[1] The square was designed by Iosif Langbard and was created for conducting rallies and to serve as Minsk's main ceremonial venue during the Soviet times.

The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Belarus and members of the politburo would get on top of a grandstand in front of a statue of Lenin.

President Lukashenko addressed supporters of him on the square hours before tens of thousands of opposition protesters began gathering in the same area.

[3] Lukashenko's son Nikolai was compared to a bodyguard due to him wearing a jacket, white shirt and sunglasses.

[6][7] In 1980, the state funeral of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia Pyotr Masherov took place on the square.