Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War – Minsk, Belarus 🇧🇾

After arriving to Belarus to spend a couple of weeks with my in-laws and work remotely from there, we decided to spend a weekend in Minsk. One of the reasons to come to the country’s capital was to visit the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War which, as presented in its website, is the most visited one in Belarus.

The museum is a great choice for everyone who is interested in the history of World War II (WWII), or the Great Patriotic War as defined in ex-Soviet countries. The museum presents “the largest national repository of the material and spiritual item of military history of Belarus” and is a great exhibition to understand the massive impact of WWII in the former Soviet Union and humankind overall, as well as the specific role that Belarus played as the main point of entrance of the Nazi army in Soviet territory.

Created among the ruins and ashes in newly-freed Minsk in October 1944, the museum has been carrying out and continues to carry out its mission of commemorating the Great Victory over the fascism during the whole time of its existence. The museum building was erected in a symbolic place of the Belarusian capital – next to the stela “Minsk – the hero city” – and is located within in the park complex “Victory.”

The architecture of the building impresses by its scale and symbolism. The monumentality and modern technology are harmoniously combined in it. Non-standard spatial and architectural techniques and imaginative solutions create the feeling of the greatest tragedy and at the same time immerse the visitor in an atmosphere of courage and achievement. It also outlines a very unique and touching narrative, by including hundreds of photographs with brief biographies of individuals that passed away during these terrible events. The story told through the museum is not just the one of Belarus as a country, but the specific ones of the individuals that were part of it.

The museum has ten exposition halls and makes up 4,200 square meters, presenting over eight thousand exposition materials. The museum exhibition consists of 30 collections and more than 150 thousand items: these are photographs, documents, letters and personal belongings of the Great Patriotic War participants.

These are some photos and videos I took while visiting it: