Postcard BY-1439758

Yakub Kolas Square (Minsk, Republic of Belarus)
In the 15th cent., there was no square but a monastic cathedral which has its own legend. One night, two persons fought over a chest of gold, which one of them had found under a stone in the yard. Both of them drowned in the marsh in the forest behind the cathedral. Since then, people called the marsh Komarovka, after the name of one of the guys. The village under the same name appeared there, which later became part of the town. At the beginning of the 20th cent., Komarovka was the shabbiest suburban area, where poor craftsman lived. In 1920, the marsh was drained and the former location of the legendary village was renamed into the square of Yakub Kolas, the famous Belarusian poet.