The electronic "Belarusian Encyclopedia," created as a space for "reliable knowledge about Belarus," was quietly liquidated along with its editorial team. A heap of articles was handed over to Gigin

The fact that the project's website belarusenc.by has not been opening for a long time was noticed by Belarusian Wikipedian Uladzislau Čachovič. The last time the "Belarusian Encyclopedia" page was "alive" was recorded on June 17, 2026.

Grandiose plans for writing an "ideologically correct" history

The decision to create its own electronic encyclopedia was initiated by the then head of the Academy of Sciences, Uladzimir Husakou. In 2021, a separate Center for Encyclopedic Publications (CEP) was created within the structure of the Yakub Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences.

The head of the CEP in July 2023 was mentioned as candidate of philological sciences Mikola Trus, who later headed the Center for Research of Old Prints and Manuscripts (now liquidated). The head of the main editorial office was historian and encyclopedist Sofiya Samuel.

At the same time, almost the entire academic elite was formally involved in the project. In addition to Husakou himself, dozens of academicians and doctors of sciences were members of the scientific and editorial board and colleges.

Academician, Doctor of Historical Sciences Aliaksandr Kavalenya was listed as the deputy chairman of the council. Also on the lists were such well-known scientists as historians Vadim Lakiza and Vyacheslav Danilovich, physicist Siarhei Gaponenka, architect Aliaksandr Lakotka, philologists Ihar Kapylou and Ivan Savershanka, as well as the head of the Center for Military History, Aliaksei Litvin.

State media spared no superlatives for the project. Stanislau Yuretsky, director of the Central Scientific Library, called it an "inevitable stage of development," a "space of accurate knowledge," and a "unique project in terms of information volume." There, Sofiya Samuel boasted that before creating the website, the team "studied more than twenty websites of other encyclopedias" and dreamed that with time, each topic would evolve into a separate website, forming a "modern information-rich portal."

The project was even taken to international forums in Russian Tatarstan to show off.

A special emphasis was placed on ideology. For example, Aliaksei Litvin explicitly stated that the encyclopedia must reflect the new circumstances of the criminal case on "genocide of the Belarusian people," which is being conducted by the General Prosecutor's Office.

The end of the "era of scientific stand-up"

The project's curator, Uladzimir Husakou, was known for his eccentric initiatives: as we wrote earlier, he proposed nominating Aliaksandr Lukashenka for the Nobel Peace Prize, tried to publish a collection of his works, introduced the strange concept of "Belarusian world," and forced the Academy of Sciences to hold endless forums for fairy tale researchers.

However, in May 2025, the leadership of the Academy changed: Husakou was replaced by former Minister of Health Uladzimir Karanik. Apparently, with the dismissal of the main initiator of the encyclopedia, what scientists called "the era of scientific stand-up" also ended — the project lost administrative support and its raison d'être in the eyes of the new leadership.

Already sometime in early spring 2026, less than a year after the project's initiator Husakou left his post, the Center for Encyclopedic Publications itself, which previously occupied a separate floor and was looking for scientific editors, bibliographers, and proofreaders for its staff, disappeared from the structure of the Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences.

The mountain gave birth to a mouse: 4000 articles in 5 years

The results of the state institution's work with a large staff and funding turned out to be more than modest — only 4000 articles in five years. For comparison: in the Belarusian Wikipedia, which is created without an entire staff of scientific employees by enthusiasts and volunteers completely free of charge, about 10,000 new articles appear in just one calendar year.

As can be seen from the saved archived site map, ambitious plans largely remained on paper.

Of the dozens of announced topics, only the "Nature" sections and one historical period — "Belarus in the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War" — were actually created.

All other historical epochs (from the origin of Belarusians and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the modern Republic of Belarus), as well as key sections "Society," "State," "Economy," "Culture," "Education," "Science," remained unfilled.

The legacy was handed over to Gigin

Despite the liquidation of a separate website, the collected texts were decided to be preserved. In June 2026, Vadim Gigin, Director General of the National Library of Belarus (NLB) and a deputy, announced that about 4,000 entries created by the Academy of Sciences had been gratuitously transferred to his institution.

Now these texts are planned to be integrated into the library project "Belarus in Persons and Events." According to Gigin, this is being done to create an "alternative to external sources of information."

Thus, the ambitious project of the National Academy of Sciences turned into merely an addendum to the database of another state institution. Technically, the integration will be complex, as the structure of the websites is fundamentally different, and it is likely that the transfer will be carried out manually.

The most ambitious attempt by the Belarusian authorities to create their own "correct" and controlled encyclopedia on the internet ended with the closure of the editorial office, the deletion of the website, and the quiet transfer of modest archives to the library.

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