Independence Palace

Minsk

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This enormous addition to Minsk's totalitarian architecture is the country's new presidential palace in all but name. Architecturally uninspiring, the glass-fronted eyesore has hundreds of rooms spread over 50,000 sq metres and is a symbol of Alexander Lukashenko's permanence in Belarusian politics.

It is now where Luka hosts visiting international leaders, as he did in 2014 when he helped broker a (short-lived) peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Completed in 2013, the palace has been compared to similar structures in Turkmenistan and North Korea. It is not open to the public.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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    Museum of the Great Patriotic War

    0.94 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

    3.22 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

    2.38 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

    12.95 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

    2.48 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

    23.79 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

    3.14 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…

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Nearby Minsk attractions

1. Museum of the Great Patriotic War

0.94 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…

2. Zaslavsky Jewish Monument

1.42 MILES

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…

3. Island of Courage & Sorrow

1.72 MILES

Standing on a small island connected to the Old Town by a walking bridge, this evocative Afghan war memorial is known colloquially as the Island of Tears…

4. Trinity Hill

1.86 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…

5. SS Peter & Paul Church

1.92 MILES

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…

6. Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

1.99 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…

7. Pl Svabody

2.06 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…

8. Ratusha

2.07 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…