Top 10 Soviet attractions in Minsk

The Soviet era has left a deep trace in Belarusian history. Till nowadays a lot of the monuments and objects attributed to the USSR period has been preserved at various places in Minsk. Many people speak warmly and reverently about their memoirs of that time. We invite you to a virtual excursion with Prime Tour to discover 10 top Soviet attractions in Minsk!

1) Two huge buildings in front of the central railway station, which are called the «Gates of Minsk», were built by one of the Leningrad’s architects in 1953. The right tower is decorated with the coat of arms of the former Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and the left one has the biggest tower clock in Belarus. Their diameter equals 3.5 meters and the length of the minute hand extends up to 1.69 meters!

2) The Independence Avenue - Minsk main thoroughfare with the length of more than 17 kilometers and the width reaching 70 meters. Today it is the largest Stalin Empire monument in the world!

3) The Main Post Office building is often called «the capital letter» of the Independence Avenue. It is one of the first buildings refurbished after the Great Patriotic War. The construction works were finished in 1949 and since that time, huge clock at the top of the building has never stopped! They show the most accurate time in the country, so you may check your watch by simply passing by! The majestic building may amaze you even more if you go inside. Openwork walls, 18 m high ceilings, moldings and stained glass windows - everything here brings you to incredible world of the unknown.

4) The KGB building was the first construction that was built in the ruined postwar Minsk. It is also one of the most mysterious constructions, which still doesn’t allow tourists inside.  There are a lot of legends surrounding this place…from the clock on the opposite side of the road, which supposedly had been installed because the students running past the KGB headquarters were constantly asking about the time and a legend about the unusual spire of the building that was probably built as a separate office room for KGB top officials.

5) The State Circus - the building dated by 1959 strikes with its grandeur and scale. Now every week it hosts performances with animals and acrobats, which are a wonderful pastime entertainment not only for children, but also for adults.

6) The museum of the First Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party - one of the oldest museums in Minsk that was opened as early as in 1923. The exposition of the museum represents both the history of the event that gave rise to formation of the Communist Party of the USSR, as well as the entire socio-political life of Minsk at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

7) Museum of Z.Azgur - a unique monographic museum, based on the Creative Workshop of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. This museum is dedicated not only to the legacy of the famous Belarusian sculptor Zair Azgur, but also reveals the history of the arts evolution in Soviet Belarus. Now it is a special creative space for exhibitions, lectures, movie nights and workshops.

8) «GUM» - the first state supermarket, which was first built in 1934, but destroyed afterwards during the World War II. It was rebuilt in 1951 and, surprisingly, even the employees of the supermarket helped during the construction works spending days and nights at the building grounds! It was also the first store to introduce visitors' self-service. Exactly here the first night illumination in Minsk was brought to life! Nowadays GUM supermarket embodies the spirit of the USSR era in a full compliance with the style and destination!

9) A unique cafe that conveys the atmosphere of Soviet epoch is a bar at Supermarket “Centralny”. Bright panels on the walls, high ceiling and crystal chandeliers, all combined with branded Soviet cakes, coffee and picturesque views of the main avenue.

10) “Red line” of Minsk metro. The first metro line in Minsk appeared in 1984. The names of the stations still retain the USSR epoch: Oktyabrskaya, Lenin Square, Proletarskaya, Pervomayskaya, etc. Each station has its own unique design, sculpted bas-reliefs, statues and original lighting. Only at the “Red line” you can rub the nose of, probably, the biggest Lenin’s head in Minsk installed at the eponymously-named station.