Hello, friends. Now I want to tell you about our small photowalk meet-up at Komarovsky Market. It was a very important for our Belarussian group, because in spite of the small amount of participants it was the first our serious meet-up, which helped us not only to make a lot of photos for the Maps, but to know each other better as well. There was one more reason to visit Komarovsky market namely in this period: Christmas Fair which was announced here for the first time, and of course we all were very curious to know about it in the forefront.
To start I’ll tell you a little about the Komarovsky Market (or we can call it Komarovka) itself. It’s the main food market of Minsk and like any market in any city it can show the life of the city from the inside. It’s one of the main arteries of Minsk. That is why this market is visited not only by residents of nearby areas, but also by different regions dwellers, as well as tourists from other countries, independently or as part of organized groups.
If you like to make your impression of trips in the according of products of local manufacturers or you like to have live communication when buying products - here you are!
Komarovsky market is one of Minsk attractions. There is a huge square with covered shopping malls and the market building itself, which is not inferior in size to the sports arena. All Belarussian products are represented in its ranks: milk, meat and meat products, sausages, lard, bakery and confectionery products, honey, etc. In addition to Belarusian goods there are goods from India, Italy, Georgia, Armenia, Tajikistan, China, Syria …
The quality of products is necessarily checked in the laboratory, which is located on the market. Meat, dairy products from a personal farmstead, mushrooms, honey, plant products pass through it. The goods are checked for nitrates and radionuclides. An organoleptic evaluation of products is also carried out: dirty, frost-bitten, wrinkled and other low-quality products are not allowed.
On a weekday, Komarovka is visited by 50-60 thousand people. And before the big holidays, the flow of customers increases significantly - more than 100 thousand visitors come to buy products and related goods.
Visiting the market from year to year, many Minsk dwellers have chosen “their” sellers on the market - those who always offer the best, correctly calculate and cheer up with a kind word, sometimes such communication between sellers and buyers develops into friendships.
To the right of the main entrance is a sculptural composition around the fountain (it’s a pity the fountain doesn’t work in the winter): a photographer, a lady with a dog, a horse and a sparrow, a cow. At the entrance you are greeted by a bronze figure of a merchant of seeds (her name is Baba Raya).
By the word Komarovka has it’s Instagram page, some posts in which are written on behalf of Baba Raya, and it’s really humorous posts.
Some facts of history:
At the beginning of the 20th century, the place of the main food market in Belarus was occupied by a gloomy marshland called Komarovka (the name comes from the word «комар» - mosquito, because of the huge amounts of these insects here in the old days). This swamp was artificially dried by the beginning of the 1930s and the place took its modern civilized look.
People started trading in Komarovski bazaar back in the pre-war years, almost everything from grain to horse was sold here. Now such trade would be called spontaneous: no formal order, logic or price tags with a detailed description of the goods.
The unique in its architecture indoor pavilion was built in 1980 and now it’s the only such building in Europe.
It is curious that the famous dome of the covered part of Komarovka, which has become a recognizable symbol of the market (and the whole city), was designed on the basis of a shopping center in Chelyabinsk. The outlines of the buildings are common - a huge roof-dome, smoothly descending in four corners. However, there are differences that make our building unique. In particular, there were used light prefabricated concrete panels that are fastened together. Such a large-scale and heavy construction, which has no fulcrum and no visible connections with the earth, struck the imagination of ordinary people.
Tips:
You can try almost everything you want to buy, so you can choose the best products without hurry.
Remember that this is a market, be vigilant and do not let yourself be fooled.
Don’t forget to take large bags with you.
On Wednesdays you can find lovely discounts up to 20% for some products (you should look for yellow signs of participants of the action).
There are free kids room (you should have a passport to leave your child under the supervision of a teacher for an hour).
There are ATMs and currency exchange, control scales, benches, fast food. Almost everywhere you can pay by card.
Working hours are from 09.00 to 19.00 without ceasing (except Monday). Nearest metro station - Plošča Jakuba Kolasa.
Another great feature that the markets can hardly boast: there is free delivery of products when ordering on the market website for an amount of 60 rubles (25.5 Euro) or more.
Here some photos from the Fair.
It’s a pity but it was raining all day long and it wasn’t interesting too much Ăn the open place, so we continued our meeting in the pie-cafe Stolle, where one can taste really delicious pies with tea or coffee.
That’s how the Fair looked in the evening of the other day:
More photos you can see by the link.
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