The monument to Yakub Kolas was unveiled in the square named in his honor on November 3, 1972, on the 90th anniversary of the national poet.

Yakub Kolas (Kanstancin Mickievič) is a Belarusian poet, novelist, playwright, critic, publicist, translator, scholar, classical author of the Belarusian literature. He was born in 1882. In a time of the Russian Empire, he fought for the right of Belarusians to learn Belarusian, for which he spent 3 years in a Minsk prison. He collaborated with the first Belarusian newspapers “Naša Dolia” and “Naša Niva”. He wrote the famous poems “A New Land” and “Simon the Musician”. “A New Land” is called the encyclopedia of Belarusian life and is compared to Adam Mickievič’s “Pan Tadeusz”. The famous piasniar died in 1956.

Design work on the improvement of the square and the installation of the monument to Yakub Kolas began in 1970. The project was composed by architects Juryj Hradaŭ, Hieorhij Zaborski and Lieanid Lievin. There was a sculptural composition, which included decorative pools and fountains, in the center of the square.

In the center of the composition, the author of which was the famous sculptor Zair Azhur, is an eight-meter figure of Yakub Kolas sitting on a stone. To the right of it there are the fossilized characters of the story "The Swamp" –  the legendary grandfather Talaš with his grandson Panas. On the left – the heroes of the poem “Simon the Musician”: Simon with his faithful friend Hanka.

Publication date: 17.07.2020.

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