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Minsk is a capital with beautiful Soviet city planning counting a grand general city plan with imposing quality buildings. Add old churches, green parks, interesting museums and a lovely atmosphere, and then you got some of the experiences that await visitors to the Belarusian city.
Minsk’s location on the large wooded plains has, throughout the city’s history, caused one devastating attack by neighboring countries after another. The city has always recovered, and nowhere else in the world is it possible for visitors to see a 1000 year old city that was almost completely destroyed within the last 100 years and rebuilt with great enthusiasm and efficient Soviet urban planning.
Independence Square and Boulevard are some of the most impressive city spaces in Minsk’s grand design. As a distinguished symphony, the buildings along the long boulevard form a striking setting that develops from neighborhood to neighborhood, and with the illumination in the evening, the sights almost becomes even better.
Not far from the fine architectural works of the Soviet and Belarusian era you can see many preserved and rebuilt houses and churches from Minsk’s past history. They contrast the newer parts of the city and it makes an interesting cocktail from an architectural perspective.
On the north side of Independence Square is the Belarusian government building, which was built in modernism in the years 1930-1934 by the Soviet architect Iosif Langbard. It is one of the few buildings in this area that was not destroyed during World War II.
When the Germans captured Minsk in 1941, the Gestapo, Luftwaffe and SS used the building for administration, and when the city was liberated at the end of World War II, it was their idea to blow it up, but this venture was not successful.
The parliament of Belarus is called the National Assembly, which consists of two chambers. There are direct elections to the lower house, called the House of Representatives/Палата Прадставников [Палата Прадставніков], while the members of the upper house, the Council of the Republic/Совет Республики [Савет Републики], are appointed.
Minsk’s impressive Independence Boulevard was built after the Second World War devastation of the Belarusian capital, with only a few buildings in the center intact. The boulevard is 11 kilometers long and runs from Independence Square to the city’s suburbs to the northeast.
The boulevard is an impressive piece of Soviet planning and architecture. It is divided into three major parts purely in terms of planning and construction; from Independence Square to Victory Square/Площадь Победы [Площа Перамогі], from Victory Square to Kalinin Square/Площадь Калинина [Площа Калинина] and from Kalinin Square to the entrance to the city from the highway to the east.
Independence Boulevard has had several names before the current one. Until 1991, it was named after Lenin, and after the independence of Belarus, it was named after the 16th-century Belarusian national hero Frantisk Skorina, who was the first to use the old Belarusian language in print media.
The stretch between Independence Square and Victory Square is particularly interesting with the many buildings in noble and monumental Soviet style. The squares between Independence Square and October Square/Октябрьская площадь [Кастрычницкая площадь] were mainly built in the 1940s-1950s, while the remaining section to Victory Square was built in the 1950s-1960s.
On the remaining stretch, buildings were erected from the 1950s to the 1970s. However, there are also newer buildings, and along all 11 kilometers there are a few larger preserved buildings from before the Second World War destruction of Minsk in the mix with the newer houses.
The Town Hall is the popular name for Minsk’s former town hall building, which stands as a beautiful 2003 reconstruction of the building destroyed by fire in 1851. Until then, the building had served as the city’s town hall since 1582. The classicist appearance came about after a rebuild at the end of the 18th century.
Today, the old town hall is used as representative offices for the city government in Minsk. There is also a museum in the town hall building, where a copy of Minsk’s Magdeburg city charter from 1499 is kept.
At the top of the 32 meter high bell tower you can see a weathercock and the city’s coat of arms. On the eastern side of the town hall stands the sculpture The Governor’s Carriage, which was created by the Belarusian Vladimir Zhbanov.
Despite its original age, the building is not Minsk’s first town hall. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century after the granting of city rights by Grand Duke Alexander in 1499. With the rights came the right to establish a council for self-governance of the city, and a wooden building was erected for the purpose.
