Victory Square, Kiev


The Victory Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is a large square in the city, dedicated to victory in World War II. The square is located on the Kiev's main westward thoroughfare being its one of the main transportation hubs.
Located on the opposite side of the Old Kyiv, the square is also one of extreme points of the neighborhood along with Maidan Nezalezhnosti. It is a crossing of several historic streets such as Saksahansky street, Taras Shevchenko boulevard, Zhuliany street, Boulevard-Kudriavets street - it is a beginning of prospect Peremohy - one of the longest and broadest avenues in the city.

History

The square has formed sometime in the mid of the 19th century, when in February 1858 the Russian Governor General of Kiev Illarion Vasilchikov allowed the Kiev Jewish community to conduct trade fairs. From 1869 — 1952 the square has been known as Halych Square being located towards Halychyna. Before the 1950s this area has also been commonly known as Yevbaz, after the Jewish market that used to be there but was dismantled in the end of the 1940s.
The most notable building and one of focal features of the Victory Square is the Kyiv Circus. Previously in place of the circus, there was located the Church of John Chrysostom made out of a cast iron and was destroyed by the Soviet regime in 1934. Among other notable buildings there are a department store "Univermah Ukrayina" and a hotel "Lybid".
The -tall Victory monument-obelisk with the hero star and the "1941" and "1945" markings on its top is situated on the square to commemorate the victory.
One of shops of the Kuznya na Rybalskomu separates the Victory Square from the Vokzalna Square where a train station Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi is located.
The square is served by numerous marshrutkas, trams, buses and trolley-buses.

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