Press releases

Belarus Events Calendar: JANUARY 2021

Belarus is gearing up for New Year and Christmas festivities. Minsk will certainly be the epicenter of celebrations. The season of Christmas fairs has already started. The largest of them have opened near the country’s main Christmas tree in Oktyabrskaya Square and also in Pobeditelei Avenue near the Palace of Sports. The unusual Sarafan fair of original souvenirs and traditional treats of different peoples of the world will be running at 21-2 Kalvariyskaya Street till 30 December.

From 26 December to 2 January the Upper Town in Minsk downtown will be hosting the performance "New Year's Carousel, or Mystery of the Poster Pillar" (at 17.00 and 20.00) by professional artists of ballet, circus and theater companies.

New Year's night 2021 will be packed with events: from 0.00 to 3.00 Oktyabrskaya Square will be the venue of a musical and theatrical show "Winter Concert”. It will be repeated on 1 and 2 January- from 18.00 till 21.00. A festive fireworks display will color the Minsk sky on 1 January at 1.30. This year the fire point is located in Alexandrov Garden. So it is better to watch the show from Oktyabrskaya Square and Nezavisimosti Avenue.

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Museum of Christmas tree toys in Minsk

In the run-up to the New Year holidays, one of the largest collections of Christmas toys invites you to return to childhood and enjoy the magical atmosphere of the upcoming holiday season. Here you can see rare specimens from Europe, Asia, Australia, America and Africa, learn about the history of glass toys from the mid-19th century to the present day, and get familiar with the traditions of Christmas celebrations  around the world – Congo, Peru, Indonesia, New Zealand… Visitors to the museum will be able to learn the secrets of the Christmas decorations manufacturing process of the Minsk factory Grai, the country's only company producing Christmas decorations, and attend a toy making workshop to make souvenirs for friends and family.

When: 7 November 2020 – 24 January 2021
Where: National Historical Museum, 12 Karl Marx Street, Minsk

Christmas Tree Baubles exhibition in Minsk

The exhibition of Christmas tree decorations  in the Mikhail Savitsky Art Gallery in Minsk will focus on the Soviet period - baubles, figurines, garlands and tops made in the 1940s-1980s from the collection of Elena Kostritskaya from Minsk. Here you can see a variety of baubles with different types of coating, spraying and painting and more bizarre shapes: icicles, ‘spotlights’, lanterns, and cones. Among the rarities are cotton and glass toys depicting the characters of fairy tales, people of different professions and peoples of the USSR.

When: 12 December 2020 – 17 January  2021
Where: Mikhail Savitsky Art Gallery, 15 Svobody Square, Minsk

Pinocchio opera premiere at Bolshoi Theater

The Pinocchio opera is one of the most anticipated premieres of the Belarusian Bolshoi Theater. Since it was first staged in 2008, Gloria Bruni's masterpiece has already been performed in Naples, Parma, London and other European cities. The fairytale story will premiere on the Minsk stage during winter holidays. The production team include conductor Vladimir Ovodok, director Natalia Baranovskaya, and designer Lyubov Sidelnikova. Natalia Baranovskaya will debut in the capacity of director. According to her, “the story of the wooden puppet that became a real live boy is still relevant, because we all make mistakes, but fixing them helps us grow ...”

When: 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 30 December 2020, 3 January 2021
Where: Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, 1 Parizhskoi Communy Square, Minsk

In Search of Magic program at Belarusian State Circus

The Belarusian State Circus is happy to present its New Year program. This time, spectators will be able to get a sneak peek at the workshop of the main magician – Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost). They will also set out on a journey together with the Snowman and his friends in a bid to save the winter from robbers and give children a holiday. The program features acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, as well as camels and llamas, bears, tigers, donkeys, dogs, and monkeys…

When: 19 December 2020 - 11 January 2021
Where: Belarusian State Circus, 32 Nezavisimosti Avenue, Minsk

New Year fairy tales at Musical Theater

A whole array of fairy tales awaits the audience at the Belarusian State Academic Musical Theater. New Year's Adventures of Emelya by Gelsyat Shaydulova (from 20 December) will take spectators on a fascinating journey through the magical world of Emelya who will go through all kinds of hoops to bring home a magical stone Radomarin by New Year, a condition he needs to fulfill to win the heart of the tzar’s daughter. Pavel Shvedov's musical about the brownie Kuza (from 24 December) will tell a story of how the main character teaches his new friend Natasha housework, but one day he has to leave searching for a disappeared chest and even visit Baba Yaga... After Christmas (from 26 December ) the theater will show the musical The Snow Queen, in which the love of Kai and Gerda overcomes the villainy of the Snow Queen.