Freedom Square is the central square in Minsk’s so-called Upper Town, which belongs to the oldest parts of the city. The square was established in the 16th century as the city’s political, cultural and economic centre.
The city’s town hall, churches, shops, inns and various forms of entertainment were for centuries everyday life on the square, which has now been cobbled again and largely re-laid out in the old style. There are several green facilities on and around the square, and from here there is, among other things, a nice view over the river Svisloch.
The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is a church that was built in 1633-1642 as a wooden church for Bernardine nuns. Ten years after completion, the church was rebuilt in stone, and after a fire in 1741, it was reconstructed.
The nunnery moved to the town of Nesvizh in 1852, after which the church passed to the Russian Orthodox Church, which used the site as a monastery until it was closed during the Soviet era of Belarus.
Today you can see a number of fine icons in the church from the Moscow Academy. A special shrine is the “Icon of Minsk”, which got its name after its discovery in the city around the year 1500. According to legend, the icon was made by the evangelist Luke, and it was kept in Constantinople until the Christianization of the vast Russian territory took place.
More than 1,000 years ago, Kiev’s Grand Duke Vladimir bought the icon, and it was then in Kiev for approximately 500 years, until Tatars threw it into the Dnieper River. After some time, it appeared with a special sheen in the Svisloch River near Minsk, and now it is located in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.
October Square is Minsk’s central square and one of the most impressive in its monumental construction with the many prominent buildings on and around it. The square was laid out in the years 1949-1950 as, among other things, a parade ground where political leaders could follow military displays and the like.
In the 1950s, a ten meter high statue of the Soviet leader Josef Stalin was erected in the square. It was demolished again in 1961.
On the square you can see a pyramid in granite, which marks the point from which distances in Belarus are measured. This monument was erected in 1998. To the south is the green area of Aleksandrovskij Plads/Александровский сквер [Аляксандравский сквер], which is a small oasis with benches and paths around a central fountain.
In the middle of October Square is the Palace of the Republic, which opened in 2001 after 15 years of construction. In addition to the impressive dimensions of the ground floor, the building is 45 meters high above street level, and it goes 20 meters below the same level.
The palace contains, among other things, one of Minsk’s finest concert halls, and in addition to various performances, the building is home to a number of meetings, conferences and exhibitions. The two concert halls in the palace have space for 2,700 and 500 spectators respectively, and the large proportions can already be seen in the foyer environment.
The city gates are the name of two symmetrical buildings in the period-typical Soviet classicism from the years after World War II. The symmetry and city gates face the city’s main railway station and are the first thing you see when arriving by train in Minsk.
Each of the two buildings is 11 stories high and towers like towers on the lower apartment buildings, completing the complex and the symmetry. In one tower, a clock with a disc over 3 meters in diameter is set up. The watch is a trophy brought from Germany after the end of World War II.
The temple-like neoclassical building with the Corinthian portal is the former headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Minsk. Today, the successor Belarusian organization works under the same name; Committee for State Security/Комитет доставка безопасности [Камитет доставканай запосности] or better known by the abbreviation KGB/КГБ [КДБ].
Opposite the KGB building there is a green park where you can see a statue of Feliks Dzerzhinskij, who was Belarusian and first head of the Cheka, the predecessor of the KGB.
Minsk’s impressive and large Independence Square is a square dominated by Soviet-classicist post-war architecture, but you can also see pre-WWII buildings here. The square is 500 meters long and it spreads over about seven hectares and is one of the largest squares in Europe.
According to the urban planning of the 1930s, Independence Square should have been Minsk’s central square with a grand, symmetrical structure, but with new plans in 1946, it became October Square/Октябрьская площад [Кастрычницкая площадь] instead.
Until 1991, Independence Square was named after the Soviet leader Lenin, and you can also see a statue of Lenin in the center of the square in front of the government building. The area in front of the building and the statue was previously used for military parades. Under large parts of the square you will find the shopping center Stolitsa/Столица, which is arranged in several underground floors.
