Belarusian Tour in Capital Minsk

29/09/2021

701

by Okay Deprem, http://www.northtravel.org/

Dear Friends, esteemed participants, hello again! Our Minsk pedestrian tour continues uninterrupted and breathless. We are together with you again right now. Remember, the last time I called you from the huge 5^th of October Square. Together with you, we got to know the main structures and artifacts in the surrounding area. Here I came to the point where I am now by going straight down from that point on the Independence Avenue. Again on the same street, but this time I am calling out to you from the center of a very different environment. Without further ado, as I always do, I will leave you alone with this area, provided that I turn my camera in the other direction, and we will get to know the individual structures here from the background.

First of all, what we see is the direction we have come. In other words, the relevant square side of the Independence Avenue. Then when I point my camera to the left, see; We are witnessing very majestic, aesthetically pleasing, beautifully planned civil housing structures with the highest level of color harmony. They may be buildings where very high-level people live now, but in the 1950s, these are really the Soviet mass housing of the period, which was planned and built for the workers and employees of that time to live. As of now, the building on the corner where I am turning my camera is a very similar example, you see. The building next to it is the Ministry of Defense, by the way. Now I turn our camera a little more to the right. We see Yanki Kupala Park and the same street is moving in the other direction, towards Victory Square.

But the main reason why I’m here is this magnificent building, where I will turn the camera and leave you alone. See… I want the whole building to be in my frame. This structure is the Minsk State Circus. It is one of the last examples of the Soviet – Socialist – Constructivist architectural understanding that left its mark on the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Its construction was completed in the early 1960s. A very nice sculpture that portrays 2 acrobats also appears here. As I told you before, this style is seen in every building; Signs are hung with the start and end date of the construction of the said building, sometimes by whom it was designed and built, and sometimes with other detailed information. As we can see here, its construction began in 1958. What we see just above is the present emblem of the Republic of Belarus (Belarus). In this way, the emblem is very reminiscent of the old official symbol of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. As you can see, the wheat ears are swaying left and right, while a sun in the middle and the map of Belarus just above it.

Now I’m in the middle lane. I am in a hall surrounded by huge columns semi-circularly. In terms of the height and thickness of the columns, it seems to resemble the famous Didim Temple in Turkey. When I turn my camera while walking in this very voluminous corridor, we see that its architect and the date it was started are written. As soon as I get out of here, I will leave you with a very special sculpture. See, at the entrance, there is a structure that we can call a monument-i column. In fact, this is a style based on ancient tradition as much as possible. It is known that there were monuments of this style in old Istanbul, in Constantinople. Now, as we move away from the street direction, we see that there is a horse on this building we may define as column monument. There is an artist and a female acrobat on it. In the mood of a ballerina. We can see it, right?. By the way, the structures in Minsk, whether they are official or private; the inscriptions on them are mostly in Belarusian. In short, this language is preferred over Russian here. It is not very often, but only in some cases that it is written in both Russian and Belarusian. Here, the large inscription at the top is also in Belarusian. However, it is a very close language to Russian.

Now let’s take a look at this beautiful sculptural composition. This is another kind of acrobat and we see a rooster on it. Because the circus is a very large structure, it is not easy to show its entire width and length from all sides. Ideally, of course, to look at it from above or from a very high point nearby. If you want, let’s move forward with you and take a look at the programs together. Let’s see what it says. It looks like it’s currently closed. For example, there was a special program between 20 February and 4 April. However, no other information is selected. It says that it normally works every day without interruption.

Yes, let’s just say that’s it for now. I hope you like Belarus – Minsk State Circus building. Let’s not miss this point: It is possible to see buildings of similar splendor and beauty in the former Soviet geography, in almost all the major cities of the wide Russian-speaking world. However, it is obvious and indisputable that one of the most spectacular and aesthetic ones is in Minsk. If one of you gets the chance to visit Minsk as a group of you, you’ll see, we’ll come to the Circus with you. We’d be watching a circus show.