Sights of Minsk: where to go for impressions

Table of contents

• Where to stay
• What sights of Minsk to see
• Where else to go
• What to bring from Minsk

Where to stay in Minsk

If you are looking for budget options, there are a couple of nice hostels in the city center. For example, not far from the embankment of the Svisloch River, in a beautiful stalinka, there is Tower 31/18. A room with a large bed costs from 1,300 rubles per night. You can book a seat in a capsule - it will cost 700 rubles. A modern hostel is located 5 minutes from the Nemiga metro station Urban, with a light minimalist interior inside. For a family room with a double bed for parents and a bunk bed for children, they will ask about 3,300 rubles. The rest of the rooms are cheaper - you can stay for 1,000 rubles if you catch discounts on the site. Another small but cozy and budget hostel overlooking the central avenue of the city. The place is called Stary Minsk 2. It has only two rooms with six beds, and prices per night start at 450 rubles.

There are also enough hotels in the city: there are «Renaissance Minsk», Minsk Marriott Hotel, «Beijing», «President Hotel», Hampton by Hilton Minsk City Center - rooms of varying degrees of luxury can be found in each. For example, night in DoubleTree By Hilton can cost from $140 for a standard room to $1,385 for a presidential suite. Complimentary breakfast at this hotel is only available in suites.

Of the less pretentious options, you should pay attention to the three-star BonHotel. Among the advantages - a fresh renovation, a convenient location near the Pushkinskaya metro station, free parking, a bistro. Breakfast is not included but can be ordered at the time of booking. A night in a standard room will cost about 5,000 rubles.

Of course, hotels from the times of the USSR have been preserved in Minsk. «Tourist», «Orbit», «Belarus», «Anniversary» — if you plan to fully absorb the spirit of old Minsk, book rooms in any of them. You should not worry about the conditions: the situation in such hotels is modest, but the rooms are clean, renovated and very tidy.

What sights of Minsk to see

city ​​gate

If you arrive by train, then you definitely don’t miss the gates of Minsk - the hallmark of the city. The twin towers are located directly opposite the railway station. The architectural composition of two residential 11-storey buildings is a real masterpiece Stalinist Empire. One of the buildings is decorated with the largest clock in the country. They are hitThe clock on the Railway Station Square is a military trophy with a century-long history / Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus to Belarus as a war trophy after the Great Patriotic War. The coat of arms of the BSSR is still on the second house. And along the perimeter of both towers there are sculptures of a worker, a collective farmer, an engineer and a soldier.

Be sure to go to the gates of the city in the evening. With night illumination, they are especially good.

Red church

If you dive between the towers of the city gates, walk along Kirova Street and turn left at the first big crossroads, you will easily come to Church of Saints Simeon and Helena. The temple was built at the beginning of the 20th century on the initiative of the public figure Edward Voynilovich. Thus, the Voinilovichi decided to perpetuate the memory of their dead children: son Simeon and daughter Elena. Services are held in the Red Church in Belarusian and Polish. There is also an electronic organ, so try to get to the concert here.

Independence Avenue

Wear comfortable shoes, because the length of the main transport artery of the city is about 15 kilometers. But it's not worth going to the very end of the avenue. All luxurious Stalinist buildings start at the Main Post Office and end in the area of ​​Chelyuskintsev Park - these are about seven metro stations. On the way you will meet October Square, the Palace of Culture of Trade Unions, the Central House of Officers, the National art museum, Belarusian State Circus, Victory Square, the Philharmonic and many green squares, parks, shops and Cafe.

The only attraction that is located further than the historical part of the avenue is the National Library. It is worth coming to see what a rhombicuboctahedron looks like.

Gorky Park

strolling along Independence Avenue, you will not miss the Gorky Central Park. It is worth looking into it at least in order to ride in the open booth of the metropolitan Ferris wheel. A ticket costs only a couple of Belarusian rubles, but the impressions will last for a long time. Not far from the park, on the opposite side of the avenue, there is a large light and music fountain. Come to him closer to dusk - the places around at sunset become very romantic.