The Rakov district is centrally located in Minsk and offers street environments from the 1800s, where the houses have partially survived the city’s historical destruction. Thus, between the many modern buildings, you can wander around a few streets with low houses. The rows of houses are not complete in the old style, but still you can form a small impression of Minsk around the year 1900.
The Catholic Church of St. Simon and Helena, also called the Red Church/Красным костёлом [Чырвоны цыслом] after its color, was built in 1908-1910 by a noble family. The building was a reaction to the fact that they had lost their two children, named Simon and Helena.
The church’s two small towers stand as a symbol of the children, while the large tower symbolizes the grief of the parents. The church quickly became a symbol for people grieving the loss of loved ones.
In Belarus’ Soviet era, the church was first used as a setting for the country’s Polish State Theatre. After the Second World War, it was used by a film studio and from 1975-1990 there was a cinema here with an associated cinema museum in the church tower. Since 1990, the church has once again belonged to the Catholic congregation.
At the beginning of 1960, the American Lee Harvey Oswald came to Minsk after he had arrived in Moscow on October 16, 1959. Lee Harvey Oswald got a job in Minsk and was assigned a furnished apartment in this housing block along the bank of the river Svisloch. Oswald lived here in the years 1960-1962.
Oswald was written into world history when he was arrested in 1963 and suspected of the assassination of the US president, John F. Kennedy. The President was the victim of an assassination attempt during an open car ride in Dallas.
The Minsk Opera and Ballet Theater was inaugurated on 25 May 1933 with a production of Carmen. However, it happened in a different building than the current opera house. The first performance in the new building took place on 10 May 1939 and was a Belarusian opera by Evgenij Tikotskij.
The opera and ballet building was built in Soviet constructivism according to Iosifs Langbard’s design from 1935. Previously, this place had been laid out as Minsk’s largest market.
The troupe of the world-famous Belarusian opera and ballet school has over time staged large-scale productions both here in Minsk and abroad. During World War II, the troupe continued its performances in Nizhnij Novgorod until they were able to return to Minsk again with the first performance in December 1944.
Victory Boulevard is one of the streets that gives an impression of the newer Soviet urban planning and building style. The wide street accommodates both car traffic and wide promenades for strolling. Along the street there are numerous monuments and several significant buildings. On the eastern side, there are sidewalks and paths down to the banks of the River Svisloch, fountains and the distinctive Sports Palace/Дворец Спорта [Палац спорту].
On the west side of the street is the cinema Moskva/кинотеатр Москва from 1980 at number 13 and the Hotel Jubilejnaja/Гостиница Юбилейная from 1969 at number 19. To the south in street number 1, on the corner of Sejrsboulevard and the street ul. Rakovskaya/ул. Раковская [вул. Ракавская] see a large and typical Soviet relief above the entrance to the local shopping center.
In 1942, a commission was set up to collect material depicting the courage and heroic deeds of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is called in the Russian and Belarusian territories. The commission’s findings, as well as more recent documentation and exhibits, can be seen at the Belarusian State Museum of World War II.
The collected objects were exhibited in Moscow from 1942 as a symbol of the struggle of Belarus and thereby the Soviet Union. Among the many objects are privately manufactured weapons, documents, photographs, uniforms and newspapers. There are also a number of works of art that show the war seen through the eyes of a number of amateur artists.
The former museum building on October Square was built in 1966 as the first in the Soviet Union specifically dedicated to this war. In the years 2010-2013, the current one was opened, and the museum was thus beautifully decorated in Victory Park, Park Pobedy/Парк Победы [Парк Перамогі], by Minsk’s impressive City of Heroes monument.
The building symbolically consists of four blocks representing the four years of war and Belarus’ four fronts that led to victory and liberation. The building is an experience in itself.
If Minsk has an old quarter, it is this part that lies down the winding course of the river Svisloch. Historically, the habitation of the area goes back to the 12th century, and the district’s name goes back to the historic Catholic Trinity Church that was located here.
