Minsk: rebuilt brick by brick

Almost completely razed to the ground during World War II, Minsk was rebuilt in monumental Soviet style, becoming today one of Europe's most complete collections of Stalinist architecture.

The center, rebuilt on broad avenues after the war, is explored on foot, with the metro useful for longer distances.

On the broad Independence Square, Stalinist-style government buildings surround one of Eastern Europe's most imposing public spaces.

Walking along the Svisloch River, one reaches the Trinity Quarter, rebuilt in 19th-century style to restore to the city a corner that recalls pre-war Minsk, with low houses and sloping roofs.

Continuing, one visits the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, dedicated to Belarus's role in the conflict that devastated nearly every city in the country.

With evening, the National Library of Belarus, a building with the geometric shape of a rhombicuboctahedron opened in 2006, illuminates with light shows visible from throughout the city.

Over eighty percent of Minsk's buildings were destroyed during the war: almost everything visible today in the center, including the grand Stalinist avenues, dates from postwar reconstruction rather than an older past.

The unusual shape of the National Library houses a panoramic terrace within itself, among the highest points from which to observe the entire city.