Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Ukrainian: Майдан Незалежності, literally: Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street. The square was known under many different names but it became prominent as simply the Maidan due to the political events that took place there in the recent years after the Ukrainian accession to independence.
"Maidan" literally translates from Ukrainian as square; coming from the Persian word for "sqaure" or "plaza." It received its current name in 1991 in the aftermath of the Ukrainian accession to independence. Nezalezhnist (independence) commemorates the Ukrainian independence achieved in 1991 in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Throughout its history the square was called by several different names. The area was known since the time of Kievan Rus', but it was not populated or developed until the 18th century, when stone-made fortified walls were constructed. The walls known as Pecherski Gates stood until 1833. Until the late 18th century – early 19th century, the area was a vacant ground known as Goat Swamp (Kozyne Boloto).
In the 1830s, the first wooden dwellings were built, and in the 1850s, stone-made buildings appeared. The most famous Ukrainian writer, Taras Shevchenko was living in that area in 1859, in a building between Small Zhytomyrska and Mykhailivska streets.
The development rapidly intensified after the mid-19th century when the territory gradually found itself in the commercial centre of Kiev that boomed immensely during the Russian Industrial Revolution becoming the third most important city of the Russian Empire.
Until 1871 it was called the Khreschatyk Square; it was a location of the market and folk entertainment. In 1876 the Kiev City Duma building constructed in the square gave the square a new name, Duma Square.
In 1894 the line of the Kiev tram, the first electric tram in the Russian Empire started in 1892, reached the square.
In 1913 in the front of the City Duma, a monument of Pyotr Stolypin (who was assassinated in Kiev in 1911) was constructed, which stood there until 1917.
In 1919 the square was renamed to the Radyanska (Soviet) Square. From 1935 it was called the Kalinin Square to Mikhail Kalinin, the first chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In World War II the square was along with almost every building in the centre of Kiev as they were all mined with explosives by the retreating Red Army. In September 1941, after German troops occupied the city, explosions were set off by radio-controlled fuses from over 400 km away. Such unprecedented demolition of the centre of Kiev made this the first operation in history where long-distance radio-controlled explosions were used for military purposes. It caused panic and brought heavy casualties among both the occupying forces and the city's remaining civilian population.
During the first years after the war, the square was completely rebuilt from scratch. It was architecturally integrated with the newly constructed Khreschatyk in the typical for the time neo-classical Stalinist architecture. The newly constructed Kiev Central Post Office and Trade-Union House with its high-rise clock located on the square to this day became some very well known and frequently pictured views of the center of the city.
In 1976-77, as a part of metro construction, much of the square was again rebuilt and it was renamed to the October Revolution Square (Ploshcha Zhovtnevoyi revolyutsii). During the reconstruction, the massive cubist monument to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution was put up as was the complex ensemble of fountains.
After Ukraine's accession to independence in 1991, the square was given its current name. The competing proposal of Liberty Square (Ploshcha Svobody) was raised at the time as well as in the years to follow, but the current name commemorating the Ukrainian independence is now firmly associated with the square (see the section below).
In 2001, as the square was the major center of the "Ukraine without Kuchma" mass protest campaign, the new extensive construction of the area was abruptly ordered by that time's Kiev mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko. The square fenced off for construction became inaccessible for the protesters and many observers claimed that the main goal of the project ordered by the city mayor was to disrupt the protests, especially since similar tactics was used by local authorities throughout Ukraine.
Following the construction, the old familiar look of the square, with its many fountains, was significantly altered and the public reaction to the new look of the square was initially mixed. However, by now the square's monument to Kyi, Schek and Khoryv - the legendary founders of Kiev, the folklore hero Cossack Mamay, the city's historic protector Archangel Michael as well as a more modern invention, the protecting goddess Berehynia, and the many glass domes are easily recognisable parts of the modern city centre.
A mostly underground shopping mall, the Globe, was built under Maidan Nezalezhnosti to replace the old and shabby giant underpass formerly dubbed by Kievans as Truba (the Tube).
Future developments of the square include the demolition of the old "Ukrayina" hotel (formerly hotel "Moskva"), and building a new 68-floor building instead.
As the central Kiev square, following the end of Soviet era the Maidan has been the centre of public political activity. In the autumn of 1990, students' protests and hunger strikes in the Maidan resulted in the resignation of the Ukrainian Prime-Minister Vitaliy Masol.
In the 2000s the biggest political protests in Ukraine, such as the Ukraine without Kuchma campaign and the Orange Revolution took place in this square. During the Orange Revolution in late 2004, Maidan Nezalezhnosti received global media coverage, as hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in the square and nearby streets, and pitched tents for several weeks, enduring the cold and snow. The protests against electoral fraud resulted in an additional round of presidential elections being ordered by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which were won by the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.
Following his election as the President of Ukraine, and after taking the official oath in the parliament, Yushchenko took a public oath at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in front of his numerous supporters.
After the Orange Revolution, Maidan Nezalezhnosti continues to attract political protesters, but no event has ever approached the scale of the Orange protests.
