I certainly was more productive this weekend.
Saturday night we had a ‘вечеринка’ (small party) in Mélanie’s
and Sanja’s room, which was really nice. It just strengthened my firm opinion
that I must say a big NO to the local beers. I enjoyed my Edelweiss and sips of
Belgian beers though. J
On Sunday I walked in the centre. I advise you to open Picasa
and there you can watch the photos, while you are reading.
I travelled by metro to Площадь
Ленина (Lenin square/Lenin tér) and walked to Привокзальная площадь (“Square in front of the train station”- „A pályaudvar előtti tér”). The building
of the train station is quite massive and unique. Originally the city’s first
train station stood here, which was built in the 1870s, but it was destroyed in
the war, so they built the building that can be seen today in the 1990s.
When you exit the train station, you’ll find two immense towers standing in front of you, which are called the “Town Gates”.
They form a unique entrance to the city. The construction of the buildings
started in 1948 and they laid the final bricks in 1956.
They were originally topped with spires and sculptures stood
on the corners of the floors. The façades were decorated with ornate stucco.
However, these are all gone. What remained is the biggest clock of the country
and the country’s former coat of arms.
I walked down a smaller street, where one can find a nice
little park, where I found two creative statues that I really like: a girl with
an umbrella and a lady sitting on a bench.
This route that I took follows pretty much a straight line,
along Проспект Незавизимости (Independence
Avenue /Függetlenség sugárút). The majority of post-soviet style buildings can
be found here. Naturally the usual soviet-style blocks of houses are scattered
around the city, but those you can find in many other cities as well.
After walking through the park, I made my way to Площадь Незавизимости (Independence
Square/ Függetlenség tere). It used to be called Площадь Ленина (Lenin Square/ Lenin tér), but has been renamed. The
name of the metro station is Площадь Ленина though… So it can be actually confusing.
But it’s perfectly normal (I mean the confusion), when it comes to local metro
station names. That is, they have a Belarusian/Russian name and a local “nickname”.
Good luck for fresh meats! :D
There are many pre-war Stalinist buildings on Площадь Незавизимости . You can find
here an imposing and impressive statue of Lenin. Behind his statue the enormous
yellowish building is the House of
Government. The architectural design of the city was intended to be the
blueprint for the whole city. Well, I’m glad again, that this plan did not work
out.
Next to it you can find the Red Catholic Church of St Simeon and St Helena, a.k.a. “Red Church”.
It was erected between 1908 and 1910. It is quite nice from the inside. There
was a mass going on, when I was inside, so I did not take photos. Fun fact
about the church is that in the 1960s they wanted to demolish it to replace it
by a wide-screen cinema. Thanks God they did not manage, thus this remarkable
piece of local architecture remained.
If you look further around the square, you can find the
enormous building of Hotel Minsk,
the Belarusian State University and e.g. the Metro Administration Building.
I, personally, really like the Red Church and just the
square itself. When I first went to the square I thought that there are little
UFOs around.
The name of the square speaks for itself: it was here that
on 19 September 1991 they proclaimed the independent Republic of Belarus.
I was shocked to discover that below the surface (under the
square basically) there is the recently completed Столица („Capital City”- „Főváros”), an underground shopping mall.
I was just baffled at first. It is very popular among the locals. You may check
the photos.
Walking further down on the avenue, you just have to look on
both sides and be carried away by the typical buildings. It is a sad fact, that
almost the whole of the country was completely destroyed during WWII. It is
true to Minsk as well. Out of the 825 major buildings only 60 of stone and 20
of wood survived.
On the left side of the street there is an (again) massive
yellow building of neoclassical style. This is the KGB building. Just on the
other side of the road, in a small park there is the statue of Felix Dzherzhinsky
(Фэлих Дзержински) who was the founder of the forerunner organization of KGB.
Walking on, on the left side of the road there is the ГУМ (GUM), the state department store.
It is just so retro! :D I really felt like a time traveller when I went inside.
I will definitely spend some time there to find proper souvenirs that I can
take home.
Opposite the store there is the big grey building of the National Bank.
Just on the corner, very near, there is Central Bookstore, which I like very much! It’s a pity that I
cannot buy much stuff. Otherwise I would book tons of books there. They have a
great collection of books and old-style posters.
I really like it that the local theatre culture is so rich.
I didn’t have the chance so far to go to a play, but I’m certainly planning to
do so. It is very popular: there is always a long line in front of the
underground ticket offices. And, in addition, as I heard the performances are
of excellent quality.
Arriving at Октябрьская
пл. (October Square - Október tér), I was really surprised to see the huge
building. It is the Palace of the Republic and one cannot pass the square
without noticing it. It was completed in 2001 and in theory is the administrative
centre of the city.
There is a park on the other side of Independence Avenue,
which is more appealing in my opinion than the square itself. There is a
pinkish-yellowish building behind the park, which is currently the office of
Lukasenko. It is guarded by the militia, so I didn’t take a photo of the building.
I rather took a shot of the tank
that is displayed just next to it.
I discovered it with great enthusiasm that behind the tank
there is a building that is/was (I have no idea, to tell the truth) the Drama Theatre of the Belarusian Army. Lovely!
You will see a cute bison appearing sometimes on the
pictures. It is the official mascot of the Hockey World Championship that will
take place in Minsk, 9-25 May. I think it is adorable!
After I crossed the river and the Victory Square (I wrote
about that in the previous post), I walked a bit further down on Проспект Незавизимости (Independence
Avenue /Függetlenség sugárút), took a look at ЦУМ (TSUM), the other big, old-school department store and then I
went home.
I saw the Olympic
Museum on the way, where I would like to go once. Belarus is really proud
of its sportsmen and sportswomen. I will go there later though. Maybe they will
expand the museum with those who brought fame and proudness to the country in
Sochi.
Okay, that’s enough I guess.
Пока!
Source: Nigel Roberts: Belarus (dates and facts)