When: 20 December 2020 - 10 January 2021
Where: Belarusian State Academic Musical Theater, 44 Myasnikova, Minsk

Christmas Tree shows at the Palace of the Republic

For many years these Christmas performances have been bringing joy to children and adults every winter. Plays are put on the big and small stages of the Palace of the Republic and present the stories that make everyone feel the magic and believe in the winning power of good.   

This year the Christmas Tree show will feature the musical fairytale Magic World that will also touch upon the important topic of global warming. The show will take the audience on a tour around the world to get familiar with the New Year characters from Finland, Australia, China and hear the greetings from the legendary Belarusian Dez Moroz performed by honored artist Vladimir Radzivilov, who has been lighting the country’s Christmas Tree for 25 years already!

The Little Christmas Tree show will be the culmination of the national charity campaign Our Children. According to the plot of the play Ded Moroz and the Mirror of Magic, the insidious Koshchei the Immortal turns Ded Moroz into Leshy and Snegurochka into Kikimora. The cast includes staff of the Studio Theater of Film Actors Vera Polyakova, Artyom Davidovich, Yuri Baranov, Alesya Pukhovaya, Yelena Girenok, Sergei Lapanitsyn, Yana Khodanovich.

When: 24 December 2020-7 January 2021
Where: Palace of the Republic, 1 Oktyabrskaya Street, Minsk

Recordare: An opera concert in Belarus’ Bolshoi Theater

A concert by the Singer of the World 2015 Nadine Koutcher, the prima of Belarus’ Bolshoi Theater Oksana Volkova, and a winner of Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition in Lisbon Pavel Petrov will be a magnificent gift for opera fans. The first part of the festive program will feature the best arias from works by Beethoven, Charpentier, Puccini, Berlioz, Gounod, Verdi, Donizetti, and Mascagni while the second one will offer arias from works by Prokofiev, Monyushko, Mussorgsky, Gavrilin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gurvich, and Hermann. The concert will be accompanied by a choir and a symphonic orchestra of Bolshoi Theater and will be directed by Oksana Volkova and conducted by Dmitry Matviyenko.

When: 29 December
Where: Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, 1 Parizhskoi Kommuny Square, Minsk

New Year’s Eve with the Classic Energy orchestra

The symphony orchestra Classic Energy has prepared a magnificent concert for fans. The musicians invite you to ring in the New Year with the most popular tunes starting with the legendary song 5 Minutes by Lyudmila Gurchenko and ending with ABBA’s Happy New Year! The concert will also have truly Christmas music pieces by Frank Sinatra and also soundtracks from foreign and domestic movies, including Home Alone, Harry Potter, Hachiko and the Disney cartoons Cold Heart and Polar Express. Over 80 musicians and performers are expected to be on stage simultaneously.

When: 31 December, 19:00
Where: Minsk concert hall, 3 Oktyabrskaya Street, Minsk

New Year 2021 in the Philharmonic

You are cordially invited by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Belarus led by People’s Artist of Belarus Aleksandr Anisimov to immerse yourself in a festive atmosphere and welcome in the New Year together with the musicians. The party will make happy both regular patrons of the Philharmonic and first-time visitors. The concert program will feature the best of the world classical music and popular tunes.

When: 31 December, 18:00
Where: Big concert hall, Belarusian State Philharmonic, 50 Nezavisimosti Avenue, Minsk

Circus musical “Magic lamp” in Minsk Arena

The circus musical “Magic Lamp” invites spectators to the country’s largest venue to enjoy a fairytale about adventures of the courageous and cheerful young man named Aladdin and his friend Genie. The musical will feature more than 40 artists from Russian theaters, including from Cirque du Soleil, and finalists of the famous song contest “The Voice”. The show will comprise astonishing circus and dance performances, theatrical elements, live singing, exclusive costumes, colorful decorations, and video projections.

When: January 2021
Where: Minsk Arena, 111 Pobeditelei Avenue, Minsk

New Year vacation in estates of Grandfathers Frost

Estates of Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) across the country have slipped into a festive mood. This holiday season, when people should maintain social distancing and opt for outdoor activities, these places are even more popular.

The most famous location is the residence of the country’s main Ded Moroz and Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The residents of Europe’s oldest forest welcomed their first guests on 12 December with the program “Fairytale of Belovezhskaya Pushcha 2020”. Visitors of the estate can meet with Ded Moroz, walk down the Fairytale Path, go to Snegurochka’s chambers, have a look at the Treasury, visit the Museum of Ice, and ask for snowy weather in the workshop of Matushka Zima (Mother Winter).

