Adam Mickevič, Bronze memorial statue in central Minsk, Belarus

The Adam Mickiewicz memorial depicts the writer standing in a contemplative pose atop a granite pedestal that bears inscriptions in multiple languages. This bronze figure occupies a central location in Minsk, surrounded by planted areas and open space.

The initiative for the monument came from the Polish diaspora in Belarus, which first proposed a 19th-century wall bust of the poet; because it was a wall sculpture, it could not be placed outdoors. A Ministry of Culture competition drew eight author teams, and the project by sculptor Andrei Zaspitsky and Alexander Finsky, with architect Georgy Fedorov, won. The three-metre bronze was unveiled on 6 October 2003 in the presence of Gennady Novitsky and Polish Senate Marshal Longin Pastusiak.

The square around the statue is named after the poet, and the monument was initiated by the Polish diaspora in Belarus. At the 2003 unveiling, Poland's Senate Marshal Longin Pastusiak said Mickiewicz was the greatest European and that the monument should remind Belarusians and Poles of their unity and brotherhood.

The monument stands in the Adam Mickiewicz square on the City Rampart, near the crossing of Nyamiha and Ramanauskaya Slabada streets, in Minsk's Maskouski district. The bronze figure rises three metres on its pedestal, so it can be viewed from all sides on foot. The square is open ground with no gate or ticket office.

The Polish diaspora in Belarus initiated the monument, but the first proposal was a 19th-century wall-mounted bust with a cut-off back, impossible to place outdoors. A Ministry of Culture competition drew eight author teams; the winning design by Andrei Zaspitsky and Alexander Finsky replaced the bust with a full figure of Mickiewicz as a romantic returning home after long travels.