Constitution Square ( uk, Площа Конституції, Ploshcha Konstytutsii) is a square restricted to pedestrians only and located in the very center of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

city, Pechersk neighborhood of the

Pechersk Raion Pecherskyi District ( uk, Печерський район) is an urban district of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It lies within the eponymous historical neighborhood, while also including some other historical areas. The Pechersk ( uk, Пече� ...

Constitution Square

The square is elongated stretching from vulytsia Mykhaila Hrushevskoho (Hrushevsky Street) towards the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine ...

's sloping banks. On a northern side of the square is located an ensemble of two government buildings consisting of

Verkhovna Rada building The Verkhovna Rada building ( uk, Будинок Верховної Ради, romanized: ''Budynok Verkhovnoi Rady'') is located in the center of Kyiv, the Pecherskyi District. The building is located at the Constitution Square. It is the plac ...

and

Mariinskyi Palace The Mariinskyi Palace ( uk, Маріїнський палац, ''Mariinskyi palats'') is the official ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine. The Elizabethan baroque palace is sited on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv, Ukrai ...

, while on its southern side is located

Mariinskyi Park Mariinskyi Park ( uk, Маріїнський парк, ''Mariyins'kyi park'') is a park located in Pechersk neighborhood in front of the Supreme Council of Ukraine ( Constitution Square), Hrushevsky Street, and Park Road. The park is also a S ...

. Just pass the Palace, the Constitution Square ends. The square was known since building of the Palace back in 1750. Until 1854 here were located administrative buildings, taking place military parades, training, etc. Already in 1847 next to it was established

. In 1869 appears the first recorded name for the square - Dvortsovskaya ploshchad (Palace Square). Sometime in 1930s the square changed its name to TsVK USSR Square (after the

Central Executive Committee of Ukraine All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee ( uk, italic=yes, Всеукраїнський центральний виконавчий комітет) was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative ...

), while already in 1940 it was renamed into the October Square. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was known as the Verkhovna Rada Square. And finally in 1977 the square reached its

apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term h ...

in naming as the Soviet Square. After the

fall of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the authorities were not in a hurry to get rid of such name. It was not until 2012 when the square was officially and legally renamed to its current name, the Constitution Square.On amendments to the decision of Kyiv city council on June 20, 2002
Decision of city council. April 26, 2012.

Constitution Square

References

Further reading