Rosa Luxemburg Square

The University Hill offers a view over Rosa Luxemburg Square. It was laid in the late 17th century and at different times was called Lobna (Place of Sculls), Narodna (People’s), Torgova (Trade), Pavlovska Square. Situated near the Mile Stone, the Place of Sculls used to be a spot where government decrees were read and public punishments took place. This was also the place of the Assumption and Holy Shred Fairs.

The square was surrounded by single- and two-storey commercial houses, the biggest of them being a shop belonging to a merchant called Pavlov. The house hasn’t been preserved, but the building which replaced it now houses a shopping centre called Pavlovsky.

The present name of the square was given to it in 1919 to commemorate Rosa Luxemburg, one of the founders of the German Communist Party. Nearly at that time the square stopped being used as a trading site, and a little later the mile stone was removed, as it impeded the traffic.

In 2001 a monument was erected on the square to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence (sculptured by A. Ridny, designed by N. Spasov). It is a triumphal column crowned by a bronze falcon — the symbol of liberty; a ten-year-old girl standing at the foot of the column is an allegory of a young country.

After the 1950s, the construction in Rosa Luzemburg Square was changed dramatically, though a few interesting buildings were preserved.