The Kyiv City Duma building ( uk, Будинок Київської думи) housed Kyiv City Duma before

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The building was located on the then Dumskaya Ploschad (now ''

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 ...

'') of the

Khreschatyk 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 ...

street in

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 ...

and stood in the centre of it.

History

On 22 July 1874 the Kyiv mayor (and titular Prince of San-Donato) Pavel Demidov organized festivities to commemorate installation of the new Kyiv City Duma building on project of the Russian architect

Aleksandr Shile Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants li ...

City Duma
Kyiv City Encyclopedia. that since 1834 was located in the former building of the liquidated Kyiv Magistrate (Nazar Sukhota Building, today the Podilskyi District Building of Children Artistry). For the project were allocated 180,000 rubles. The building was finished in 1878 and on 22 January 1878 the building housed its first session of the city duma. In this manner the city administrative center was moved out of the Kyiv

Podil Podil ( uk, Поділ) or the Lower cityIvankin, H., Vortman, D. Podil (ПОДІЛ)'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. is a historic neighborhood in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is located on a floodplain terrace over the Dnieper betwe ...

for the first time since 1490s closer to Pechersk. The house was built with brick and originally had only two floor levels. A statue of

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, the patron of Kyiv, stood on the spire atop the building created by the Kyivan sculptor Yeva Kulikovska (a wife of Kyivan architect Valerian Kulykovskyi). After the building was built the city square at its location was named after it. In 1900 another Russian architect Aleksandr Krivosheyev added another floor level and it became a three story building. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

when the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

took power, the archangel was replaced with a five pointed star. Also in 1919, instead of the city Duma, the building was occupied by the regional executive committee and the regional committee of

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. During

, the building caught fire and was partially damaged by the 1941 Khreschatyk explosions that was staged by the withdrawing Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

troops. The withdrawing Soviet troops also destroyed the city infrastructure and the building was completely burnt down along with many other buildings of

. It was never rebuilt after the war and its remnants were removed.

Gallery

Image:Kiev Duma building postcard.jpg, An early 20th century postcard with a picture of the Duma building and surroundings. Image:Kyiv-city-duma-1941.jpg, The blown up City Duma building and others after the explosions in 1941. Image:Kyiv-Maidan-1941.jpg, The blown up City Duma building and surroundings after the explosions in 1941. File:Maidan Nezalezhnosti 029.jpg, Empty lot in the same location

References

{{coord, 50, 27, 0, N, 30, 31, 27, E, type:landmark_region:UA, display=title Maidan Nezalezhnosti Government buildings completed in 1878 Former buildings and structures of Kyiv History of Kyiv City and town halls in Ukraine Former seats of local government Demolished buildings and structures in Kyiv 1941 disestablishments Khreshchatyk Buildings and structures destroyed during World War II Buildings and structures demolished in 1941

History

Gallery

Further reading

References