BY | EN

This book focuses on one of historic Minsk’s oldest and most architecturally significant neighborhoods, a part of the city once known as “Old Town.” Spanning fifteen blocks, it was an area tightly packed with 18th-19th century stone buildings, extant until the second half the 20th century in what was then known as Castle Hill.

Historian Siarhiej Ablamiejka explores:
• The importance accorded to Minsk’s architectural heritage by ideologues of the Belarusian political movement of 1917-20, and by the founders of the Belarusian National Republic;
• The origins of the idea of building a BNR headquarters behind the ruins of the city’s castle;
• The Belarusian Culture Institute’s efforts in the 1920s to maintain BNR activists’ focus on the city’s Old Town, including plans to restore the Castle and its monuments;
• The 1925 launch of plans by BSSR communist leaders for the socialist reconstruction of the city, a product of ideological competition with the “nationalists.”
• Ablamiejka introduces the reader to all the heroes and anti-heroes of this historical process, and casts his eye on heretofore unknown chapters in BSSR history. We learn about the 1920’s disappearance of a monograph of the Old Town; about efforts to create a museum dedicated to the district; about the renaming of Old Town streets. The author also focuses attention on the mysterious disappearance of archival documents associated with many of these events.

The book is also available in e-format >>