National Art Museum of Belarus - one of the most interesting museums of Belarus, a museum with a dramatic destiny. Top of the museum's collection began in 1939, when Poland ended the period in the history of Western Belarus, it was annexed by the Soviet Union. January 24, 1939 issued a special decision by the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR in Minsk on the establishment of the State Art Gallery. By exposure, it was decided to allocate fifteen rooms of the Higher Communist School of Agriculture.

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the first gallery director Nicholas Prokopyevich Miholapa were saved priceless works of art and objects from the Bolsheviks looted gentry estates, Orthodox and Catholic churches.

Here, under the protection of the gallery in a matter of months before the war have been collected these treasures. In total, there were 2711 unique exhibits. Before the war the museum was preparing to evacuate, the entire collection has been described and packaged ... and disappeared without a trace. Rather, the works of art were taken by fascist invaders. Unfortunately, still exhibits the collection of the gallery not found.

In 1944 he became director of the museum Elena Vasilyevna Aladova, which began collecting collection from scratch. In the order of the gallery gave a total of four rooms in the House of Unions on the streets of Liberty and those initially seemed empty. It began the painstaking hard work, but thanks to the enthusiasm of the team, gathered around Aladova museum literally risen from the ashes. War-ravaged country is a means to redeem priceless national treasures from private collections. So, it was purchased paintings Kustodiev, V. Polenov, Karl Briullov and Isaak Levitan.

The incredible optimism EV Aladova passed everything. So, the city lay in ruins, Elena got permission to build a magnificent building huge art gallery. At that time the entire collection consisted of only 317 pieces. For the design of the new museum he took a young architect Mikhail Baklanov. Thanks to his efforts on the street. Lenin's for eight years was built a palace - temple of the arts with a massive façade and a triangular pediment, inside which offers a grand marble colonnade.

In 1993 the museum was renamed. It is now called the National Art Museum of Belarus.