Mogilev to hand over title of CIS Capital of Culture to Osh, Almaty 9 December

The symbolic handover ceremony will be held at the Mogilev Palace of Culture with the participation of local and Minsk artists. The ceremony will be attended by officials of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the CIS Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation, Culture Ministers and the diplomatic corps. "The ceremony of symbolic handover of the title will become an ode to everything that has been done during this year," noted the department. Mogilev will also arrange the exhibition-presentation "Cultural traditions of Mogilev: from the past to the present" in the lobby of the Palace of Culture.

On the same day the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music will host a concert of the Russian Horn Orchestra. The orchestra from St. Petersburg includes 20 musicians playing 96 horn instruments. The orchestra has revived the lost tradition of horn-played music which originated in the Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century, BelTA reports.

Several cultural events will be held in Mogilev prior to the main ceremony. On 8 December Sovietskaya Square will host a flash mob "Mogilev - Capital of Culture 2013", a procession of Fathers Frost who will light the lights on the city Christmas Tree. The memorial sign in memory of Mogilev as the host city of Belarus and CIS Capitals of Culture will be unveiled near the building of the Mogilev City Council. The Karl Marx central city library will arrange the photo exhibition "The Capitals of Culture of the CIS and the Republic of Belarus".