Minsk. The building of the Mariinsky Gymnasium for women.

       The building of the Mariinsky Gymnasium for women has been preserved in Minsk along Karl Marx Street. The building was built during the Russian Empire in 1879. In 1899, the seventh-grade Mariinsky Girls' Gymnasium began operating. The gymnasium got its name from Empress Maria Feodorovna.

         In 1912, there were 560 female students at the gymnasium. After graduation, graduates had the right to work as home teachers. They could enter Higher Women's courses without exams. Many outstanding female activists graduated from the gymnasium.

         For example, Lidia Ivanovna Rzhetskaya (1899-1977), People's Artist of the BSSR, Belarusian Actress, People's Artist of the USSR, studied here. Vera Nikolaevna Pola (1901-1989), Belarusian actress, People's Artist of Belarus, graduated from the gymnasium. She worked at the National Academic Theater of Ya. Kupala. Irma Petrovna Jaunzem (1897-1975), a Belarusian singer, teacher, Honored Artist of the BSSR, and People's Artist of the RSFSR, also studied at the gymnasium.

       After the revolution in the 1920s and 1930s, the polytechnic worked in the building. The state Art Gallery has been operating here since the 1930s. The building now houses a post office and a communications museum.