The Bessarabska Square ( uk, Бессарабська площа, ''Bessarabs'ka ploscha'') is a square located at the southwest end of

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk ( uk, Хрещатик, ) is the main street of Kyiv, Ukraine. The street has a length of . It stretches from the European Square (northeast) through the Maidan and to Bessarabska Square (southwest) where the Besarabsky Market is ...

, the main thoroughfare 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 ...

, the capital of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It is located in the city's Shevchenkivskyi District (

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

), at the busy intersection of Khreshchatyk,

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukraine, Ukrainian p ...

Boulevard, Velyka Vasylkivska Street, and the Krutyi Descent streets. Until the late 1840s, the square was located on the outskirts of town, where immigrants from

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

in the southern regions of Ukraine would come to sell their products. Nowadays, the Bessarabska Square is one of three squares of the Khreshchatyk street complex, the others being the

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti ( uk, Майдан Незалежності , literally "Independence Square") is the central square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchen ...

and the European Square, located in the street's center and northeastern end, respectively.

Attractions

The Bessarabska Square, named for the large indoor

Besarabsky Market The Besarabsky Market ( uk, Бесарабський ринок, ''Besarabs'kyi rynok''), also referred to as the Besarabka ( uk, Бесарабка), is an indoor market located in the center of Kyiv on the Bessarabska Square at the southwest e ...

(1910–1912) located at its northern end, offers a few attractions: the relatively new office and shopping Mandarin Plaza complex, which is located on the southern end of the square, and the Metrohrad Shopping Complex (built in 2001) located underground, near the

metro station. Kyiv's main monument to

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

was also located on the square on the Taras Shevchenko Boulevard until it was pulled down and destroyed by anti-Government protestors in December 2013. The square is also accessible by two other

Kyiv Metro The Kyiv Metro ( uk, Ки́ївський метрополіте́н, Kyivskyi metropoliten, ) is a rapid transit system in Kyiv that is owned by the Kyiv City Council and operated by the city-owned company Kyivsky Metropoliten''.'' It was initi ...

stations which are located in the square's vicinity, the Palats Sportu () and Ploshcha Lva Tolsoho () stations, respectively.

Former names

Before the Besarabsky Market was built in the early 1910s, the square was known by two different names: * Universytetska Square ( uk, Університетська площа, ''University Square'') during the mid-19th century, as it was located on the route to the

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

from the

Lypky Lypky ( uk, Липки) is a historic neighborhood of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv located in the administrative Pecherskyi District. The name has derived from a lime tree (Lypa). Lypky is the de facto government quarter of Ukraine hosting the buildin ...

neighborhood, *

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmelnytskyi ( Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern ua, Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький; 6 August 1657) was a Ukrainian military commander and ...

Square ( uk, площа Б. Хмельницького) during 1869-1881. A monument dedicated to the

hetman ( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...

was supposed to be built on the square (it was instead erected on the

Sofiiska Square Sophia Square or Sofia Square ( uk, Софійська площа, translit=Sofiiska ploshcha) is a square in the center of Old Kyiv, Ukraine. Located in the Shevchenkivskyi District of Kyiv, the square lies in front of Saint Sophia Cathedral, ...

in the city's upper town in 1888).

References

{{Authority control Squares in Kyiv Khreshchatyk Shevchenkivskyi District, Kyiv