Ded Moroz’s residence of in the vicinity of Vitebsk was one of the first estates to open this winter. Since 16 December, the estate has invited children to embark on the wonderful adventure with cartoon characters in the local magical forest. Apart from the main show, adults and children can participate in folk games, fun activities and contests outdoor, get presents, and make souvenirs. They are also invited to take part in the toy-crossing campaign and exchange their own toy for any toy from the collection of local Ded Moroz.

In the 2020 season the Grodno Ded Moroz moved from the suburbs to the regional capital. On 18 December a new cozy residence opened in the Grodno arts and crafts center Naslediye in Reimonta Street. Its visitors will enjoy a show of fairytale characters, embrace Christmas traditions, learn to make Christmas tree decorations, make photos with their favorite characters near an ice throne and even send a letter with Christmas wishes using a magical post service.

The Partisan Ded Moroz wearing a reefing jacket and a harness welcomes guests in the memorial complex Khovanshchina in Ivatsevichi District. This unusual New Year character is accompanied not by Snow Maiden but by a horse called Major. Guests of the memorial complex will be given maps and take part in a two-hour quest in the wildwood like true partisans. A brigade of tourists led by the museum personnel will look for Ded Moroz. The stylized military uniform of the 1940s, mud huts and buddings of that time will take visitors to the heroic past of Belarus and show how partisans from Polesie celebrated New Year.

The open-air show New Year Extravaganza will take place in the ecological tourism center Stankovo. As to the legend, the main time keepers – the symbols of 2020, Micky and Minny Mice – decided not to hand over the right to make wishes come true to the symbol of 2021, Bull Algerd, and kidnapped Ded Moroz. The audience will help sort things out, find the New Year magician and recover the symbolic keys to New Year.

The museum park of interactive history Sula will host a fascinating show featuring ancient New Year and Christmas traditions. The program will include interactive theatrical performances, rites, games, dances, a quest to search for a Kalyady fir-tree, and a new production of Sula’s Batleika theater. The New Year program will culminate with a meeting with Ded Moroz and wishing each other a Happy New Year.

Memory Box exhibition in Loshitsa Manor Museum

The Loshitsa Manor Museum is gearing up to launch a unique exhibition project. It will display more than 500 objects of folk and decorative arts - wood carving, pottery and blacksmithing, weaving, painting, weaving from natural materials, etc. The artifacts have been collected by the famous Belarusian ethnographer Yevgeny Sokhuta during expeditions around the country. Straw horses, herons and storks, decorated wooden and ceramic utensils, a collection of textile and porcelain dolls, original vytinanka, embroidered and woven products with ancient geometric patterns… All items amaze with their primitive harshness, simplicity and power of form.

Where: 23 May – 31 December
Where: Loshitsa Manor Museum, 8 Chizhevskikh proezd, Minsk

Rarities of the National History Museum  project in Minsk

The National History Museum invites Minsk residents and tourists to visit an outdoor exhibition to see the rarities from its holdings. An unusual exhibition about the Belarusian nation and its historical heritage will be arranged on the fence of Chelyuskintsev Park (Independence Avenue) in early June. Seventy photo-banners will show the rarities from different eras: coins, weapons, national costumes, religious objects, works of fine art, arts and crafts, books, precious metals, awards, musical instruments and many more. This exposition features items presented by the five branches of the National History Museum – the Memorial House of the First Congress of the RSDLP, the Museum of Belarusian Cinema History, the Museum of Theater and Music Culture History, the Museum of Nature and Environment, and the Museum of Contemporary Belarusian Statehood.

When: 2 June 2020 – 1 June 2021
Where: Fence of Chelyuskintsev Park, Independence Avenue, Minsk
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Heritage of Belarus in National History Museum

The exhibition, which represents the results of the Heritage of Belarus project, reveals the scale of the work carried out by its co-authors – Aleksandr Alekseev and Oleg Lukashevich who have traveled all over the country since 2001 and captured truly priceless heritage. The exhibition is based on the same-name illustrated book of 320 pages and more than 4,000 photographs, which has been reprinted 18 times. The director general of the State Hermitage Museum, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Pope, the British Queen have a copy of the Heritage of Belarus book... The authors made 31 documentary films to recreate the portraits of outstanding people of the Belarusian land: Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Marc Chagall, Ignatius Domeyko, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Adam Mickiewicz.

