Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Maidan Nezalezhnosti after renovation in 2002.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti as seen from the Hotel Ukraina (2005)

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (, literally: Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, located on the Khreschatyk Street. "Maidan" literally translates from Ukrainian as square; this word originally came from Persian.

In the contemporary history, Maidan Nezalezhnosti was heavily demolished during WWII and was rebuilt following the end of the war.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti was completely rebuilt in 2002 under Kyiv mayor, Oleksandr Omelchenko. The old look of the square with its many fountains was replaced by a new, more modernist look with bronze compositions featuring the statues of legendary founders of Kiev Kiy, Schek, Horiv and Lybid, folklore hero Cossack Mamay, the city's protector Archangel Michael, Beregynia and glass domes. A mostly underground shopping mall, the Globe, was built under Maidan Nezalezhnosti, part of a huge new underground market complex built under the city center.

A plan of further development. (photomontage)

The further development of the square includes the demolition of the old "Ukraine" hotel, and building a new 68-floor building instead.

Center of public political activity

Maidan Nezalezhnosti during the Orange Revolution (2004)

As the central Kiev square, following the end of Soviet era, the maidan has been the center of public political activity. In fall of 1990 student's protests and hunger-strike on maidan resulted in the resignation of the Ukrainian Prime-Minister Vitaliy Masol.

In 2000s the biggest political protests in Ukraine, such as the 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 falsifications have resulted in the additional round of presidential elections being ordered by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which was won by the opposition candidate, Victor Yuschenko.

Following his election as President of Ukraine, and after taking the official oath in the parliament, Victor Yuschenko 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 by far reached the scale of the Orange protests.