First mentioned in the 11th century, a couple of centuries later Minsk became part of Lithuania and, in the 16th century, of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Annexed by Russia in the 18th century, Minsk became a provincial center and, after the formation of the Soviet Union, the capital of the Belarusian Soviet Republic.

Following the Nazi invasion in June 1941, Minsk was heavily bombed and occupied a few days later. Under Nazi control, half of Minsk’s population perished and the town became the site of one of the largest ghettos in Europe, believed to have housed some 100,000 Jews. In the final months of the Second World War, in the fights between the Nazi and the Soviet armies, the city was virtually reduced to rubble.

After being recaptured by the Red Army, Minsk’s historic center was gradually rebuilt with Stalinist-style monumental public buildings, wide boulevards and square.

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