# Island of Tears, Minsk > The Island of Tears — officially the Island of Courage and Sorrow — is Minsk’s memorial to the Belarusian soldiers killed in the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989). It’s a tiny man-made islet in the Svislach River beside Trinity Suburb, with a chapel, statues of grieving women and a weeping angel. Free, no ticket office, open-air; allow 20–30 minutes. Nyamiha metro is about 10 minutes’ walk. Web page: https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/island-of-tears - City: [Minsk](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk), Belarus - YesGo score: 49/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 20 min - With kids: Fine with kids - Entry: Free — no tickets, no ticket office - Hours: Open-air; unofficially 24/7, some guides list 9:00–22:00 - Time needed: 20–30 min; about an hour with Trinity Suburb - Nearest metro: Nyamiha (Nemiga), then a 10–15 min walk - Bus / trolleybus: Opera Theatre (Operny teatr) stop, about 400 m - Metro token: 1.15 BYN per ride - Payment: Cash rubles for tokens; turnstiles take Belkart and partner-network contactless cards - Location: On the Svislach by Trinity Suburb, opposite Starovilenskaya Street - Coordinates: 53.90988, 27.55459 - Facts checked: 30.10.2026 ## Key facts - **3 August 1996** — the memorial was opened; building started in 1988 (source: Russian Wikipedia; Cyclopedia; Sputnik8) - **771 names** — of the dead are carved on the chapel’s four altars (source: Tripster; Tonkosti; Cyclopedia) - **1979–1989** — the Soviet war in Afghanistan the memorial is dedicated to (source: Minsk Tourism; Russian Wikipedia) - **≈ 30,000** — Belarusians served in that war (source: Minsk Tourism (Belarus Ministry of Labour figures); Russian Wikipedia) - **Yuri Pavlov** — the sculptor who led the winning design team from Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) (source: Russian Wikipedia; Cyclopedia; Tripster) - **Man-made** — the islet was built up in a bend of the Svislach specially for the memorial (source: Russian Wikipedia; Cyclopedia) - **Weeping angel** — for those who came home and later died of their wounds (source: Tripster; Cyclopedia) - **St Euphrosyne** — the chapel’s outline echoes the original Church of St Euphrosyne in Polotsk (source: Cyclopedia; Sputnik8; Tonkosti) - **4 women** — are among the dead — civilian staff and a warrant officer (source: Minsk Tourism; Cyclopedia) - **Boulders** — carry the names of Afghan provinces where Soviet units fought (source: Russian Wikipedia; Tonkosti; Cyclopedia) - **Wind strings** — run from the dome to the ground and hum in the wind (source: Tripster; Cyclopedia; Tonkosti) ## What is the Island of Tears? It’s Minsk’s memorial to the Belarusians who died in the Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. The official name is the Island of Courage and Sorrow, but locals call it the Island of Tears. The islet is artificial — built up in a bend of the Svislach River next to the old Trinity Suburb — and joined to the bank by a single arched footbridge. Around **30,000** Belarusians served in that war. The chapel’s altars carry **771 names** of the dead, four of them women. Don’t expect a museum: there’s no exhibition, no ticket office and no staff. It’s a quiet place where families bring flowers, and most travellers pass through on the walk between the Upper Town and Trinity Suburb. > **A 20-minute stop, not a half-day trip** The island is tiny: a bridge, a chapel, an angel and a few boulders. Don’t make a special trip — it sits right below [Trinity Suburb](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/trinity-suburb), and the two together take about an hour. Come at dusk if you can, when the bridge arch is lit red. ## How to get to the Island of Tears 1. Start at the Town Hall on Freedom Square (Ploshchad Svobody) in the Upper Town. Coming by metro, get off at Nyamiha (Nemiga) — 10–15 minutes’ walk from there. 2. Walk down from the Upper Town to Pobediteley Avenue (Praspekt Pieramožcaŭ) and cross it through the pedestrian underpass — about 5 minutes. 3. Cross the Svislach by the road bridge; the red roofs on the far bank are Trinity Suburb. 4. Walk down from Trinity Suburb to the river: the arched footbridge to the island is visible from the embankment. Town Hall to island takes about 15 minutes in total. 