Page 32 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

officially declared itself as an independent state
(Korosteleva et al. 2003). With the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, Minsk witnessed several
steps in line with nation-building and decom-
munisation politics (Korosteleva et al. 2003).
The square, once known as Lenin Square, was
renamed Independence Square, and the Soviet
symbol was removed from the façade of the par-
liament. However, the statue still stands, repre-
senting the government’s identity politics, which
emerged as a realignment with communist ideol-
ogies, also known as ideological recycling (Bekus
32 2017). The Belarusian government, by maintain-
ing the Lenin statue in front of its parliament
building, positions itself as the true inheritor of
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
Soviet heritage.
Yerevan and the 2020 Protests – November/ Figure 5: The National Assembly Building in Yerevan,
December 2020 formerly known as the Central Committee of the Com-
The National Assembly Building in Yerevan, for- munist Party of Armenia, axonometric view, authors.
merly known as the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Armenia, was constructed and Michikyan 2020). The Lenin Square (to-
by the chief architect Mark Grigoryan between day’s Republic Square) features several govern-
1948 and 1950 (Figure 5). It is situated at the cen- mental buildings, monumental structures, and
tre of the city, on one of the hills, towards the a Lenin statue at its centre, where Baghramyan
north-western boundary of the old town. This Avenue connects the parliament building to the
building on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue is an old town. This architectural solution resulted in
iconic example of Soviet Armenian architecture, crowds, parades, and demonstrations being held
serving as a testament to the city’s history and in what was once called Lenin Square, with only
culture (National Assembly of the Republic of occasional extensions to the area of the parlia-
Armenia n.d.). Even though it occupies a central ment building.
place in daily life both in the Soviet period and in The Artsakh Movement, a massive pro-
the Republican era and is listed as National Her- test that took place against the Nagorno-Kara-
itage, the lack of a square in front of it differenti- bakh War, provides an interesting case to ex-
ates the experience of the building’s public space amine how crowds gathered in the former
if compared to the other cases. In Soviet times, Lenin Square back in 1991 as it transformed the
the exterior space was heavily policed, with gat- square’s meaning from a protected institution-
ed control of its spectacular garden and only a al space to ‘a space of protest and struggle’ (Ver-
limited space for public use in the area adjacent mishyan and Michikyan 2020). This square lat-
to the avenue (National Assembly of the Repub- er became the hub for the liberation movement.
lic of Armenia n.d.). In 1924, Tamanyan, the ar- For a second time in 2020, people rallied in the
chitect in charge of the urban planning project, Republic Square reaching to the front of the Na-
chose to place the Lenin Square and the Theat- tional Assembly Building to protest against the
rical Square in a plain in the old town, reserv- government’s actions during the second Na-
ing the area called Northern Avenue for Gov- gorno-Karabakh War. From 10 November to
ernmental purposes and facilities (Vermishyan 25 December, mobs in Yerevan and all over