Isle of Tears

This aesthetically beautiful and moving

monument in

Minsk

commemorates the Soviet soldiers from

Belarus

who died in the long war with Afghanistan in the 1970s. At the base are several huge statues depicting weeping or stoical women, who express the pain and sadness of the mothers, sisters, and wives of their generation. It’s a very striking memorial, which benefits from its picturesque location on a small island in the river Svislach.