Музей Современной Белорусской государственности (The Museum of Modern Belarusian Statehood)

Pictures about the museum start from Picture 274

We visited this museum on 10th April with Mélanie, Simon and Benjamin. I have to say that it is one of the most interesting museums I have visited in the last few years. It is a must for those who are interested in the country’s politics.

I know I have mentioned this beforehand, but know I’ll write briefly down the whole process, that is, how you can get inside the museum. I do so just to have all the information at the same place.

Preparations: First you have to go to the National Museum of History and Culture of Belarus (12 Karl Marx Street), where they are going to make a photocopy of your passport and then you can settle on a date for the visit. It is a pity, that it is basically impossible for those to visit the museum, who arrive here on a short basis. It is better to count with 2-3 weeks. However, maybe it is possible to negotiate. We didn’t try though, because we spend here quite a long time.

Location: Presidential Office. The museum itself can be found at Entrance 4.

It is very cheap. Considering the fact that we are students, we had the pay 10.000 BYR each (~ 1 USD) + 35.000 BYR (~ 3.5 USD) for the guide, but that was the price for the whole group. Our guide was a nice, younger girl. She spoke in Russian, but uttered words of English when we didn’t understand something.

The exhibition is well-organized. There is a huge display of different artifacts, documents, models, photos. It wishes to show how Belarus developed since the 90s and, in addition, it tries to convince the visitor that Belarus is competitive and that it does have a place in the 21^th Century.

The museum is arranged into “fields”. We could follow through how the country has developed and what novelties it discovered in terms of agriculture, medical science, sports and international relations. Everything that is 100% Belarusian is introduced: the agricultural vehicles (models of tractors and other machines can be seen :) ), the traditional clothes, grains, etc.

It is kind of obligatory in my opinion that many photos of Lukashenko are on display. It is just the most interesting. You have to take a look at my pictures. I took photo of basically everything.

Let me mention it here, that usually they charge you extra fee here, if you want to take photos in a museum, but here they did not do that. I guess that they are just happy for the visitors and they want them to spread the word about this unusual place in the heart of Minsk.

This museum is one of a kind and it did worth our time. It is not too big, but we spent there over 1.5 hour. It gave me a great impression. It conveys the message that Belarusians are proud people and they can be proud of their achievements.