Moscow news
-
02-Oct-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.
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.
The Moscow News