Must-see attractions in Belarus

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    Nyasvizh Castle

    Belarus

    Over a causeway leading away from the town with lovely lakes on either side lies this palace-like castle and park complex. Erected by the Radziwill family…

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    Mir Castle

    Belarus

    The 16th-century Mir Castle, reflected magnificently in an adjoining pond, resembles something straight out of Disney. A recent renovation has the place…

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    Museum of the Great Patriotic War

    Minsk

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

  • Homel Palace

    Belarus

    Homel's signature attraction was built by Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev in the late 19th century, soon after Homel became part of the Russian Empire. He…

  • Vul Kastrychnitskaya

    Minsk

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

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    Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park

    Belarus

    Unesco World Heritage Site Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park is the oldest wildlife refuge in Europe and the pride of Belarus. At the National Park…

  • Pripyatsky National Park

    Belarus

    One of the best-kept secrets in Belarus is this relatively untouched swath of marshes, swampland and floodplains emanating from the Pripyat River, about…

  • Pr Nezalezhnastsi

    Minsk

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

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    Marc Chagall Art Center

    Belarus

    The first museum on every itinerary should be the excellent Chagall Art Center, which was established in 1992 and has about 300 of Chagall's graphic works…

  • Stalin Line Museum

    Belarus

    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…

  • Khatyn

    Belarus

    The hamlet of Khatyn, 55km north of Minsk, was burned to the ground by the Nazis on 22 March 1943. Of a population of 149 (including 85 children), only…

  • Belarusian State Art Museum

    Minsk

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

  • Dudutki

    Belarus

    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…

  • Marc Chagall House Museum

    Belarus

    Across the town's river, a good 20-minute walk away from the Chagall Art Center, is the Marc Chagall House Museum, where the artist lived as a child for…

  • Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art

    Minsk

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

  • Homel Park

    Belarus

    Heavenly Homel Park stretches for more than a kilometre along the west bank of the Sozh River. The centrepiece is Homel Palace, but you'll also find cafes…

  • Pl Svabody

    Minsk

    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…

  • Vitebsk Art Museum

    Belarus

    The highlight of this surprisingly impressive collection are the moving realist scenes of early 20th-century Vitsebsk street life painted by Yudel Pen,…

  • Zaslavsky Jewish Monument

    Minsk

    This extremely moving sight, rather hidden away in a sunken gully amid trees off vul Melnikayte, commemorates the savage murder of 5000 Jews from Minsk at…

  • Church of Corpus Christi

    Belarus

    Built between 1584 and 1593 in early Italian baroque style, this Roman Catholic church features a splendidly proportioned facade and, inside, brilliantly…

  • National Library of Belarus

    Minsk

    For a taste of post-Soviet Belarus, head north of the centre to the new national library, a ghastly piece of Lukashenko-approved hubris. You'll need your…

  • Pl Nezalezhnastsi

    Minsk

    Independence Sq, formerly pl Lenina, is dominated by the 1930s constructivist Belarusian Government Building (behind the iconic Lenin statue). The red…

  • Church of SS Simon & Elena

    Minsk

    The red-brick Catholic Church of SS Simon & Elena, built in 1910, is worth popping into for a peek at its unique, wave-like, arched ceiling. Its tall,…

  • Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

    Minsk

    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…

  • Former Residence of Lee Harvey Oswald

    Minsk

    Just across the bridge over the Svislach River, on the west bank, is the former residence of Lee Harvey Oswald. The assassin of former US president John F…

  • Old Castle

    Belarus

    There is not much left of the Hrodna's 'old castle', most of which was destroyed during the Great Northern War in the early 18th century. You can wander…

  • Independence Palace

    Minsk

    This enormous addition to Minsk's totalitarian architecture is the country's new presidential palace in all but name. Architecturally uninspiring, the…

  • New Castle

    Belarus

    The Polish-Lithuanian rulers built the rococo 'New Castle' in the mid-18th century to replace the destroyed 'Old Castle' next door. More palace than…

  • National History Museum

    Minsk

    Two freshly modernised museums in one here. The national history museum proper occupies the upper floors with exhibits of ethnographic and archaeological…

  • Military Glory Museum

    Belarus

    This polished museum is dedicated to the many wars that took place in Homel from the 14th to the 20th century. The heaviest coverage is reserved for WWII,…

  • Trinity Hill

    Minsk

    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…

  • Lyaskavichy Nature Museum

    Belarus

    Pripyatsky National Park's nature museum is a real find in out-of-the-way Lyaskavichi. Fully air-conditioned and modernized, it has beautiful exhibits and…

  • KGB Headquarters

    Minsk

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

  • Assumption Cathedral

    Belarus

    Vitsebsk's two most prominent churches command high ground in the Old Town above the spot where the tiny Visba River empties into the Dvina. The larger…

  • Church of St Aleksandr Nevsky

    Minsk

    This red-brick church was built in 1898, closed by the Bolsheviks, reopened by the Nazis, closed again by the Soviets and now it's open once more. It's…

  • SS Peter & Paul Church

    Minsk

    Off the vul Lenina overpass is the attractively restored 17th-century SS Peter & Paul Church. The city's oldest church, it was built in 1612, looted by…

  • Pl Peramohi

    Minsk

    Striking pl Peremohi is marked by an obelisk and an eternal flame (accessible from the underground passageway). Cyclists use this oval as a makeshift…

  • Ratusha

    Minsk

    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…

  • Great Choral Synagogue

    Belarus

    The impeccably restored Great Synagogue is Hrodna's finest piece of art nouveau. It's an early-20th-century reconstruction of the original 16th-century…

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