Minsk

No reviews yetCity Minsk City, Belarus

Church of Saints Simon and Helena (Minsk), Minsk, Minsk City, Belarus

View of Minsk (180819) 09, Minsk, Minsk City, Belarus

Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk, Minsk, Minsk City, Belarus

Belarus Minsk Church of Exaltation of the Holy Cross 8, Minsk, Minsk City, Belarus

About Minsk

Minsk was almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt as a showpiece Soviet capital, so its centre today is a rare, intact ensemble of Stalin-era boulevards, grand squares and monumental buildings. Independence Avenue runs straight through it for many kilometres, past theatres, ministries and some of the cleanest streets in Europe.

Older layers survive by the Svislach River. The Upper Town keeps the rebuilt Town Hall and baroque Holy Spirit Cathedral, and the Trinity Suburb opposite is a short run of restored houses on the riverbank. The war itself is remembered everywhere, most powerfully at the Great Patriotic War Museum, while the diamond-shaped National Library and the red-brick Church of Saints Simon and Helena have become symbols of the city.

Minsk is also the base for trips to the castles of Mir and Nesvizh and the Belarusian countryside. Check current travel advice and entry rules carefully before planning a visit to Belarus.

Best seasonMay to September for long warm days; winter is cold and snowy

Ideal stay2-3 days

ArrivingMinsk National Airport is about 40 km east of the city, and trains arrive at the central Minsk Passenger station

What to See in Minsk: 12 Favorites

Landmarks 3

Independence Avenue Minsk

Rebuilt after the war as the city's main axis, Independence Avenue stretches for many kilometres from Independence Square to the o...

Island of Tears

Reached by a footbridge from Trinity Suburb, this small island in the Svislach holds a chapel-like memorial to the Belarusian sold...

National Library of Belarus

Opened in 2006 on the edge of the city, the National Library is housed in a huge glass rhombicuboctahedron, a shape that has earne...

Neighborhoods 2

Upper Town Minsk

The Upper Town is the historic centre of Minsk, set on a rise above the Svislach River. Here you will find Freedom Square, the whi...

Trinity Suburb

On the river bank opposite the Upper Town, Trinity Suburb is a small quarter of restored eighteenth and nineteenth-century houses...

Temples and Shrines 2

Holy Spirit Cathedral Minsk

Overlooking the river from the edge of the Upper Town, this white baroque church was built in the seventeenth century for a Bernar...

Church of Saints Simon and Helena

Known to everyone as the Red Church, this neo-Romanesque Catholic church of dark red brick on Independence Square was completed in...

Museums 2

Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum

Moved in 2014 into a striking new building next to Victory Park, this museum tells the story of Belarus in the Second World War, w...

National Art Museum of Belarus

The country's largest art collection covers icons and church art, Belarusian painting from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,...

History 1

Victory Square Minsk

A tall granite obelisk crowned with the Order of Victory rises over this circular square on Independence Avenue, built after the w...

Parks 1

Gorky Park Minsk

Stretching along the Svislach near the city centre, Gorky Park is the city's classic family park, with shaded alleys, a planetariu...

Food and Drink 1

Komarovsky Market

Under a distinctive ribbed roof built in 1979, Komarovsky Market is the busiest food market in Minsk. Stalls sell smoked fish, cur...

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Photo credits

Photo: Zedlik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Homoatrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Insider, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Hanna Zelenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Horakvlado, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Homoatrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: zedlik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Чаховіч Уладзіслаў, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Максим Шикунец, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Zala, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Andrey Protasevich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Liashko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Viktar Palstsiuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Zedlik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Дмитрий Ванькевич, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Homoatrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Alexey Komarov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bestalex, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Homoatrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Horakvlado, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Tatiana Matlina, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Хомелка, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Suicasmo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Hanna Zelenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Rob from United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Photo: AltynAsyr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Julian Nyča, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Hanna Zelenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Hanna Zelenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Safi-iren, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EuroAsia Vizion from New York, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

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Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Photo: Homoatrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Bestalex, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0