The Isle of Tears is a small island in the Svislach River in the city centre, connected by a footbridge near the Troitsky Predmestye old town area. It holds a memorial chapel and sculptures dedicated to the Belarusian soldiers who died in the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989).
The memorial is quietly devastating. The central chapel is surrounded by bronze figures of grieving mothers and soldiers. At the four corners of the island stand bronze angels with their faces turned away — the guides say they are weeping for the fallen and cannot look at the living. The whole space has an unusual stillness in the middle of the city.
Whatever your views on the political complexities of the Afghan War, this is an honest and moving memorial to the young men who did not come home. It is one of the most human spaces in a city that often feels designed to minimise the individual.