The suburb is a reconstruction and restoration that was carried out in the 1980s. The work has recreated an elegant 19th-century environment with cozy houses and cobblestones in the narrow streets, where you can find, among other things, a number of eateries and cafes.
Outside the Trinity suburb and in the middle of the river Svisloch is the Island of Tears, which has been designed as a memorial monument for fallen Belarusian soldiers in the Soviet Union’s war against Afghanistan in the years 1979-1988. The monument was built in 1988 as a chapel with figures around the chapel. There is also a distinctive fountain which depicts an angel as a boy crying tears.
Gorky Park is the oldest park in Minsk and, with an area of 28 hectares, is one of the lovely green oases in the city center. The park is beautifully located along the river Svisloch with a promenade along the bank. In the park there are many activity opportunities for children, and hence the park’s actual name, the Central Children’s Park/Центральный детский парк [Центральны детский парк].
The children’s park is an amusement park, where the most famous attraction is the big Ferris wheel, which offers a nice view of the Belarusian capital. It is also home to the Minsk Planetarium/Минский пленатарий [Плянетар] and various sports facilities.
Mir Castle is one of Belarus’ largest and most visited attractions. The castle lies beautifully down to a lake, where it was built from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century. The building style was Gothic in its beginnings, while the site was expanded in the Renaissance when Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł took over Mir in 1568.
There are solid defenses around the residence castle itself and Mir’s other facilities. As such, the castle was abandoned after a fire in the Napoleonic era, and it was not until 1895 that Nikolaj Sviatopolk-Mirski began a reconstruction of Mir, where the family lived until 1939. In the first decade after World War II, Mir Castle was furnished with residences, while today it is established as a museum that belongs to the National Museum of Belarus.
Behind the castle, in the castle park, you can see Sviatopolk-Mirski Chapel/Часовня-усыпальница Святополк-Мирских. In the town of Mir, immediately west of the castle, there are two other churches in the town centre. Nicholas Church/Костел св. Николая [Касцёл святога Микалая] was built as the city’s Catholic church in the years 1599-1605. It passed in 1865 to the Russian Orthodox congregation.
The Trinity Church/Церковь Троицы Живоначальной [Царква Светия Тройцы] was built 1533-1550. It burned down in the 1800s and was rebuilt in a historic Russian style. The town of Mir, first mentioned in 1395, is a small provincial town with low settlements. Its development has historically been strongly influenced by the Radziwiłł family at Mir Castle. In the center there is a cozy environment.
Tanks, a 70-meter-high conical hill and a monument on top make up Kurgan Slavy, a memorial complex established in 1969 on the very spot where four Soviet armies joined together to finally defeat the Germans during World War II.
It happened with Operation Bagration/Багратион, which was launched in June 1944 with an offensive by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts and the 1st Baltic Front, which had liberated the area after the summer.
Construction of the hill began in November 1967, and thousands of Belarusians participated in the work by bringing handfuls of soil as a sign of the site’s importance. The total height of the monument reaches 70.6 metres, of which the mound measures 35 metres. On top of it stand four 35.6 meter high bayonets, symbolizing each of the four fronts of the 1944 offensive.
The old city of Borisov is located on the Beresina River. The city was founded in 1102 by Boris Vsevolodovitch, who was prince of Kiev. In the city you can see the beautiful Church of the Resurrection of Christ/Собор Воскресения Христова (ul. Polatina 34/ул. Лопатина 34), which was built in the 19th century. The church, its colors, decoration and onion domes are a fine example of the Russian style of the time.
Borisov’s old center is located around the Church of the Resurrection of Christ north of the Berezina River that cuts through the city. Modern Borisov is found on the south side of the river, where the central square, Главная Площадь (Glavnaja Ploshad/Главная Площадь) is the heart of the city. From here the streets radiate out, and along them the architectural style is monumental on a smaller scale than Minsk. It gives a good impression of Belarusian provincial towns, which are largely built up after World War II battles in the country.
