Mound of Glory near Minsk

Not far from the Minsk National Airport the Mound of Glory, a majestic monument in honour of soldiers of the Soviet Army is located. It was this place when in 1944 during the Bagration operation, which was aimed at the liberation of Belarus from Nazi Germany invasion, a huge group of Nazi troops was encircled and defeated.

The Mound is a regular hill, the top of which can be reached by walking through two screw stairs with 241 steps each. This hill is artificial and to make it people brought land from their homeland from all corners of the Soviet Union to honour the memory of those who died fighting for freedom.

At the top of the hill there are four 35-meter obelisks in the form of bayonets. They symbolize four fronts, which are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belarusian and 1st Baltic. The soldiers of those fronts had liberated Belarus. The bottom of the bayonet is encircled by a huge concrete ring with the inscription on the inside which tells: “Glory for the Soviet Army, the Army liberator!»

On the outside of the ring carved bas-reliefs depicting soldiers of the armed forces are placed. The bas-reliefs are represented by two infantries, a pilot, a sailor and a tanker, as well as two partisan girls of different age. The partisans played a special role during the Bagration operation. Due to their help it was possible to install more than ten thousand of high-explosive shells on roads and bridges, leaving the enemy troops without supplies and the ability to escape, overnight.

The Mound of Glory was the first monument of its kind, and other similar bayonet monuments were installed in many cities of the Soviet Union in imitation of the one in Minsk.

How to get there: the mound is located on the 21st kilometer of the route M2 – you will see it from afar.

There are also taxis from the metro station ‘Uruchye’.