Military cemetery and Church of St. Alexander Nevsky

If you move further along the avenue, in the area of ​​Victory Square, you will run into tram tracks. Turn right and walk a couple of blocks to a fork. There is an old military cemetery on Kozlov Street. Famous state and public figures, scientists, members of the partisan and underground movement are buried there. The classics of Belarusian literature, Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas, found their last refuge here. The only church of the 19th century in Minsk, preserved in its original form, is also located there. This is the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky. Now it contains icons with relics of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk.

red patio

Another photogenic place is located on the street. Komsomolskaya, 11. This is a small well between old houses, the facades of which are painted red. It is not easy to notice it from the road, because the courtyard is hidden behind massive iron gates. Locals love to prescribe here goodbye: inside it is quiet, picturesque and there is a small cafe where you can drink a couple of cocktails.

upper town

The Upper Town is the historical part of Minsk, located on the elevated bank of the Svisloch River. At the beginning of the 16th century, there was an administrative, cultural and commercial center here, and the place itself was surrounded by an earthen rampart. Unfortunately, most of the historical buildings were destroyed during Great Patriotic War, but after it was restored.

The central element of the district is the Minsk City Hall. According to urban legend, many secret underground passages were dug under it. The Holy Spirit Cathedral is also located there - the main temple of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. There are many cobbled streets, cafes and shops around. The Upper Town offers a stunning view of the Nemiga river panorama, so it’s definitely worth waiting for dusk there.

Trinity Suburb

Across the road from the Upper City is the Trinity Suburb - another historical part of the old city restored after the war. Despite the fact that the place resembles an open-air museum, modern life is in full swing in Troitskoye. Here you can have a cup of coffee, look into the quarter of 1817, where literally all the buildings are monuments architecture, sit in the courtyard and listen to how the students of the music school rehearse, and even sign up for session tattoos.

Zybitskaya

The street, which the locals simply call Zyba, is easy to find when walking around the Upper Town. Zybitskaya is a symbol of Minsk nightlife. It is strewn with different bars, where they rest until the morning. If you arrive by midnight, you can have time to get around at least half of the establishments and try different cocktails and tinctures.

October

Another street for night life. But, unlike the slightly pretentious Zyba, Oktyabrskaya is noticeably simpler. You can come here in funny pajamas and have respect: a relaxed vibe, bright graffiti on the factory walls and music straight from the trunks of numerous cars are conducive to informal parties and techno raves.

Abandoned tram tracks pass along Oktyabrskaya. If you happen to get there on a sunny day, wait until sunset. An urban photo shoot in the red rays of the setting sun will become a pleasant Minsk memory.

Victory Park

A large green park with sprawling old trees is located right behind the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War. The Victory Park is full of quiet, closed from prying eyes benches near the lake, where you can think well about the high. On hot days, Minsk residents arrange modest picnics: no barbecues and loud music, only blankets and homemade snacks.

Where else to go in Minsk

Osmolovka

Not far from Victory Square is a quarter that they wanted to demolish a couple of years ago. But after heated public battles, the threat passed, and even cozy Osmolovka gave awayNow they won't take it down. The state put Osmolovka under protection / Onliner under state protection.

Osmolovka is the first elite microdistrict built in post-war Minsk, and, perhaps, the only one in the expanses of the former USSR that has been preserved in its original form. The metropolitan intelligentsia has always lived in this place: painters, writers, actors. A tourist should go to Osmolovka to drink coffee leisurely and feel the atmosphere of an intimate corner of tranquility in the center of a bustling city.

GUM

Minsk GUM, unlike some of its allied counterparts, has not turned into a pretentious center of expensive boutiques. It is rather stuck in the times in which it was built. In some places, counters have been preserved, buyers often stand in lines, and they are served by ordinary sellers in the same uniform. But, perhaps, in this (and also in constant discounts!) and lies the beauty of this place. In GUM, you can buy anything at all: from a kettle with a whistle to a winter coat. Even if you already have everything, look there at least for the sake of a pompous interior.

Sandbox

A place for lovers of street food in all its manifestations. In the courtyard of the Gorizont plant on Kuibyshev Street, there are several dozen colorful food points, a lounge terrace and a skate park. During the day you can just eat here, and in the evening you can also hang out.