In addition to battles in World War II, Borisov is the site where the Russian army won a decisive battle over Napoleon’s French troops in 1812. This is commemorated by a monument to the Russian victory and the fallen soldiers in the Battle of Berezina.
The town of Nesvizh was first mentioned in 1223. Its development began in earnest in the 16th century, when it became home to the powerful Radziwiłł noble family, who built the major sights the town is known for today. It is the city’s castle and Corpus Christi Church.
Among other sights in Nesvizh, you can see the Benedictine monastery with church, Костёл и монастырь бенидиктинок (ул. Чкалова), which was built in the years 1593-1596. The city’s old town hall, Ратуша (Coвeтская ул.), dates from the same period, but it was rebuilt in the Baroque style in 1752, and today it houses a library and the city’s youth center.
All in all, Nesvizh is a cozy and beautifully situated provincial town, where you can take a nice stroll to smell the atmosphere of the former noble town.
In 1533, the Radziwiłł family took over Nesvizh, and from 1582 Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł had an impressive castle built in the Baroque and Renaissance styles. It happened partly on the foundations of an older medieval castle. The castle was completed in 1604 according to the design of the Italian Giovanni Maria Bernardoni.
The Radziwiłł family resided in the castle until 1700, when Russian forces captured the area. After that, the Lithuanian archives, which had been here since 1551, were moved to Saint Petersburg, and works of art from Nesvizh were moved to various places among the Russian nobility.
With both the Radziwiłł family and the Russian army away from the castle, it fell into disrepair over the next century before Prince Anton Radziwiłł and his French wife, Marie de Castellane, renovated the site in the 1880s. The couple also had an English garden laid out, which was among the largest in Europe.
In 1939, the Radziwiłł family was again expelled from Nesvizh, this time when the Red Army and thereby the Soviet Union came to the area. During the Soviet era, the castle was used as a sanatorium, and in 1994 it was made a cultural-historical monument, and a restoration was begun. In 2006, it was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The city of Zaslavl was founded in 989 by Vladimir I, who was Grand Duke of Kiev and nicknamed the Great in 989. Vladimir sent his wife Rogneda to live here with their son, Izjaslav, who gave the name to Saslavl. The town was heavily fortified and was the center of the Principality of Zaslavl in the Middle Ages.
The city’s over 1,000-year history can be seen in various buildings and archaeological excavations in the city’s current and historic centre. Thereby it stands as an architectural monument of traditional Belarusian culture.
The historic town from the first centuries of Zaslavl is today an archaeological site; Val/Вал (ul. Samkovaja/ул. Замковая), where the remains of Zaslavl’s historic castle are located. In Val is also the former Calvinist church from the 16th century, the Church of the Transfiguration/Спасо-Преображенская церковь, which is now an Orthodox cathedral. Close to this is the ethnographic area Melnitsa/Мельница, where you can also go back into the history of the city as an open-air museum.
In the city, there is also a museum with tapestries, carpets, musical instruments and other furnishings; Muzejno-Vystavotsnij Kompleks/Музейно-выставочный комплекс. You can also see St. Mary’s Church/храм Светят Марии, which was built in Baroque style from 1774. It is a fine example of the provincial town buildings of the time.
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Центральный детский парк, парк Горького
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Minsk is founded in the important river region between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea on the basis of a favorable trading position. Slavic tribes from the south founded many of the early Belarusian cities, including Minsk, around the 8th century.
In Kiev-Russia, battles between the nobility of Kiev and Belarus’s leading city of Polacak came, and before Minsk is mentioned for the first time in 1067, the city was attacked several times and captured in turn by local princes.
In 1084, Minsk was burned and destroyed by Kiev’s Vladimir Monomakh.
In the years that followed, the current Belarusian territory was divided into smaller principalities, Minsk became its own territory in 1104 and an alliance between Minsk and the Duchy of Lithuania emerged, though still with Kiev as a power factor. Kiev’s power in the area was broken when Khan Batu invaded Kiev in 1240. In 1241, Minsk fell victim to the Tatars’ looting.
