Freedom Square, Kharkiv

Ploshcha Svobody, Kharkiv

Freedom Square (Ukrainian: Площа Свободи, Plóshcha Svobodý; Russian: Площадь Свободы, Plóshchad' Svobódy) in Kharkiv is the 6-th largest city-centre square in Europe.

Originally named (1926–1996) Dzerzhinsky Square after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police (the Cheka, precursor to the KGB). Since the independence of Ukraine in 1991 it was named as Freedom Square. During the brief German occupation the name of the square changed twice: in 1942 the square carried name of German Army, and in 1943 - Leibstandard SS Square. A monumental statue of Lenin was erected in 1964 and continues to dominate the square.

The main part of the square is limited to the west by the statue of Lenin, to the east by Sumska street, to the north by the hotel Kharkiv and to the south by Shevchenko park. It is approximately 690–750 metres long and 96–125 metres wide. The complete square is approximately 11.6 ha or 11.9 ha^{[citation needed]}. An interesting landmark of the square is the Derzhprom building, one of the prime examples of Constructivist architecture. The main photograph in this article shows half of the Square area, only the circular neighbouring park on the north-western edge. The square proper begins at the large statue of Lenin, seen in the lower right corner, casting a long shadow which points into the Square.

Queen + Paul Rodgers kicked off their Rock the Cosmos Tour at Freedom Square on September 12, 2008 & gathered 350,000 audience members, the show was recorded for a DVD release, entitled Live in Ukraine, which was released on June 15, 2009.

New Year, 2009

External links

• Freedom Square events
• Google Inc. Google Maps – Freedom Square, Kharkiv (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://maps.google.com/maps?sll=50.430502,36.427402&sspn=0.049645,0.1157&t=k&om=0&output=embed&ll=50.005615,36.229284&spn=0.003131,0.007231. Retrieved {{{accessdate}}}.