Bolotnaya Square (, ''Bolotnaya ploshchad'') is a square in the center of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, in

Yakimanka District Yakimanka District () is a administrative divisions of Moscow, district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: It is named after the former church of Saint Joachim and Sain ...

, south of the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

, between the

Moskva River The Moskva (, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river that flows through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through central Moscow. About southeast of Moscow, at the cit ...

(north) and the

Vodootvodny Canal Vodootvodny Canal () is a 4 kilometre long, 30-60 metre wide canal in downtown Moscow, Russia. It was built in the 1780s on the old Stream bed, riverbed of the Moskva River to control floods and support shipping. Canal construction created an Is ...

(south). The square is bounded by Bolotnaya Embankment of the canal to the south, by Serafimovicha Street and the House on the Embankment to the west, and by Bolotnaya Street to the north and to the east. The square had the name of Repin Square, commemorating Russian artist

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

, between 1962 and 1994. The square is built as a pedestrian open space.

History

The name of the area, '' Boloto'' (literally meaning ''the marsh''), was known since the 14th century, when it was located in the meadows on the low bank of the Moscow River and frequently flooded. It belonged to the district of

Zamoskvorechye Zamoskvorechye District () is a district of the Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. It has a population of up from The district contains the eastern half of the historical Zamoskvorechye District, its western ...

, south of the river, and became an urban area much later than the left bank of the river, where the Kremlin is located. The square was frequently used for public executions, notably, the famous rebel

Stepan Razin Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (, ; c. 1630 – ), known as Stenka Razin ( ), was a Don Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia in 1670–1671. Early life Razin's father, Timofey Ra ...

in 1671 and

Yemelyan Pugachev Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (also spelled Pugachyov; ; ) was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks and the leader of the Pugachev's Rebellion, a major popular uprising in the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great. The son of a Do ...

, a leader of a peasant rebellion, who was executed there in 1775. It was also the last public execution in the square. The area was flooded on a regular basis until the 1780s, when the Vodootvodny Canal was dug to normalize the situation. In the 19th century, the area was built up by the addition houses and

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s of local merchants, some of which are still intact. In 1958, the monument to Ilya Repin was built in the center of the square. In 1962, the square was renamed Repin Square. In 1994, together with other streets and squares of the historical center of Moscow, it was renamed back to Bolotnaya Square. In 2001, the sculpture group of Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices by

Mihail Chemiakin Mihail Mikhailovich Chemiakin or Shemyakin (; born 4 May 1943) is a Russian-American painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the nonconformist art tradition of St. Petersburg. Early life Chemia ...

was unveiled on the square. On 10 December 2011 several dozens of thousands protesters held a rally in the framework of

2011 Russian protests Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

. This was the biggest rally in Moscow since the 1990s.

Gallery

File:Fountain on Bolotnaya Square.JPG, Repin Fountain File:Bolotnaya-wiki-2.jpg, Protesters around the Repin monument during the

References

{{reflist

External links

About the Bolotnaya Square
(in English) Squares in Moscow