In 1499, Minsk acquired Magdeburg’s market town rights, which meant a growth in commerce as well as the cultural development of the citizens. Six years later, in 1505, the city was attacked by Khan Makhmet-Girey of the Crimean Khan.
In the 1600s, Minsk and much of present-day Belarus entered Poland, which lasted until 1793, when Poland was divided. Minsk subsequently became part of the Russian Empire.
Throughout the 1600s-1700s, Minsk had suffered from its location on the flat land between the great powers Poland and Russia. Both during the war in 1654-1667 between the two countries and during the Great Nordic War in 1700-1721 Minsk was destroyed when first Sweden and then Russia conquered the city. The rebuild every time consumed the city’s resources.
The Russian czar Aleksejs troops had conquered Minsk in 1654, and when it was recovered by Poland under King Jan Kasimir in 1667, there were only about 2,000 inhabitants living in about 300 houses. The number grew steadily through the 1600s-1700s to number 7,000 people in the late 1700s.
In 1793, Minsk and the region were annexed by Russia, and three years later the city became the administrative center of the Minsk government. The Polish past was replaced by a Russian present, for example, all street names were changed for that reason.
Minsk’s population grew to 11,000 in 1811; the year before Napoleon’s attack on Russia. Minsk and Belarus had always been a battleground for the rulers of the neighboring areas, and in the Napoleonic War it was once again besieged, shelled and looted. Napoleon’s French troops passed Minsk on their way between Paris and Napoleon’s final goal, which was Moscow.
During the French years in Minsk, there was a struggle between Polish and Belarusian forces for control of the city. Poles were hoping for a renaissance for the Kingdom of Poland, while the Belarusians had national ambitions for their country.
By the time Russia regained its territory, Minsk had once again been destroyed, and by Napoleon’s fall the population had been reduced to 3,500.
Soon after the peace, Minsk flourished again. The city had established its status as the main city, and the development came quickly. In the 1830s, the central streets and squares were paved, and through the same decade, for example, a public library, a fire station and Minsk’s first newspaper saw the light of day.
In the 1840s theaters, more schools and colleges were added, and the city established itself as a major provincial city, and the infrastructure contributed to increased growth. In 1846 the main road between Moscow and Warsaw was passed through the city, and in 1871 the railroad came along the same route. Two years later, the Baltic Sea and Ukraine were also connected to Minsk by rail.
Industrialization came with the railway, which had made Minsk a traffic hub. In the year 1900 there were 58 factories in the city, which employed a total of 3,000 people. At the same time, about 100,000 lived in the city.
Minsk was the seat of the political movement that would later become the powerful Soviet Communist Party. The Russian Social Democrats held their founding meeting in Minsk in 1898. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the party became the country’s political power base under its new communist name.
In 1919, Minsk became the capital of the Belarusian Soviet Republic; a status it had until the dissolution of the Union. The following came new developments; in 1929, the city’s first electric tram ran, and four years later, the city’s airport became operational.
World War I was again some years that destroyed Minsk, and this time to a degree not previously seen in the city’s hard-tried city throughout history.
When Soviet troops reached Minsk in the summer of 1944, the Belarussian capital was reduced to a smoking heap of ash and rubble. More than 80% of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed, and of the city’s 270,000 inhabitants, only 45,000 remained after the end of the war.
The enormous destruction suffered by the city led to considerations as to whether the capital of the Belarusian Soviet Republic should be moved to another location or rebuilt from the ashes.
The reconstruction was chosen and an incredible amount of work was initiated, which led to the result that one sees as visitors in today’s modern Minsk.
The city was built following a grand Soviet urban planning with open, wide boulevards, monumental buildings and many green parks and streets scattered throughout the capital.