When: 23  July
Where: National History Museum of Belarus, 12 Karl Marx Street, Minsk

Architecture of Belarus. Painting. Graphics exhibition

The heritage of famous researcher of Belarusian wooden architecture, member of the Union of Architects of the USSR Yuri Yakimovich has gone on display for the first time in Vitebsk Oblast History Museum. Yuri Yakimovich spent much of his life studying pre-revolutionary architecture as well as Polesie wooden architecture of the 17th-19th centuries. The exposition showcases 52 paintings and graphic works depicting the monuments of Vitebsk, Vitebsk Oblast and other regions of Belarus. Apart from the artifacts brought from numerous expeditions, on display is Yuri Yakimovich’s book Silhouettes of Ancient Vitebsk, personal belongings, photos and publications of the researcher.

When: from 22 October
Where: 36 Lenina Street, Vitebsk, Vitebsk Oblast History Museum
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Ferdynand Ruszczyc’s exhibition in National Art Museum

This year celebrates Belarusian landscape painter Ferdynand Ruszczyc. The 40th General Conference of UNESCO decided to add the 150th anniversary of the outstanding Belarusian painter to the UNESCO calendar of anniversaries. To mark the anniversary,  Belarus’ National Art Museum will arrange an exhibition celebrating the famous landscape painter, graphic artist, stage designer, and pedagogue. The exhibition will display works by Ferdynand Ruszczyc, his teachers Ivan Shishkin and Arkhip Kuindzhi, his fellow students Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Bogaevsky, Vilhelms Purvitis, and Arkady Rylov, and his apprentices Piotr Sergiyevich and Mikhail Sevruk. All in all, the holdings of the National Art Museum have four works by Ferdynand Ruszczyc.

When: 27 November 2020 – 13 January 2021
Where: National Art Museum of Belarus, 20 Lenina Street, Minsk

The Way to Color at Art-Belarus Gallery

The exhibition of visually impaired artists introduces viewers to the works of students of Sergei Bondarovich’s Belonika.art group. According to the curators of the exhibition, a special understanding of color and form makes their work unique and opens to the visitors a new perception of familiar concepts from childhood. The exhibition program will also feature other events, including meetings with the authors of the project and workshops. The proceeds will be donated to the charity foundation Tender Wings to develop the project and help organize a painting studio for blind people, and the blind artists themselves.

When: 22 December 2020-15 January 2021
Where: Art-Belarus Gallery, 3 Kozlova Street, Minsk
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TheatreHD: Broadcasts of the world’s best plays in Minsk

Broadcasts of the world’s best plays and performances will continue in the movie theater Tsentralny in Minsk till the end of December. The program will feature dramas, operas, ballets, documentaries, and Russian theater art. 5 December – a trio of Anna Netrebko (Leonora), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count di Luna) and Yonghoon Lee (the troubadour Manrico) retells the story of Il Trovatore on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. 6 December – the London premiere of The Lehman Trilogy, which is dedicated to the rise and fall of the financial giant Lehman Brothers. 8 December – Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Harold Pinter’s comic masterpiece No Man's Land. 13 December – Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus starring Paul Hilton and Arthur Darvill. 15 December – James McAvoy plays the legendary Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano de Bergerac adapted by Martin Crimp and directed by Jamie Lloyd. 19 December – the Donmar Warehouse theater will present Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston. 13, 16, 20 December – Raphael Revealed directed by Phil Grabsky and over 120 masterpieces by one of the geniuses of the Italian Renaissance.

22 December – as part of the collection of the Russian award Golden Mask the Maly Drama Theater – Theater of Europe will tell the story of Hamlet starring Danila Kozlovsky. 23 and 27 December – the Metropolitan Opera will stage The Magic Flute directed by Julie Taymor. 27 and 30 December – it is time for New Year’s Eve fairytale: The Nutcracker will come alive on stage of the Russian Bolshoi Theater thanks to choreography by Yuri Grigorovich. 29 December – the one-woman production Fleabag starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Dear friends! We are sorry to inform you that we have to change the monthly Events Calendar on the belarus.by website. The coronavirus pandemic has led to border shutdowns, travel restrictions, cancellation or postponement of public events. People are willing to refrain from trips and entertainments to protect themselves and their families.

Belarus is taking all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the infection. The country has not imposed strict travel restrictions. However, Belarus calls on EVERY PERSON to be extremely careful, follow the WHO and doctors’ recommendations, observe personal hygiene rules, and, most importantly, take care of each other. If you have returned from the worst-hit regions and countries, you should seek medical attention in case of the slightest deterioration in your health and, of course, isolate yourselves as soon as possible, in order not to spread any infection, not only COVID-19.

In view of this situation, large public events are canceled or postponed. Please, check out the information in advance. Organizers promise that tickets for all postponed events will remain valid. Please, remember to stay healthy!