Unusual museums in Belarus that are worth visiting for tourists. What museums are there in Belarus? What to see in Belarus

As a historian and Belarusian, I am well aware of this topic. I have traveled a lot around Belarus. I'll tell you about the places I saw with my own eyes.

Museums in western Belarus

I myself come from Grodno, Therefore, first of all, I would like to say about the museums of my native city. Located in Grodno historical and archaeological museum. There are probably similar museums in every major city in Belarus. Here are collected exhibits found in the Grodno region and inherited from private collections. In Grodno there is also Museum of the History of Religion(formerly the Museum of Atheism), and a number of other smaller museums. I would especially like to mention two places in Brest. This is, of course, a memorial complex Brest Fortress. Large-scale buildings and rich exhibitions can captivate visitors for the whole day. Next to the walls of the fortress there is a rather large pavilion - Museum "Berestye". Brest had this name in ancient times. The Berestye Museum contains exhibits from middle ages:

• tools;
• remnants of clothing;
• decorations;
• Houseware;
• Kids toys.

But the pearl of the exhibition is the preserved preserved part of the ancient city. The crowns of the houses and the streets paved with wood recreate the atmosphere of the Middle Ages on our lands. The size of the houses, tools, and shoes is amazing. They are very small. Apparently, our ancestors were indeed smaller than us - living conditions affected them.

Museums of Minsk

Among other museums in Belarus it is worth mentioning National Art Museum of Belarus. I would love to visit it again. I was lucky to have time to visit Museum of the Great Patriotic War still in the old building. The museum recreates not only the war itself, but also the entire Soviet atmosphere. Everything is different in the new museum. Multimedia equipment, bright, spacious rooms. It looks very modern, but it seems that some of the historical atmosphere has been lost.

Worth to visit ethnographic museum "Dudutki". It is located 70 kilometers from Minsk. The traditional life of an ordinary Belarusian is recreated here to the maximum extent possible.

Belarusian museums in other cities

I will also say that I also had the opportunity to visit the museums of Gomel and Polotsk. In the Gomel Palace the exhibition is extremely modest. This building is more suitable for receiving official delegations than a museum. But in the oldest city in Belarus – Polotsk there is something to see. This includes an exhibition in the St. Sophia Cathedral and a number of archaeological museums. They even sell a special ticket that gives the right to visit all museums in Polotsk. So, travel for fun.

What is a museum in our opinion? Exhibits behind glass, solemn silence in the rooms, a guide who knows everything in the world. But there are other museums where, for example, visitors faint from horror or learn where to find a sample pact with the devil. Do you think such places are located somewhere in other countries? Not at all. Having set the goal of finding the most unusual Belarusian museums, we ourselves did not expect to find so many “treasures”. So, we present to your attention the TOP 15 most unusual museums in Belarus.

We thought for a long time about what order to place them in. But each museum is so unique that organizing them according to any criteria turned out to be an impossible task. Therefore, we based it on the geographical factor: from the capital to the regions. And the first place where we will go will be - no less than - the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.

Exposition on the history of monetary circulation of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and the munzkabinet of the Faculty of History of the BSU.

The unusualness of the exhibition on the history of monetary circulation of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus begins right from the threshold. During the Soviet era, all the republic's cash was kept in the room where it was located. To get here, you need to open the huge doors by turning two keys at the same time. In the museum today you can find out what the first coins on the territory of Belarus were, what the “Amber Road” was and where it passed, how a denarius differs from a dirham, and what Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who was part of the embassy of the Baghdad caliph, wrote in his diary in the 10th century , about our ancestors.

Meeting of the Romans with the local population. Diorama

Among other things, here are Byzantine coins of the 10th-11th centuries, very rare in Belarus, a leather wallet in which 127 coins of the Golden Horde of the late 14th - early 15th centuries were discovered, numismatic complexes of Prague groschen, Western European thalers (patagons of the Spanish Netherlands; Levendaalders ( lionfish), Riksdaalder (sword) of the Northern Netherlands; Spanish reals, etc.).

Museum showcase. Monetary circulation during the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Do you know how the Scottish double penny became the first copper coin on Belarusian lands? What is a copper solid and what disservice did it provide? Italian Titus Livius Boratini of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Or how many coins has the Brest Mint minted since its opening on December 4, 1665? The museum will not only give you detailed answers to all these questions, but will also show you what the above coins looked like. Viewing the exhibition further, visitors are transported to XIX century Among the specimens from this period, the treasure found in a champagne bottle is of particular interest. It consists of 80 large silver coins of Russia and Prussia from the late 18th century to the first half of the 19th century. Probably some dashing hussar, having hit the jackpot in a game of cards, decided to hide his unexpected wealth!

