Kastrychnitskaya Pl

Minsk

LoginSave

The city's main square is referred to universally by its Russian name, Oktyabrskaya Ploshchad (October Sq). Here you'll find the impressive, severe Palats Respubliki (Palace of the Republic), a concert hall. Also on this square is the classical, multicolumned Stalinist Empire–style Trade Union Palace of Culture.

This is where opposition groups gather to protest against President Alexander Lukashenko from time to time; it's also where the infamous 2010 presidential election protests ended in violence. The failed Denim Revolution of March 2006 was attempted here as well.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • x-default

    Museum of the Great Patriotic War

    1.32 MILES

    Housed in a garish new building, Minsk's best museum houses an excellent display detailing Belarus' suffering and heroism during the Nazi occupation. With…

  • Vul Kastrychnitskaya

    Vul Kastrychnitskaya

    0.98 MILES

    Vul Kastrychnitskaya – still known by its Soviet name, ulitsa Oktyabrskaya – has blossomed into Minsk's unofficial arts district. Brazilian street artists…

  • Pr Nezalezhnastsi

    Pr Nezalezhnastsi

    0.66 MILES

    The capital's main thoroughfare impresses with its sheer size. Formerly pr Francyska Skaryny, it runs from what travel writer Colin Thubron dubbed the …

  • Stalin Line Museum

    Stalin Line Museum

    15.2 MILES

    A must for military buffs is this impressive collection of tanks, missiles, helicopters and all other manner of Soviet war paraphernalia in an open field…

  • Belarusian State Art Museum

    Belarusian State Art Museum

    0.3 MILES

    This excellent museum in one of Minsk's iconic buildings (built in 1939) includes definitive works by Soviet social realists and Russian masters,…

  • Dudutki

    Dudutki

    21.78 MILES

    Tasting delicious farm-made sausages, cheese and bread is only a small part of a visit to the open-air interactive museum of Dudutki, 40km south of Minsk…

  • Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art

    Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art

    0.9 MILES

    This well-established gallery and cultural centre heralded a shift in the artistic landscape when it relocated to vul Kastrychnitskaya in 2018. It is…

View more attractions

Nearby Minsk attractions

1. Tsentralny Skver

0.12 MILES

Across the street from Kastrychnitskaya pl, Tsentralny skver (officially known as Alyaksandraŭsky skver) is a leafy park on the site of a 19th-century…

2. Ratusha

0.22 MILES

Minsk's ratusha has been rebuilt in the place where it was originally constructed in the 1800s and now lords it over pl Svabody, its pointed steeple…

3. Pl Svabody

0.25 MILES

In the heart of the Old Town just off central vul Lenina is charming pl Svabody, lorded over by the white medieval Ratusha (town hall). Off the northern…

4. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

0.27 MILES

Off the northern edge of pl Svabody is the baroque, twin-towered Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, built in 1642. It was once part of a Polish…

5. Belarusian State Art Museum

0.3 MILES

This excellent museum in one of Minsk's iconic buildings (built in 1939) includes definitive works by Soviet social realists and Russian masters,…

6. Bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky

0.37 MILES

Between pr Nezalezhnastsi and vul Karla Marksa is a long narrow park with a bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the KGB's predecessor (the Cheka)…

7. KGB Headquarters

0.4 MILES

An entire block of central pr Nezalezhnastsi is occupied by this yellow neoclassical building with an ominous, temple-like Corinthian portal – the KGB…

8. Trinity Hill

0.41 MILES

Trinity Hill is a pleasant – if tiny – recreation of Minsk's pre-war buildings on a pretty bend of the river just a little north of the centre. It has a…