In the middle of the city is the 11 km long Francyska Skaryny boulevard, which cuts through the city’s central squares. Skaryny is the magnificent street of the city plan and a prime example of so-called Stalinist Soviet architecture. The richly decorated buildings along Skaryny are obviously inspired by the grand style of ancient Rome.
Minsk became the capital of the new state, the Republic of Belarus in 1990, and the following year, the CIS community formed, among other things. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Minsk became the administrative center of the community.
Since then, there has been tremendous investment in the city, Belarus’s economic and cultural center. The historic buildings rise again, this time between modern new buildings. In the green city, for example, the 19th-century Troitskoye district was rebuilt in the old style, so historic Minsk stands side by side with modern construction from the latter half of the 20th century to the present day.
Minsk, Belarus
Overview of Minsk
Minsk is a capital with beautiful Soviet city planning counting a grand general city plan with imposing quality buildings. Add old churches, green parks, interesting museums and a lovely atmosphere, and then you got some of the experiences that await visitors to the Belarusian city.
Minsk’s location on the large wooded plains has, throughout the city’s history, caused one devastating attack by neighboring countries after another. The city has always recovered, and nowhere else in the world is it possible for visitors to see a 1000 year old city that was almost completely destroyed within the last 100 years and rebuilt with great enthusiasm and efficient Soviet urban planning.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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Language: English
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The city gates are the name of two symmetrical buildings in the period-typical Soviet classicism from the years after World War II. The symmetry and city gates face the city’s main railway station and are the first thing you see when arriving by train in Minsk.
Each of the two buildings is 11 stories high and towers like towers on the lower apartment buildings, completing the complex and the symmetry. In one tower, a clock with a disc over 3 meters in diameter is set up. The watch is a trophy brought from Germany after the end of World War II.
The temple-like neoclassical building with the Corinthian portal is the former headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Minsk. Today, the successor Belarusian organization works under the same name; Committee for State Security/Комитет доставка безопасности [Камитет доставканай запосности] or better known by the abbreviation KGB/КГБ [КДБ].
Opposite the KGB building there is a green park where you can see a statue of Feliks Dzerzhinskij, who was Belarusian and first head of the Cheka, the predecessor of the KGB.
Minsk’s impressive and large Independence Square is a square dominated by Soviet-classicist post-war architecture, but you can also see pre-WWII buildings here. The square is 500 meters long and it spreads over about seven hectares and is one of the largest squares in Europe.
According to the urban planning of the 1930s, Independence Square should have been Minsk’s central square with a grand, symmetrical structure, but with new plans in 1946, it became October Square/Октябрьская площад [Кастрычницкая площадь] instead.
Until 1991, Independence Square was named after the Soviet leader Lenin, and you can also see a statue of Lenin in the center of the square in front of the government building. The area in front of the building and the statue was previously used for military parades. Under large parts of the square you will find the shopping center Stolitsa/Столица, which is arranged in several underground floors.
The Rakov district is centrally located in Minsk and offers street environments from the 1800s, where the houses have partially survived the city’s historical destruction. Thus, between the many modern buildings, you can wander around a few streets with low houses. The rows of houses are not complete in the old style, but still you can form a small impression of Minsk around the year 1900.
The Catholic Church of St. Simon and Helena, also called the Red Church/Красным костёлом [Чырвоны цыслом] after its color, was built in 1908-1910 by a noble family. The building was a reaction to the fact that they had lost their two children, named Simon and Helena.
The church’s two small towers stand as a symbol of the children, while the large tower symbolizes the grief of the parents. The church quickly became a symbol for people grieving the loss of loved ones.
In Belarus’ Soviet era, the church was first used as a setting for the country’s Polish State Theatre. After the Second World War, it was used by a film studio and from 1975-1990 there was a cinema here with an associated cinema museum in the church tower. Since 1990, the church has once again belonged to the Catholic congregation.
At the beginning of 1960, the American Lee Harvey Oswald came to Minsk after he had arrived in Moscow on October 16, 1959. Lee Harvey Oswald got a job in Minsk and was assigned a furnished apartment in this housing block along the bank of the river Svisloch. Oswald lived here in the years 1960-1962.
