National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus
Belarus's largest art collection, from medieval icons to Soviet-era painting, in a 1957 classical building.
Founded in 1939 as the State Picture Gallery of the Byelorussian SSR, the museum lost most of its holdings during the Second World War and was rebuilt from scratch afterwards. Its collection now numbers more than thirty thousand works arranged in some twenty sections. The strongest holdings cover Belarusian art from medieval icon painting and Sarmatian portraiture through to the twentieth century, alongside Russian, Western European and Oriental art. It remains the largest assembly of national and international art anywhere in Belarus.
The main building on Lenin Street was designed by Mikhail Baklanov and opened in 1957, its colonnaded portico and sculpted frieze typical of post-war Soviet classicism. A glazed extension added in the 2000s linked the galleries to neighbouring properties and increased exhibition space. The museum also runs several branches, among them the Vankovich House in Minsk, the Museum of Belarusian Folk Art at Raubichi and the Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya Museum in Mogilev. Temporary exhibitions change regularly throughout the year.
Highlights
- Belarusian icons and Sarmatian noble portraits from the 16th to 18th centuries
- Russian painting including works by Repin, Shishkin and Aivazovsky
- Baklanov's 1957 colonnaded facade and sculpted frieze
- Branch museums at Raubichi, the Vankovich House and Mogilev
