| Page Views: 1,084 Last Visit to Minsk: October, 2007 | Minsk - charm of soviet style architecture by Raimix - last update: Oct 12, 2009 |
Minsk is one of the oldest towns in Eastern Europe. First time it was mentioned in the year of 1067 as a town of Duchy of Polock. In 14th century, when Minsk became a city of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was center of territory called vaivadija in Lithuanian (the name of "region" in medieval times). Later, in 1499, it got Magdeburg rights - rights of self government.
From 16th century to 18th century all the most beautiful sights of Minsk were formed - Town Hall, Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals, monastery of Bernardines, old town, so on.
Population of Minsk started to grow up faster after the constrution of railway in 1871. In 1919 it became capital of Belarus Respublic (incorporated into Soviet Union). |
|  | The hardest time for city life was Second World War. After it city lost most of its buildings (about 80%). There was decision to move capital to Mogiliov, but city got up from ashes quite fast.
Talking about architecture, Minsk is quite new city. Most of buildings are from soviet times, so don't expect to see something unique from medieval period. Even without big old part, city has nice examples of soviet building structures. Due to soviet architecture (especially at Independence avenue) Minsk was even exectant to be inscribed into UNESCO World Heritage list, but didn't manage it. |
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| Pros: | "Great variety of soviet architecture, clean, safe city, nice lightened at night." | | Cons: | "Not much old medieval buildings left." | | In A Nutshell: | "Charm of soviet style architecture." |
Raimix's Minsk Travel Tips
 Raimix's Minsk Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for Raimix about Minsk | | | | |
angiebabe Wed Oct 14, 2009 17:06 UTC
Hi was enjoying your page here a few hours ago and got called away - inspiring a visit to Minsk your page is thanks! | hunterV Tue Oct 13, 2009 06:58 UTC
Hello, Raimundas! Yes , Minsk is worth a visit... | Jim_Eliason Mon Dec 8, 2008 13:23 UTC
Nice page! | Kuznetsov_Sergey Mon Dec 10, 2007 20:28 UTC
Excellent page with a lot of useful tips and wonderful night pics! I've been in Minsk only once in Soviet times and every year i'm passing it by around its ring when traveling to Germany by car. May be I'll drop by there again one day... |
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