Kastrychnitskaya Pl

Minsk

The city's main square is referred to universally by its Russian name, Oktyabrskaya Ploshchad (October Sq). Here you'll find the impressive, severe Palats Respubliki (Palace of the Republic), a concert hall. Also on this square is the classical, multicolumned Stalinist Empire–style Trade Union Palace of Culture.

This is where opposition groups gather to protest against President Alexander Lukashenko from time to time; it's also where the infamous 2010 presidential election protests ended in violence. The failed Denim Revolution of March 2006 was attempted here as well.

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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Museum of the Great Patriotic War
1.32 MILES
Housed in a garish new building, Minsk's best museum houses an excellent display detailing Belarus' suffering and heroism during the Nazi occupation. With…
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National Library of Belarus
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Pl Nezalezhnastsi
0.82 MILES
Independence Sq, formerly pl Lenina, is dominated by the 1930s constructivist Belarusian Government Building (behind the iconic Lenin statue). The red…
Island of Courage & Sorrow
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Standing on a small island connected to the Old Town by a walking bridge, this evocative Afghan war memorial is known colloquially as the Island of Tears…
Church of SS Simon & Elena
0.72 MILES
The red-brick Catholic Church of SS Simon & Elena, built in 1910, is worth popping into for a peek at its unique, wave-like, arched ceiling. Its tall,…
Cathedral of the Holy Spirit
0.27 MILES
Off the northern edge of pl Svabody is the baroque, twin-towered Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, built in 1642. It was once part of a Polish…

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Nearby Minsk attractions

1. Tsentralny Skver

0.12 MILES

Across the street from Kastrychnitskaya pl, Tsentralny skver (officially known as Alyaksandraŭsky skver) is a leafy park on the site of a 19th-century…

2. Ratusha

0.22 MILES

Minsk's ratusha has been rebuilt in the place where it was originally constructed in the 1800s and now lords it over pl Svabody, its pointed steeple…

3. Pl Svabody

0.25 MILES

In the heart of the Old Town just off central vul Lenina is charming pl Svabody, lorded over by the white medieval Ratusha (town hall). Off the northern…

4. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

0.27 MILES

Off the northern edge of pl Svabody is the baroque, twin-towered Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, built in 1642. It was once part of a Polish…

5. Belarusian State Art Museum

0.3 MILES

This excellent museum in one of Minsk's iconic buildings (built in 1939) includes definitive works by Soviet social realists and Russian masters,…

6. Bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky

0.37 MILES

Between pr Nezalezhnastsi and vul Karla Marksa is a long narrow park with a bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the KGB's predecessor (the Cheka)…

7. KGB Headquarters

0.4 MILES

An entire block of central pr Nezalezhnastsi is occupied by this yellow neoclassical building with an ominous, temple-like Corinthian portal – the KGB…

8. Trinity Hill

0.41 MILES

Trinity Hill is a pleasant – if tiny – recreation of Minsk's pre-war buildings on a pretty bend of the river just a little north of the centre. It has a…

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