Komarovka

The main food market of the city, where purchasedREPORTAGE: All top restaurants are bought, and Baba Raya attracts young people: how Komarovka is changing its image / BelTA even restaurateurs. Here, alongside common foods like meat, milk, and vegetables, delicacies such as stingray wings, feijoa, fresh figs, chocolate pecan. If Minsk residents need to find something of the kind on Komarovka, they write to Baba Rai, a collective character from the social networks of the market.

Greenhouse of the botanical garden

The botanical garden itself is also worth a visit, but the most interesting bushes and trees grow in the Orangery. Here you can see a fruit-bearing coffee tree with already ripe berries, cocoa, carambola, the "hand of the Buddha" and several hundred more exotic plants. Parrots, turtles and goldfish also live in the Greenhouse.

What to bring from Minsk

Dry-cured kumpyachok, chocolate bar and cranberries in sugar

It is worth bringing meat delicacies from Belarus, or, as the locals sometimes affectionately call them, “prysmaki”. Dry-cured pork leg can be bought at any supermarket, but it’s better to walk around Komarovka. You can even bargain there.

Confectionery factory "Spartak" produces chocolate in large ingots: there are half a kilo, and there are also kilograms. You definitely won’t miss this one in the store: a sweet bar is wrapped in craft paper and tied with wax-printed twine. In order not to miscalculate with a gift, take lactic, but real gourmets choose bitter, with 90% cocoa content.

Another food must-have is cranberries in powdered sugar. White boxes with the inscription "‎Patsalunki padarunki» often lie at the checkouts in supermarkets. Looks nice, costs just a couple of rubles.

Clock "Ray"

A large company store of the watch factory "Luch" is located on Independence Avenue, 18. In the collections there are always classic models with a mechanical winding, and stylish one-handers. You can find watches with a national design, for example, with an embroidered shirt on a belt.

Belarusian cosmetics

Belarus produces products of many cosmetic brands. They can be found in TSUM or GUM. There are all the mastodons of the decorative cosmetics market - Relouis, Luxvisage, Belor Design, and manufacturers of care products - Markell, Mastige, Belita, SelfieLab, Sativa, Liv Delano and others. If you get on the days of discounts (and they happen every week!), then you can profitably update your cosmetic bag.

Linen bed linen

Take a look at one of the branded stores of the Orsha Linen Mill - in Minsk there are seven. They sell stylish sets of natural bed linen, as well as kitchen textiles, clothes and souvenirs. Everything is made, of course, from flax.

Krambambulya and bison

This is alcohol. There is some controversy about Krambambuli. It is believed that the drink is national, they say, it was drunk by wealthy magnates and gentry for centuries. But some researchers still insist“Our ancestors did not use any krambambuli, this is a myth from the 2000s.” What Belarusians actually drank and ate / Onlinerthat krambambula is an imported alcohol, and the “ancient” Belarusians used it in the same way as modern people drink tequila or Martini. In any case, a bottle of honey and spice tincture with a cute name will be a good souvenir.

Zubrovka is also a tincture, but, unlike krambambuli, it is bitter. The drink is infused on the fragrant herb of the same name, which grows in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It is eaten by bison, hence the name.

Merch with the letter Ў

Ў, or "‎U neskladovaya", is the letter of the extended Cyrillic alphabet for the Belarusian language. Belarusians love it so much that they even installed a separate letter monument. If you see something with Ў in stores, take it. More “Belarusian”, perhaps, only in prints with cornflowers and straw.

Organic lubricant and funny Yoska condoms

Guys from Yeska produce organic lubricants water and oil based. Their products can sometimes be found in pharmacies, but it is better to order on the website. And they also sell condoms funny packaging. Sometimes they even come across with local color, for example, with a recognizable mustache and the famous phrase of their owner "Undress and work."

Pins by Zorka Venera

Lovely enamel pins can be found in the original gift shop Zorka Venera (ul. Nemiga, 3). Here are collected the symbols of the city that are close to the heart of every Minsker: Baba Raya from Komarovka, the Ferris wheel, the metropolitan tram, the same “U unskladovaya”, a token in the metro. If you want to take a little bit of the soul of Minsk with you, be sure to buy a badge.