Press releases

MINSK, 13 January (BelTA) – The construction of Trostenets Memorial is expected to be finished in 2017, BelTA learned from chief architect of the memorial Anna Aksenova working with the landscape architecture company Minskpoyekt.

“If the funding is provided as planned, we will be able to finish the work on Trostenets Memorial in 2017,” Anna Aksenova noted.

The territory of the former death camp Trostenets comprises a number of important areas, including the former prisoner reception point, the Road of Death that used to lead prisoners to the camp, the places of execution in the forest of Blagovshchina, and some others, the architect explained.

The first monuments were unveiled at the memorial in summer 2015, including the bronze Gates of Memory. Work in underway to design a memorial to be erected in the forest in Blagovshchina. The concept of the “final journey” of the Trostenets prisoners was suggested by architect Leonid Levin. His creative workshop continues preparing project documentation. “The design project will be ready by summer 2016. After that, we will be able to start the construction of the monument in Blagovshchina,” Anna Aksenova noted.

Galina Levina, the chief architect of the creative workshop of architect Leonid Levin holding a state award in architecture, pointed out: “After visiting Trostenets Memorial, no one will stay indifferent to the horrible events of the past that took place there. More than 200,000 people died in the concentration camp. Those were people of different ethnicities and religions. I think the memorial should become a place of memory and prayer for all people regardless of their faith.”

On 12 January, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko conferred the President’s awards For Spiritual Revival and special prizes on Belarusian art luminaries, and also the President’s special prizes Belarusian Sports Olympus on renowned athletes. Konstantin Kostyuchenko, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, was honored with an award for the monument Gates of Memory at Trostenets Memorial and other works of monumental art.