6 Unique Things to See in Minsk
I am a fool for looking up unique things to see in the countries and cities I visit. These days, everything is so touristic. It’s finding unique experiences that make traveling so special and less…commercial.
Minsk, located in Belarus, is still a city that is yet to be bombarded by overwhelming tourism. I have no doubt that as soon as Instagram travel models start hyping up the place with ridiculous photos (have you SEEN them in Chernobyl?) then people will flock to this little country.
Check out my full review of 48-hours in Minsk
Oktyabrskaya Street (Graffiti Street)
This one has some history. Named after a female Soviet tank driver who fought on the Eastern front in WWII against the Nazies (hell yeah). She, unfortunately, died of battle wounds but had been given the Hero of the Soviet Union, the USSR’s highest honor for bravery.
This area was once industrial factories in the early 1900s for energy, leather processing Bolshevik plant, and a crystal plant. It was abandoned until some Brazilian artists came in the past couple years and made it a burst of color in a concrete city. Now Oktyabrskaya Street is home to hipster food trucks and bars that dance the night away under bricks of color.
Lee Harvey Oswald’s Apartment
About a year or two before he assassinated JFK, Oswald lived in Minsk for about 2 years…and people thought he was awesome and innocent of the crime (when they heard about it later). As a 20-something-year-old Marine, he arrived in the USSR claiming to be a Marxist. When the KGB refused to let him stay, he cut his wrists and the Soviets let him stay. While there are no markings that it was his apartment, you can find it on…get this…Communist Street. Amazing.
“I couldn’t believe my ears,” says Titovets, now a spry 75-year-old bio researcher. “I deeply believe he was innocent. He was incapable of killing anybody.”
All Saints Orthodox Church
Having lived in Greece for 4 years, I had my fill or Orthodox churches. But I have NEVER seen anything like this church. Apparently, it was the Mayor’s idea to build the church this way. I took the metro red line to get there, and it seriously was looming in the distance with a huge spire. I thought the outside was amazing until I saw the INSIDE.
They were having Sunday service, I had to wear a scarf on my heard-which they provided free of charge in a basket. So the priest was in full swing…with the thurible (that’s what the lantern on a chain is called that burn incense).
The colors were bright golds, pinks, blues, yellows. The spire itself rose up like a pastel tunnel to heaven! I spent about 10 minutes inside because I had to catch my taxi, but I would have loved to look around more.
Soviet Mosaics
Close to the All Saints Church, there are Soviet apartment buildings that had the most beautiful mosaics straight out of a sci-fi movie. In fact, they looked extremely futuristic with C3PO-like automatons in different positions. To find these, on the way to the church, get off at Ushod metro stop.
Mound of Glory
My colleague actually picked us up from the airport, so we got a nice car ride into Minsk. While passing beautiful fields of green and gold, we couldn’t help but see a giant, gleaming fork in the distance. Ok, not a fork, but from a distance that is what it looked like (and with Soviets so “dedicated” to workers…it could be possible)
On the outside this ring is adorned with faces of intense-looking soldiers, pilots and partisans. Inside of the ring is covered with mosaics highlighting victorious Soviet armies in Russian, with a Soviet red star, hammer-and-sickle and all. So typicalclassic socialist-realist in style, but still a rather unusual shape with that ring “hovering” over the southern slope of the monument.
This is a memorial complex honoring Soviet soldiers who fought during World War II, located 21 km from Minsk that was constructed in 1966. For those of you on sickle/hammer hunts, this monument is proudly adorned with one.
KGB Headquarters
The KGB translated in English is “Committee for State Security,” which was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. Unless you’re in Minsk because it’s still very active in Belarus. The KGB is notorious in spy movies for bugging places, keeping tabs on people, and making them disappear. With my love for everything historically shady in this world, I geeked out when I stook in front of the KGB building. Needless to say, our bike tour guide was telling us rumors about a circular jail cell called ‘American Roulette’. While I can find absolutely nothing about this on a Google search…I desperately want to get in on this Belarussian rumor.
