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Prominent architect raises objections to construction of high-rise buildings in downtown Minsk

A prominent architect has raised objections to plans for the construction of high-rise buildings in downtown Minsk.

"They should by no means let this happen," Leanard Maskalevich, a professor at the International Academy of Architecture, told BelaPAN.

"Minsk has the downtown that has been included in the encyclopedia of the 20th-century architecture. And the section of our major thoroughfare between Independence Square and Victory Square has been included by UNESCO into the world's list of architectural monuments. We must conserve this. High-rise buildings are unacceptable at the center of Minsk.

They should be growing closer to the city's outskirts, at the intersections between major roads and the beltway. God forbid the Museum of the Great Patriotic War is replaced with a high-rise building. The person who will build it will have to remove it," Dr. Maskalevich said.