5. By bus or trolleybus, get off at the Opera Theatre (Operny teatr) stop — about 400 m from the island. ## Island of Tears opening hours and entry There are no official opening hours: it’s an open-air memorial with no gate or ticket office, and entry is free. Some guides say it’s accessible around the clock, others list 9:00–22:00 — treat both as unofficial. Either way, daylight or early evening is the safe bet. The only thing you pay for is getting there. A Minsk metro token costs **1.15 BYN** and is sold at station ticket windows for Belarusian rubles. Turnstiles take contactless Belkart cards and cards of its partner networks, plus a QR turnstile for the local Oplati app. Foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard have been refused on the metro since 2022, according to unofficial reports — carry some cash in rubles. ## What to see on the island - **The chapel** at the centre. Four altars inside bear the names of the dead, with icons and biblical scenes on the walls and dome. Metal strings run from the dome to the ground and hum when the wind blows. - **The grieving women** around the chapel — mothers, sisters and widows. Each faces a different direction, the ways their sons left for the war. - **The weeping angel**, a small bronze fountain figure set apart from the chapel. It honours soldiers who made it home and then died of their wounds. Locals touch it for luck, which is why parts of the bronze are polished bright. - **The entrance boulder** with a bronze Virgin and Child and a memorial plaque. - **Boulders named after Afghan provinces** where the fighting took place, meant to recall the mountains. - **The footbridge**, lit red after dark, with a good view back to Trinity Suburb and the river. ## A short history The idea came from the mothers and widows of men killed in Afghanistan, backed by veterans. Construction began in **1988**, while Soviet troops were still in the country, and was paid for by donations — one Minsk bus carried a collection box made from a shell casing, now in the Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum. Donations ran short and work stalled until money was allocated on the order of Belarus’s president. The memorial opened on **3 August 1996**. The design, chosen by competition, came from a team from Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) led by sculptor **Yuri Pavlov**; the chapel’s outline recalls the original Church of St Euphrosyne in Polotsk. ## Is the Island of Tears worth visiting? Yes — as a short stop, not a destination. If you’re walking from the Upper Town to Trinity Suburb, it costs you ten extra minutes and gives you one of the most personal memorials in the city. If war history is your main interest and you have only an hour, the [Great Patriotic War Museum](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-war-museum) tells far more. And if you’re short on time in Minsk, skip it without guilt. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] Pairing it with Trinity Suburb, right across the path - [ ] Some Belarusian rubles in cash for the metro token - [ ] Flowers, if I want to leave some by the chapel - [ ] Timing for dusk to see the bridge lit red - [ ] Comfortable shoes for the walk down from the Upper Town ## Island of Tears vs Victory Square vs the war museum | | Island of Tears | Victory Square | War museum | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Remembers | The Afghan war | Victory in WWII | Belarus in WWII | | What it is | Islet with a chapel | Square with an obelisk | Museum with exhibits | | Entry | Free | Free | Paid ticket | | Time needed | 20–30 min | 15–20 min | 2–3 h | | Best time | Dusk, when lit | Day or evening | Daytime, opening hours | One hour for war history? Choose the museum. The Island of Tears is a short stop on the way through Trinity Suburb; Khatyn is a separate trip out of the city. ## Minsk history sights compared Every historic place in Minsk rated by YesGo. - [Trinity Suburb](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/trinity-suburb) — YesGo score 57/100 (Yes, go) · 45 min · Free; museums extra - [Minsk Town Hall and Upper Town](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-town-hall) — YesGo score 55/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h · 10 BYN, square free - [Red Church (Church of Saints Simon and Helena)](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-red-church) — YesGo score 55/100 (Yes, go) · 30 min · Closed inside, outside free - [Independence Square](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-independence-square) — YesGo score 54/100 (Yes, go) · 30 min · Free, open 24/7 - [Island of Tears](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/island-of-tears) — YesGo score 49/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Free - [Victory Square](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-victory-square) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free, open 24 hours - [Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-war-museum) — YesGo score 37/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · 20 BYN; students 16, pupils 10 - [Khatyn Memorial](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/khatyn-memorial) — YesGo score 28/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · Memorial free, museum ≈ 8 BYN - [Dudutki Museum Complex](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/dudutki) — YesGo score 19/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 