RUINS OF BELARUS - PhMuseum

This book is part of the visual history of 20th-century Belarus. It is devoted to the fate of the country’s architectural heritage, destroyed over centuries by wars, neglect, and damaging state policies.

Its pages feature castles, Orthodox churches and synagogues, mosques and town halls – buildings that have fallen into ruin, been saved, or disappeared forever. The photographs have been from dozens of sources, both public and private. People are present alongside buildings. In this way, the photographs tell a story about the fragility of the world, where yesterday’s unshakable walls now lie at the feet of someone passing by. This publication is an invitation to a journey where the distraction has become one of the defining features of Belarusian culture.

The primary focus when selecting materials for the Ruins of Belarus was on photographs from private family photo archives. That is, even though the book is dedicated to ruined buildings, the main narrative is still built around people and their stories. In this sense, the book not only reveals the geography of ruins but also the geography of memory.