Minsk Photos
Few European capitals are as rarely chosen for a city break as Minsk, in Belarus. More than two million people live in this city—and, if you look closely, it is these very people who shape the image of Minsk. Minsk is proud and beautiful, just like its residents.
Minsk is a special city. Its defining characteristic is said to be its cleanliness—at least, that is how the city is always described by its own people: Minsk is a clean city, and with its many parks, a green one, too. For first-time visitors, cleanliness is not the first thing that stands out; rather, it is a kind of sterility, a facelessness in the buildings regarded as grand monuments. But only a hospital is truly clean—or sterile. And a hospital is hardly comparable to the capital of Minsk.
Das Mädchen und der Traktor - vielleicht ein Sinnbild für Bilder aus Minsk
Photo: Ilya Kalachev
We want to show pictures of all of Minsk—not just its polished city center, but also everyday scenes from an ordinary Belarusian city. These photos of Minsk are not just pictures of buildings and monuments. Minsk is a city where people live: old and young, rich and poor, and, above all, breathtakingly beautiful girls. The photos in this section capture not only static sculptures, but also a dynamic city that largely defines itself.
The residents know that their city is a long way from the architectural beauty of Prague or Paris—but they love Minsk for what it is: their home. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps these photos will help you feel Minsk’s charm, a charm that is not obvious at first glance.
Minsk is a city of contrasts: grand boulevards and smartly dressed couples out for a stroll, right beside a babushka trying to supplement her meager pension by selling a few flowers. Children playing in Gorky Park, and, just around the corner, people drunk on vodka. Minsk is bustling and not nearly as clinical as city officials would like it to be. Minsk is not a global metropolis, but it is a capital—and that is how it feels.
