September 4, 1994
A solemn opening of the Minsk International Educational Centre (IBB Minsk) took place in the presence of Doctor Herbert Schnoor, State Minister of Northern Rhine-Westphalia, and Alexander Gerasimenko, Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee.
April 26, 1996
The IBB Dortmund held, in cooperation with the "East-West Meetings" Foundation, a congress "Chernobyl Is Warning" at the IBB Minsk.
August 1998
The IBB Minsk and IBB Dortmund organized a voyage of former prisoners of theMinskghetto and concentration camps, and former eastern workers to the city ofMunster, where they visited an exhibition of the Hamburg Institute of Social Studies showing Wehrmacht's crimes, and narrated their lives there.
February 12, 2001
At the traditional partnership conference in Iserlohn, 200 supporters of German-Belarusian initiatives decided to campaign in favour of the Support Programme of Belarus "Overcoming the Borders". The campaign was successful; and a year later, the IBB Dortmund was charged to distribute the project funds allocated by the Federal Government of Germany.
March 2001
The permanent high demand of various companies and organisations for halls and rooms of the IBB Minsk caused the construction of four new buildings.
June 2001
The IBB Dortmund and IBB Minsk held an event, within the Programme of the European Commission "Civil Society Development", aimed at the promotion and qualification improvement of the pluralistic mass media inBelarus. Such seminars and trainings for journalists laid the foundation for setting up theSchoolofJournalismat the IBB Minsk.
November 2001
As recognition of the IBB Minsk's long efforts towards reconciliation and understanding of the Belarusian and German nations, the Centre was awarded the Nails Cross of the city ofCoventry.
March 21, 2003
The Historic Workshop started its work in the territory of the formerMinskghetto. It was created as a result of cooperation of the IBB Dortmund and IBB Minsk the Union of Belarusian Jewish Organizations and Communities.
August 2004
Construction of the Consular and Legal Sections of the German Embassy completed.
September 1, 2006
The Minsk International Educational Centre was awarded the name of Johannes Rau. The solemn event was attended by Christina Rau and her daughter Anna; Herbert Schnoor, the retired State Minister; Sergey Martynov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus; Manfred Stolpe, the retired Minister of Transport, Construction and Housing of Germany; Filaret, the Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk; Leonid Levin, the Chairman of the Union of Jewish Organisations and Communities of Belarus; Doctor Martin Hekker, the Ambassador of Germany to the Republic of Belarus, and other high-ranking officials.
Architecture
When designing the building of the IBB Minsk, the architect Richard Pierschke made use of the ideas of constructivism and suprematism of the 1920s; taking the painting by Kazimir Malevich "House Construction" as the starting point.
The elements of the IBB Minsk building are geometric shapes typical for suprematism. The appeal to the style of Malevich has found its embodiment also in the interior design of the IBB Minsk.
The main idea was to link the past with the modernity – the idea to continue the traditions of constructivism – the most fruitful period in the history of Belarusian arts.
During the construction of the IBB Minsk, the concept of ecological approach to the consumption of energy resources that assumes the use of modern heat-insulating materials and the optimum equipment of buildings was implemented for the first time in Belarus.