The monument to the Ukrainian writer and poet Taras Shevchenko was unveiled during the Days of Kiev in Minsk on April 22, 2002. The unveiling of the monument was also timed to the Year of Taras Shevchenko which was held in Belarus in 2002.

The monument is located close to the Ukrainian Embassy in Stepanovsky Park at the intersection of Kiselyov and Starovilensky Streets. Even at the opening of the Embassy of the Ukraine in Belarus in 1992, there was a plan to erect in this Park a monument to great Kobzar which was then embodied in the monument.

The unveiling of the monument is significant because the works of Taras Shevchenko, the famous Ukranian literary man, academic artist, ethnographer and revolutionary democrat, are well known and loved in Belarus. A lot of streets are named after him in Belarusians cities and towns, but the monument of this scale was erected for the first time. It was the first monument to Taras Shevchenko in Belarus and today it is the only whole-length monument of Kobzar in our country.

The Ukraine traditionally gives friendly States sculptures of the founder of the Ukrainian language and literature. After all, in his homeland Taras Shevchenko played a huge role in the development of Ukrainian culture, and in the formation of the Ukrainian people as a united nation.

The similar official present of Kiev to Minsk says about the strong friendship and sincere relations between the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. That is why the monument itself is a symbol of this friendship.

Minsk became one of the capitals in the world where the monument to Taras Shevchenko was erected outside the Ukraine. Similar monuments have already erected not only in Moscow, Warsaw, Saint-Petersburg, but also in Washington, Sydney, Ashgabat, Tashkent, Havana...

The creator of the monument was the sculptor, distinguished artist of the Ukraine Victor Lipovka. From the Belarusian side the leading Minsk architects Victor Nikitin and Victor Kramarenko executed an architectural binding of the monument to the terrain.  

The monument 4 meters height is a bronze figure of Taras Shevchenko on a low pedestal. The figure itself is placed on a round pink base made of granite. The whole composition is supplemented with long gentle steps around the base. Taras Shevchenko stands with one foot on a stone, the other stands on the pedestal.

The sculptor depicted Taras Shevchenko in years and some reverie. It must be assumed that he is fully in his thoughts about literature, about art, about the future of the Ukrainian people.

According to critics the sculptor managed to avoid stereotyped nature creating the image of Taras Shevchenko.

The compositional center of the park is the monument itself, located on a little cobbled square, to which lead two wide paths with pink paving tiles, in the same colour as the pedestal of the monument. Along the paths there are decorative benches.

The monument in the park blends completely with the appearance of the park and looks very harmonious. The park is fenced with a decorative metal grille into the perimeter. Original lamps of a round shape support the mood of silence and comfort. Close to the monument there is a pump room with potable artesian water. It is a present of Kiev authorities as well. And no wonder that many call this park "a small replica of Shevchenko Park in Kiev".

The monument to Taras Shevchenko became a new sight at once and attracts attention of citizens and tourists resting in Minsk.