Jakub Kolas, a famous Belarusian writer, poet and translator, lived and worked in Luniniec in 1911–1912. Jakub Kolas is one of the classics and founders of the new Belarusian literature. A memorial plaque installed on the building of the museum of local lore reminds tourists and travelers about this.

Jakub Kolas (Kanstancin Michajlavič Mickievič) was born in 1882 in the village of Akinčycy in the Stoŭbcy Region in a family of a forester. In 1902, he graduated from the Niasviž Teacher Seminary. In 1902–1906 he worked as a teacher in Paliessie and in the Minsk Region. He was dismissed from work for participation in an illegal teacher’s congress, and in 1908 convicted to three years in prison.

In 1911, the writer left the Minsk prison with the so-called «wolf ticket», which forbade working in state schools. A former classmate from the Niasviž seminary Vincuk Filipovič took Jakub Kolas to his place in Luniniec and acquiesced him some of his private lessons.

Jakub Kolas lived in this town of Paliessie from November 1911 to February 1912. At this time, the writer experienced a creative upsurge. He wrote a lot and productively. Poems and stories were laid down on paper: «Hey, Tell Me, Poor Fellow», «The Nioman's Gift», «Alarm» and «Inaccessible». The writer also worked on the third section of the poem «A New Land». However, the main creative concern of Jakub Kolas in Luniniec was the poem «Symon the Musician».

There is a memorial plaque in honor of the great Belarusian poet and writer on the building of the regional museum of local lore, and there is a corresponding section of the exhibition dedicated to Jakub Kolas in the museum itself.

Publication date: 02.02.2021.

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