Oswald was written into world history when he was arrested in 1963 and suspected of the assassination of the US president, John F. Kennedy. The President was the victim of an assassination attempt during an open car ride in Dallas.
The Minsk Opera and Ballet Theater was inaugurated on 25 May 1933 with a production of Carmen. However, it happened in a different building than the current opera house. The first performance in the new building took place on 10 May 1939 and was a Belarusian opera by Evgenij Tikotskij.
The opera and ballet building was built in Soviet constructivism according to Iosifs Langbard’s design from 1935. Previously, this place had been laid out as Minsk’s largest market.
The troupe of the world-famous Belarusian opera and ballet school has over time staged large-scale productions both here in Minsk and abroad. During World War II, the troupe continued its performances in Nizhnij Novgorod until they were able to return to Minsk again with the first performance in December 1944.
Victory Boulevard is one of the streets that gives an impression of the newer Soviet urban planning and building style. The wide street accommodates both car traffic and wide promenades for strolling. Along the street there are numerous monuments and several significant buildings. On the eastern side, there are sidewalks and paths down to the banks of the River Svisloch, fountains and the distinctive Sports Palace/Дворец Спорта [Палац спорту].
On the west side of the street is the cinema Moskva/кинотеатр Москва from 1980 at number 13 and the Hotel Jubilejnaja/Гостиница Юбилейная from 1969 at number 19. To the south in street number 1, on the corner of Sejrsboulevard and the street ul. Rakovskaya/ул. Раковская [вул. Ракавская] see a large and typical Soviet relief above the entrance to the local shopping center.
In 1942, a commission was set up to collect material depicting the courage and heroic deeds of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is called in the Russian and Belarusian territories. The commission’s findings, as well as more recent documentation and exhibits, can be seen at the Belarusian State Museum of World War II.
The collected objects were exhibited in Moscow from 1942 as a symbol of the struggle of Belarus and thereby the Soviet Union. Among the many objects are privately manufactured weapons, documents, photographs, uniforms and newspapers. There are also a number of works of art that show the war seen through the eyes of a number of amateur artists.
The former museum building on October Square was built in 1966 as the first in the Soviet Union specifically dedicated to this war. In the years 2010-2013, the current one was opened, and the museum was thus beautifully decorated in Victory Park, Park Pobedy/Парк Победы [Парк Перамогі], by Minsk’s impressive City of Heroes monument.
The building symbolically consists of four blocks representing the four years of war and Belarus’ four fronts that led to victory and liberation. The building is an experience in itself.
If Minsk has an old quarter, it is this part that lies down the winding course of the river Svisloch. Historically, the habitation of the area goes back to the 12th century, and the district’s name goes back to the historic Catholic Trinity Church that was located here.
The suburb is a reconstruction and restoration that was carried out in the 1980s. The work has recreated an elegant 19th-century environment with cozy houses and cobblestones in the narrow streets, where you can find, among other things, a number of eateries and cafes.
Outside the Trinity suburb and in the middle of the river Svisloch is the Island of Tears, which has been designed as a memorial monument for fallen Belarusian soldiers in the Soviet Union’s war against Afghanistan in the years 1979-1988. The monument was built in 1988 as a chapel with figures around the chapel. There is also a distinctive fountain which depicts an angel as a boy crying tears.
Gorky Park is the oldest park in Minsk and, with an area of 28 hectares, is one of the lovely green oases in the city center. The park is beautifully located along the river Svisloch with a promenade along the bank. In the park there are many activity opportunities for children, and hence the park’s actual name, the Central Children’s Park/Центральный детский парк [Центральны детский парк].
The children’s park is an amusement park, where the most famous attraction is the big Ferris wheel, which offers a nice view of the Belarusian capital. It is also home to the Minsk Planetarium/Минский пленатарий [Плянетар] and various sports facilities.
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