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Photo: Konstantin Brizhnichenko, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
It is the 6th largest city-centre square in Europe. Originally named (1926–1996) Dzerzhinsky Square after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police (the Cheka, precursor to the KGB). Since 1991 it has been named Freedom Square. During the brief German occupation, it was named for the German Army in 1942, and in 1943 it was renamed Leibstandard SS Square. The square used to be bordered to the west by the statue of Lenin, but it was removed in September 2014; to the east by Sumska street; to the north by the hotel Kharkiv; and to the south by Shevchenko park. It is approximately 720 metres long and 105 metres wide. An interesting landmark of the square is the Derzhprom building, one of the prime examples of Constructivist architecture. The Queen + Paul Rodgers kicked off their Rock the Cosmos Tour at Freedom Square on September 12, 2008 and gathered an audience of 350,000.
Freedom Square is the largest city square in Kharkiv, Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe. The square has two parts: round and rectangular. Three prominent Soviet-era landmarks surround the former section: Derzhprom, the House of Projects, and the House of Cooperation. Numerous protests, parades, and other social events have taken place on Freedom Square.
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There used to be a large statue of Lenin here, but in September 2014, it was toppled by protesters given its significance as a symbol of Soviet occupation. Because of Ukrainian decommunization laws it will not be rebuilt and there are plans for a new alternative centre monument. In its place there is a memorial to soldiers from Kharkiv killed in action in the Donbas War.
Памятник футбольному мячу
On the pedestal of black granite on the initiative of the Kharkiv FC Metalist a monument soccer ball.
Галерея АВЭК
A leading non-governmental exhibition area of Kharkiv. Yearly visited by a million people. In the gallery, "AVEC" repeatedly exhibited their work the best masters of Kharkiv. A special place is occupied by the project "Intercultural Dialogue".
Дом Государственной промышленности (Госпром)
About the Gosprom complex, F. Dzerzhinskogo was the idea, becoming the kernel of new administrative center of Kharkiv, the capital of Ukraine. It was the first height reinforce-concrete building in the USSR. The real-estate of apartments makes 6 ha. Building was planned by Leningrad architects in fashionable and front-rank then style of constructivism. Building was complete in record terms - for 3 years. In 1934 the Advice of Folk Commissars of Ukraine took place here. In 1955 got the first in the USSR television tower in 45 m high. Now regional authorities, offices of great number of firms, take place in building. At No.5 entrance is a museum of about Gosprom.
Городской сад им. Т.Г.Шевченко
Garden Shevchenko joins one of the oldest streets in the city with the largest area in Europe. More than 200 years ago this area was the outskirts of Kharkiv. The garden was laid out in 1804. Here was an existing natural oak grove. On the upper terrace is a landscape park, at the bottom will find a botanical garden.
Музей природы, Музей археології та етнографії Слобідської України
In 23 halls, 4,000 m², more than 250,000 artifacts can see the collection of archaeological finds relating to the Bronze Age, the Scythian period, antiquity, chernyakhivska Saltov and cultures, as well as items collected during ethnographic expeditions in Sloboda Region (around Kharkiv). There are stuffed animals and carcasses, skulls, skeletons, eggs, birds, wet and dry preparations of various animals, insects, specimens of rocks and minerals, fossils and skeletons, plaster casts, plaster casts of extinct animals. At the Kharkiv National University. In 1807 the university was created by Cabinet of Antiquities, in that year received the artifacts from Olbia and Voronezh. The collection is enriched slowly and sporadically, mostly through donations. Excavations carried out at this time findings of these expeditions, as well as from private collections of antiquities were presented, the majority of these items went to the Museum of Fine Arts and Antiquities. This collection based the establishing in 1919, the Archaeological Museum. A collection of the Archaeological Museum has grown to nearly 200,000 exhibits. The museum and numismatic collection contain about 40,000 coins and medals.