Description of the attraction
Victory Square in Vitebsk is the largest city square in the Republic of Belarus. It covers over 7 hectares. Such a huge parade ground was necessary for the Soviet government to hold military parades and peaceful demonstrations in Belarus on public holidays.
When Vitebsk began to grow actively in the 1960s, a huge square was designed on the outskirts of the city. Later, sleeping areas of Vitebsk grew up around it. During the rapid construction and reconstruction of 2009-2010, Victory Square divided Lenin Street in half into two zones: memorial and mass events.
In 1974, a memorial complex was erected in the memorial zone in honor of the Soviet soldiers-liberators, partisans and underground fighters of the Vitebsk region with all the attributes of Soviet-era memorials: a huge reinforced concrete stele aimed at the sky, warlike bas-reliefs and an eternal flame, where veterans meet on Victory Day, and the newlyweds, according to the old Soviet tradition, come here to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers on their wedding day. In the memorial part there are also grandiose rectangular pools with fountains. The height of the main monument, symbolically depicting three bayonets, reaches 56 meters. During the reconstruction of the square in 2010, the asphalt was replaced with red "paving stones", which very favorably emphasized the monumentality of the memorial structures. Architect Yu. V. Shpit, sculptors B. Markov and Ya. Pechkin, engineers V. Zhuravsky and V. Svoboda worked on the creation of the memorial complex.
The square of public events was cleared by the city fathers of the "extra" trees of the former square, who will now try to find a more peaceful refuge in the city's botanical garden. These trees were planted by the whole city during subbotniks dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Vitebsk and the 30th anniversary of its liberation from the Nazi occupation. Now, new-fashioned light and music ("dancing") fountains function on the square, military parades take place, and in winter, a huge skating rink is flooded and a grandiose Christmas tree is erected on the square.
