Best of Minsk private sightseeing driving and walking tour

Cathedral of the Holy Name of Mary is a Roman Catholic baroque cathedral in Minsk. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev.

The Gates of the City of Minsk are two symmetrical high towers in the style of Stalin classicism (Empire style). This style combines the elements of baroque, late classicism and art deco. All the buildings of the Stalin Empire style are distinguished by their grandeur, luxury and even pomposity. The Gate of Minsk indelibly impresses at night due to their interesting and thoroughly projected lighting.

Bustling market hall with vendors selling fresh produce & flowers, deli products & baked goods. Komarovka Market is named after a village that was located at the same spot. It belonged to a famous Radzivil lineage, till the Napoleonic Wars, when it was bought by one of the Minsk noblemen – Stanislav Vankovich. It was always inhabited by the poor. In the 20th century, the village became a part of Minsk.

Minsk is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislač and the Nyamiha Rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative center of the Minsk Region (voblasć) and Minsk District (rajon). The population in January 2018 was 1,982,444, (not including suburbs) making Minsk the 11th most populous city in Europe. Minsk is the administrative capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the seat of its Executive Secretary. The earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within the Principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499. From 1569, it was the capital of the Minsk Voivodeship, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, in the Soviet Union. In June 2019, Minsk hosted the 2019 European Games.

Independence Square is a square in Minsk, Belarus. It is one of the landmarks on Independence Avenue. The Supreme Soviet of Belarus and Minsk City Hall are on this square. During the period of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic it was called Lenin Square. It is currently one of the biggest squares in Europe.

The City Hall is a great milestone of when Minsk acquired its Magdeburg rights in 1499 and could be classed as a real city. In the old days, a City hall may have a court, a magistrate, an archive, a guardhouse, the standards of weights and the special symbols of the city. In the basement, there could be prison cells. Also, events in the city could be held in or outside the City Hall. It was the center for the cultural life in Minsk. The first City Hall on this spot was a wooden building and later on a stone building (in 1582). The citizens of Minsk was very proud of their city hall that stood for freedom, pride, and resistance. During the years, the solid stone building withstood both great fires and wars.

Victory Square — square in the center of the City of Minsk located at the crossing of Independence Avenue and Zakharau Street. The square is located in the historic centre of Minsk nearby with the museum of the 1st Congress of RSDLP, Main offices of National State TV and Radio, and City House of Marriages. A green park stretches from the Victory Square to the river of Svislach and to the entrance to the M. Gorky Park. Victory Square is the key landmark of Minsk. Holiday parades go through the square. The newly married traditionally take their picture at the square. Victory Square is a key landmark for Belarus like Red Square in Moscow for the Russian Federation.

The National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus is located in a park in the Trinity Hill district of Minsk. Local people call it the "Opierny Teatr" (Belarusian) or the "Opera and Ballet Theatre". It opened on 15 May 1933 but it first did not have its own venue for presentations at the Belarusian Drama Theatre building until 1938. The first permanent theatre was founded in Belarus in 1933 on the basis of the Belarusian Opera and ballet school, the organizer of the studio being the famous Russian Opera singer Anton Bonachich (Bonatschitsch). He was the first head of the new theatre. But he stayed in this position for a very short time, dying in 1933. The current theatre building was opened in 1939. It was designed by the Belarus architect from Leningrad, Iosif Langbard, whose original design was only partially implemented and some design details were omitted yielding to financial and other problems; the theatre has reliefs done by Zair Azgur.

Church of Saints Simon and Helena also known as the Red Church is a Roman Catholic church on Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus. This neo-Romanesque church was designed by Polish architects Tomasz Pajzderski and Władysław Marconi. The cornerstone was laid in 1905 and the church was completed in 1910.

The Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk, Belarus is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. It is the central cathedral of the Belarusian Orthodox Church. The cathedral, located on Cyril and Methodius Street, dates back to 1633–1642, when the Bernardine monastery was built, at a time when the city was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The building was damaged by fire in 1741 and required the reconstruction of the entire monastery.

The Trinity Hill is the oldest surviving district of Minsk; in the past, it was not part of the downtown, rather a suburb, hence another name, Trinity Suburb. The historic neighborhood sprawls along the left bank of the Svislach River in the southeastern part of the modern city.