotsk Sophia were conducted both around the monument and inside the building under the floor of the 17th – 19th centuries.
It was found that the thickness of the cultural layer around the temple reached a depth of 2.4 m, starting from the 11th century. This data allowed Valer to create a unique project – Two Sophias. Above, the Sophia of the 17th century – a monument of Vilnius Baroque with an organ, like a hall of organ music. Below, under the floor – the Sophia of the 11th century – an archaeological museum where one can see the original walls and frescoes. By the way, my first report on the excavations of Sophia, in which I took direct part as an assistant to Valentin Bulkin, pleased Slyunchanka, and our relationship became more friendly.
It should be said that for the first time I heard the living Belarusian language, literary and beautiful, precisely at work in the restoration workshops. The head of the workshops, chief architect Sergey Drushchits, architects Valentin Kalinin and Alexander Kanavalenka, historian Lyudmila Trepet, art historian Eleanor Vetser, and, of course, Valer Slyunchanka spoke Belarusian.
Belarusian was often heard at seminars organized for architects and restorers by Oleg Khadyka. Valer Slyunchanka was an active participant in these seminars and often opposed Oleg Khadyka. Zyanon Paznyak often visited Eleanor Vetser. Later, photographer Vyacheslav Dubinka joined the work, and the chemical laboratory was headed by Maxim Tank’s son. Thus, in the 1970s, the restoration workshops became a solid Belarusian environment from the very beginning of their establishment in 1968 – 69.
They survived the pogrom of 1973 when active persecution and dismissal of Belarusian-speaking patriots began in Minsk, though cultural work slightly slowed down. But in 1976, it resumed actively and especially expanded in the early 80s.
It was precisely in the 80s, at Valer’s request, that I began archaeological research on the Carmelite church in my hometown of Mstislavl. It should be noted that the church was built in the historical part of the city opposite the Castle Hill, where initially there was a fortified courtyard, and later a large wooden castle.
Slyunchanka’s assumptions about the uniqueness of the cultural layer in the churchyard were fully confirmed. Remains of the ancient settlement of the 12th – 18th centuries were found, especially tiles and glassware, a golden Dutch guilder of the 17th century (just near the wall of the church), mass graves of the defenders of Mstislavl who perished at the hands of Moscow invaders in the summer of 1654.
Parallel to the excavations in the church, a group of artist-restorers worked under the leadership of Vladimir Rakitsky, and all of them spoke Belarusian.
Interestingly, in the summer of 1971, I went to study in Minsk as a completely Russified teenager, and ten years later returned to my hometown as the head of the archaeology department of the SRPM, which from 1980 began to conduct all work documentation in Belarusian.
When the Belarusian revival began in the late 80s, restorers were at the forefront. They actively participated in the political life of the country, in the elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet (1989), the BSSR Supreme Soviet (1990), and local councils. Among them was Valer Slyunchanka, the Starodub Belarusian, a talented architect and art historian. He wrote several substantial articles on the history of Belarusian architecture, brochures on the history of the Polotsk Sophia and the Borisoglebsk (Kalozhskaya) church in Grodno.
Unfortunately, this hardworking man had a weak heart, which he did not spare at all. He could spend weeks on architectural measurements, climb scaffolding and trenches, carry heavy stretchers with rubble during Saturday work at the Polotsk Sophia, sitting from morning till late evening at the tablet with architectural projects and reconstructions. He underwent a serious heart operation performed in Vilnius, recovered a bit, and took up work again. However, his heart could not withstand it, and Valer passed away in the summer of 1992, not yet fifty years old. But the memory of him, embodied in the restored Polotsk Sophia Cathedral, will remain forever.
Aleg Trusau. The Starodub Belarusian (a story about Valer Slyunchanka) // Nasha Slova, No. 34 (977), August 25, 2010.