3 h · 30 BYN, schoolchildren 15 BYN ## Old Minsk in half a day The Town Hall in the Upper Town, Trinity Suburb, the Island of Tears and the war museum — all on foot. 1. [Minsk Town Hall and Upper Town](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-town-hall) — YesGo score 55/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h · 10 BYN, square free 2. [Trinity Suburb](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/trinity-suburb) — YesGo score 57/100 (Yes, go) · 45 min · Free; museums extra 3. [Island of Tears](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/island-of-tears) — YesGo score 49/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Free 4. [Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum](https://yesgo.io/belarus/minsk/minsk-war-museum) — YesGo score 37/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · 20 BYN; students 16, pupils 10 > **A place of mourning** Mothers and relatives of the dead still come here, and newlyweds traditionally lay flowers. Keep your voice down, don’t climb the boulders and skip the arm-around-the-statue selfies. Flowers go by the chapel. ## Good to know Ellis Island in New York is also nicknamed the Island of Tears — different place entirely. Casualty figures vary: the altars carry 771 names, while some references give 789 dead and 12 missing. ## Tips - Do it straight after Trinity Suburb — it’s a five-minute walk. - Come at dusk: the bridge arch glows red and the island is almost empty. - The best wide shot of the island is from the Trinity Suburb embankment, not from the bridge itself. - Buy two metro tokens at once — ticket-window queues build up at rush hour. - Want the bigger picture? The Great Patriotic War Museum on Pobediteley Avenue is a short walk away. ## Questions ### What is the Island of Tears in Minsk? A memorial to the Belarusian soldiers who died in the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989): a man-made islet in the Svislach with a chapel, statues of grieving women and a weeping angel. Its official name is the Island of Courage and Sorrow. ### Is the Island of Tears free? Yes. There’s no ticket and no ticket office — you only pay for transport, such as a 1.15 BYN metro token. ### What are the Island of Tears opening hours? There are no official hours: it’s an open-air memorial. Unofficially it’s accessible 24/7; some guides list 9:00–22:00. ### How do I get to the Island of Tears? Take the metro to Nyamiha (Nemiga) and walk 10–15 minutes via the underpass under Pobediteley Avenue and the bridge to Trinity Suburb. From the Town Hall it’s about 15 minutes on foot. ### Is the Island of Tears worth visiting? As a short stop, yes — it adds ten minutes to a Trinity Suburb walk. For deeper war history, the Great Patriotic War Museum is the better use of an hour. ### How long do you need at the Island of Tears? 20–30 minutes on the island; about an hour together with Trinity Suburb. ### Why is the angel crying? The figure honours soldiers who returned home and later died of their wounds — the guardian angel who couldn’t save them. It’s a fountain, so water runs down its face. ### Who designed the Island of Tears? A team from Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) led by sculptor Yuri Pavlov, whose design won a competition. It opened on 3 August 1996. ### Can I pay with a foreign card in Minsk? Not reliably on the metro: turnstiles take Belkart and its partner networks, and foreign Visa or Mastercard cards have been refused since 2022, per unofficial reports. Carry Belarusian rubles for tokens. ## How we checked The metro token price and payment methods come from the official Minsk Metro website. The memorial has no official page with hours: Tripster lists 9:00–22:00, other guides say year-round or 24/7, so hours are marked as checking. Dates, authors and the chapel details were checked against at least two sources. Casualty figures differ — 771 names on the altars, 789 dead and 12 missing in Wikipedia — so we show both. Guides disagree on the century of the Polotsk church the chapel copies, so we leave it out. An architect named Gradov, sometimes credited, isn’t confirmed by any source; we credit Yuri Pavlov’s team. The refusal of foreign Visa and Mastercard cards on the metro is based on 2022 reports and is unofficial. There is no English Wikipedia article. ## Sources - Russian Wikipedia: Island of Courage and Sorrow; Wikidata Q3746178 - Cyclopedia: Island of Courage and Sorrow — construction timeline and authors - Minsk Tourism information centre: Road of Winners — Ministry of Labour figures on Belarusians in Afghanistan - Minsk Metro: fares from 1 August 2026 and payment methods, 30.10.2026 - Tripster: what makes the Island of Courage and Sorrow notable - Tonkosti: Island of Tears in Minsk - Sputnik8: Island of Courage and Sorrow - In Your Pocket Minsk: Isle of Tears --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.