PLACE SVOBODY (ПЛОЩА ПЛОЩА)

With an area of over 100 000 m ², it is, according to the inhabitants, one of the largest in Europe. Its construction dates back to the years 1920-1930 when Kharkiv was the capital of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine. To underline the strength of the new political power, a new city centre, a showcase of socialist realism, was then built. It is surrounded by state buildings. In the centre, the Derzhprom, the first skyscraper built between 1925 and 1929 in the former USSR, houses the Maison de l'Industrie. The building consists of a group of connected buildings between them through passages at different levels. The whole area occupies a surface area of 11 000 m ². Until 2015, Lenin's statue in the classical position with the outstretched arm proudly stood in the middle of the square, but it was destroyed following the events of the Euromaïdan. In the southern part of the square, you can see the University of Kharkiv.