Moscow news
-
26-Jul-2007
Clean, Green Minsk
If you expect the capital of Belarus, a former Soviet republic which has not chnaged much since the days of the former empire, to be a grim and ugly city with a somewhat dystopian look, you would be wrong. Minsk, especially in summer time, is an attractive and very clean city with a lot of greenery. Well, the center is, anyway.
Travelers arriving in the city on an overnight train from Moscow can see a couple of historic buildings almost as soon as they step off the train. The new train station building, which was completed just a few years ago, had stood semi-finished for years. The construction began in the 1980s and came to a halt when the funding stopped following the collapse of the Soviet Union. People say that only a direct order from the country's authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko put the project back on track in the late 1990s.
Legend has it that the two identical buildings on either side of Kirova Street (just across the street from the train station) were also built by order of a head of state. The buildings resemble Moscow's Stalin-era skyscrapers in style, if not in scale. Back in 1945, when traveling by train to Berlin to take part in the Potsdam conference, Joseph Stalin allegedly made a short stop in Minsk. Stepping off the train, he saw the city in shambles, almost completely destroyed during World War II. He ordered that two buildings be erected in front of the train station, which would look like a gate to the city to everyone arriving by train.
Today, it's impossible to know whether this anecdote is fact or merely legend. Nevertheless, the two buildings were constructed as part of a major project to rebuild the city, which gave it a completely new face in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many of the buildings from that period are located in the area surrounding Minsk's central avenue, which begins just a five minute walk from the train station. Cross the street, go through the symbolic ?gate' on Kirova Street and turn left at the first crossing.
The main avenue has changed names several times over the last 15 years. In 1991, after the collapse of Communist rule and the proclamation of Belarus' independence, it was re?named from Leninsky to Frantsysk Skaryna, to commemorate the 16th century scholar who printed the first book in the Belorussian language. In 2005, however, it was again renamed as Inde?pendence Avenue.
Independence Square, where the avenue starts, is one of Europe's largest squares. It is surrounded by a number of noteworthy buildings, including the huge 1930s government building, which now hosts the Belorussian parliament, and an early 20th century Catholic church, which during Soviet times was used as the House of Cinema and resumed services in the early 1990s. Beneath the square, the Belorussian capital's first underground shopping center, Stolitsa, was built a couple of years ago. It's surprisingly empty most of the time, except on Saturdays when wedding parties come to the mall to take photographs, if the weather doesn't permit open air photography.
Along most of the length of the central avenue stand 1950s buildings, still in decent condition. Among them is the KGB building on the left, which, although massive, is not exactly grim or intimidating. The GUM shopping center has largely preserved its Soviet-style look both inside and out; whilst the building of the National Bank opposite GUM features on the Belorussian 20-ruble banknote which is still in circulation.
Lenina Street, which crosses the avenue near GUM, features the recently built Evropeysky Hotel, which claims to be the city's first five star hotel. The building is said to be an exact replica of the early 20th century hotel which was located on the same site and was destroyed during WWII.
Walking further on Lenina Street, you arrive at the beginning of Victors' Avenue, a section largely symbolizing the relative prosperity of Belarus in late Soviet times and featuring several typical buildings of the period, such as the Sports Palace and the hotels Planeta, Yubileynaya and Belarus. Incidentally, until 2005, the prospect was named after Pyotr Masherov, Belarus's communist leader in the 1970s, who died in a mysterious car crash in 1980. His death prompted speculation of an assassination planned by the Kremlin, whose ageing residents of the time felt undesired competition from Belarus's energetic and successful head. Now, one of the nearby streets is named after Masherov instead, creating some confusion as to which street is which.
In contrast to the 1970s architecture of the Victors' Avenue area, the 12th century Trinity Suburb, located right across the Svisloch River, looks much like Western Europe. The two- and three-story buildings are regularly repainted and house several touristy stores, cafes and restaurants.
Walking back towards Inde?pendence Avenue you pass a huge park, above which towers the 1930s constructivist building of the National Opera and Ballet Theater, which is currently undergoing major renovation. On the other side of the street, the Zhuravinka restaurant has been preserved since the 1970s and offers some atmosphere of the period. Zhuravinka is also a welcome spot for some Belorussian fare, given that most of the other restaurants in central Minsk have yielded their premises to McDonald's or Il Patio.
The stretch of the main avenue between the round building of the city circus, and Victory Square with its 40 meter high monument to the victory in WWII, offers a walker some nice scenery. On the right is the Svisloch embankment and Gorky Park, with a few 1950s-era buildings semi-hidden behind the foliage.
Overall, what strikes a visitor to the city is the relatively small number of advertising billboards, the clean streets and the discipline of the drivers: they always stop at zebra crossings to let pedestrians cross. Fortunately, the city doesn't reflect too much of the revival of Soviet-era practices in Belarus - a process that has been going on for more then ten years. In central Minsk, you won't find huge portraits of President Lukashenko or Soviet-style slogans. The city seems to be doing quite well at creating a ?human face' for the Belorussian regime.
The Moscow News