russian: Дом правительства , image = House of Government (Minsk) 20190502.jpg , caption = Government House in 2019 , location =

Independence Square, Minsk Independence Square ( Belarusian: Плошча Незалежнасці, Russian: Площадь независимости) is a square in Minsk, Belarus. It is one of the landmarks on Independence Avenue. The National Assembly of Belarus and ...

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Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

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Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

, completion_date = 1934 , architect =

Iosif Langbard Iosif Grigor’evich Langbard, also Josef Langbard (6 January 1882 in Bielsk Podlaski, Grodno Governorate – 3 January 1951 in Leningrad) was a Soviet Belarusian architect and Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR (1934). Langbard studied arch ...

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Government of Belarus The Government of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Урад Рэспублікі Беларусь), which consists of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus (), is the executive branch of state power in Belarus, and is appointed by the ...

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Roman Golovchenko Roman Alexandrovich Golovchenko ( be, Раман Аляксандравіч Галоўчэнка, Raman Aliaksandravič Haloŭčenka; , Russian: Роман Александрович Головченко; born 10 August 1973) is a Belarusian po ...

Prime Minister of Belarus The prime minister of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the deputy head of government of Belarus. Until 1991, it was known as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as the head of the government of t ...

The Government House or House of Government ( be, Дом урада, russian: Дом правительства) is a government building in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

located on Independence Square. It houses the

National Assembly of Belarus The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальны сход Рэспублікі Беларусь, Nacyjanalny schod Respubliki Bielaruś; russian: Национальное собрание Республики Бел ...

and its two chambers: the Council of the Republic and the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(located in the right wing). The National Assembly is one of the highest organs of national power and symbolism in the country. It was built in 1934 and designed by

. It stands behind a statue of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

and is one of the few buildings that survived the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

History

The Government House was built between 1930 and 1934, becoming a vivid example of the constructivism architectural style as the largest public building of the pre-war

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

. In 1929, a competition for design of a new government workplace in Minsk took place, with the winner being

, a native of the

Grodno Region Grodno Region ( pl, Grodzieńszczyzna) or Grodno Oblast or Hrodna Voblasts ( be, Гродзенская вобласць, ''Hrodzienskaja vobłasć'', , ''Haradzienščyna''; russian: Гродненская область, ''Grodnenskaya oblast' ...

. The building was part of a project led by Langbard in that area which included a square (now known as Independence Square) used for civil/

military parades A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching. The military parade is now almost entirely ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the lat ...

on public holidays and a central grandstand for party leaders. He won the honorary title of

Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR () is the English translation of two different awards of the Byelorussian SSR, the older Soviet forms of two of the modern orders, decorations, and medals of Belarus. The English term "artist" is used to cove ...

as a result of his work. Busts of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

was erected in front of the house and the square, becoming the tallest of its kind in the entire

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. During the

German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 led to the military occupation of Byelorussia until August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration. The western parts of Byelorussia became part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941, and ...

, the headquarters of the local

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

was housed at Government House. The statue of Lenin was toppled, leaving only a pedestal with

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s, and brought to Germany where it was melted. In 1945, the monument was restored after

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

using the original casting preserved in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Between 1938 and 1940 the House of Soviets, a building identical to the Government House in Minsk, was bult in

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

due to the idea of moving the capital of the

to that city. The architect was once again Langbard. After the war the Mogilev City Council was seated there.

Events held at Government House

First presidential inauguration

The first presidential inauguration was held in the halls of Government House, on 20 July 1994, exactly ten days after the

1994 Belarusian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 23 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July. They were the first national elections held in Belarus since the country seceded from the Soviet Union three years earlier. The result was a victory f ...

in which

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...

was declared president. A special meeting of the Supreme Soviet was held in the building Oval Hall of Parliament, where the white-red-white flag and the

Pahonia The coat of arms of Lithuania consists of a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as (). Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is als ...

coat of arms hanging in front of all. At exactly 10:00 in the morning, the ceremony began, with Lukashenko first taking oath of loyalty before delivering a short speech in Russian.

State of the Nation

The State of the Nation Address is an annual speech given by the

Belarusian President Belarusian statehood can be traced to the medieval Principality of Polotsk. From the 13th century, the lands of modern-day Belarus became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which later evolved into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 19t ...

to both houses of parliament outline the state of the Belarusian republic, similar to the American

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

speech.

Gallery

File:Belarus-Minsk-House of Government-1.jpg, The Government House at night, 2006 File:Belarus 3898 - House of Government (4185209317).jpg, The building in 2009 File:Belarus 3900 - Vladimir Lenin (4185975198).jpg, Statue of Vladimir Lenin File:Protest against Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Aug 22, 2020.jpg, Protest against Alexander Lukashenko outside the Government House, 2020 File:House of Government in Minsk.jpg File:Г. Магілёў - Ансамбль плошчы Леніна PICT1773.jpg, Building of the

City Council, based on the Government House, buit between 1938- 1940. File:Магілёў. Дом Саветаў у маі (01).jpg, Another view of the House of Soviets in Mogilev.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline
Площадь Независимости / дом правительстваУ парадного подъезда. Дом правительства в МинскеДом правительства Республики Беларусь (Фотографии)
1934 establishments in the Soviet Union Government buildings completed in 1934 Buildings and structures in Minsk Government of Belarus Government buildings in Belarus Legislative buildings in Europe Constructivist architecture