"Hussar" treasure

However, there are no less interesting items here. For example, a copper vessel in which, in the first years of Soviet power, someone hid coins, banknotes, jewelry interspersed with coins, and religious objects of the period XIX - early XX centuries.

Copper vessel and its "treasures"

Banknotes of the early twentieth century

Here visitors will see what the coins of the Soviet period looked like, gold chervonets of 1923, rubles, commemorative coins and, finally, coins of the Republic of Belarus issued from 1996 to the present. Measured bars with the abbreviation of the National Bank - silver, gold and platinum - also attract attention.

Unfortunately, due to renovations, the Numismatic Museum of the National Bank is closed to the public. The museum will be ready to receive visitors no earlier than in a year. But you can see many coins and find out answers to questions in another, no less interesting museum - the classical Muntzkabinet *, which is located on the top floor of the building of the history department of BSU.

General view of the museum exhibition

Here, visitors will be happy to be told not only about the development of monetary circulation on the territory of Belarus, but also about where and how to properly look for treasure, why a hanged man’s tooth and tear-grass can be useful in this matter, how to correctly conclude a pact with the devil... On display in the museum presented coins and paper money from various periods, rare treasures of real and counterfeit coins - you can talk about all this for hours. One of the most famous Belarusian treasures is kept within the walls of the museum - the so-called Vishchinsky treasure. It also contains silver bars - hryvnia - means of payment. XI I centuries, and the most beautiful women's jewelry: silver beads, pendants, earrings with images of birds on the shields, a bracelet with amazing ornaments and much more. In addition to the numismatic collection, the museum has a hall dedicated to Belarusian archeology and ethnography, and a hall of ancient sculptures.

Coin treasure from the 1620s, found near Logoisk

Women's jewelry from the Vishchinsky treasure of the end XII - early XIII centuries

This pot from a burial mound contains human ashes

Museum address: Minsk, st. Krasnoarmeyskaya, 6
Working hours: from 9.00 to 18.00 (except Saturday and Sunday)
Admission ticket:free, only for organized groups by appointment
Contact phone numbers: (8-017) 227-42-44

*Münzkabinett (German: Münzkabinett) is a common name in Germany for scientifically systematized collections of coins, medals, paper money and other objects of interest to numismatists (coin stamps, toolscoinage, seals, stamps, securities, etc.), which are stored and studied by numismatists.

To be continued

Museums of Minsk, which not every resident of the capital knows about, museums of the city, whose idea and exhibition surprises, fascinates, makes you smile, museums of the capital, which are yet to be included in guidebooks to Minsk as the most popular and interesting. During your visit, it will be useful to have on hand both a list of museums that you should definitely visit in Minsk, as well as museums that can safely be called unusual. After all, who knows, suddenly between matches, no, no, and even a desire to visit one or two museums in Minsk will appear..

This is at the same time an open-air museum that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a natural monument of republican significance, and a huge map of Belarus in stone. More than 2130 stones and boulders from all over Belarus are in this museum. Some of them are greetings from our glacial past, some are sacrificial stones, some are gravestones, there are also simply interestingly shaped exhibits. It’s worth visiting this place, especially since a trip to this museum can easily be turned into an outdoor picnic.

Address of the Stone Museum in Minsk: Uruchye, Shugaev and Academician Kuprevich streets

Working hours: around the clock

Museum of the History of Belarusian Cinema in Minsk

In this museum you can not only learn everything about Belarusian cinema, the history of Belarusian cinema and the best Belarusian films of all types and genres, but also watch a Belarusian film, some retrospective or retro program from the museum’s film and video fund. The cinema museum is open every day except Sunday. It is very easy to find - it is located behind the Red Church.

Address of the Cinema Museum in Minsk: Sverdlova st., 4

Working hours: Mon - Sat: from 10:00 to 17:30, ticket office until 17:00 (Wed, Fri until 18:30)

To the delight of beer culture lovers, the Alivaria Brewery Beer Museum welcomes guests in Minsk. And he not only accepts, but also conducts entire training. By appointment, everyone can learn the philosophy of brewing and the culture of drinking the finished product at the Beer Academy at the museum. Even .

Address of the Beer Museum in Minsk: Kiseleva st., 30

Working hours: Mon - Tue: closed, Wed - Sun: from 14:00 to 16:00 and from 18:00 to 20:00

The great Soviet sculptor Z.I. Azgur is one of those who sculpted the face of Minsk in the post-war years: the monument to Yakub Kolos on the square of the same name, participation in the creation of the Victory Monument, monuments to Gritsevets, Dzerzhinsky, Lenin... Copies of his works are in the museum. The memorial museum itself is located in a building that was the sculptor’s workshop for 11 years. The museum has been operating since 2000, but few people know about it.