Lubyanka Square
{{Short description|Public open space in central Moscow}}
{{Infobox street
| name = Lubyanka Square
| native_name ={{native name|ru|Лубянская площадь}}
| image = Lubyanka Square1.jpg
| caption = FSB headquarters and Central Children's Store in Lubyanka Square
|image_size = 320 px
| postal_code = 101000
| length_km =
| length_ref =
| location = Moscow
{{nowrap|Central Administrative Okrug}}
Tverskoy District
| metro = {{MOSMETRO-bull|1}} Lubyanka
| coordinates = {{Coord|55|45|34|N|37|37|37|E}}
}}
Lubyanskaya Square ({{Langx|ru|Лубянская площадь}}, Lubyanskaya ploshchad'), or simply Lubyanka in Moscow lies about {{convert|900|m|yd}} north-east of Red Square. History first records its name in 1480, when Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow, who had conquered Novgorod in 1471, settled many Novgorodians in the area. They built the church of St Sophia, modelled after St Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, and called the area Lubyanka after the Lubyanitsa street of their native city.
Name
The square was renamed Dzerzhinsky Square for many years (1926–1990) in honor of the founder of the Soviet security service Felix Dzerzhinsky.
Square center
A fountain used to stand in front of the building, at the center of the Lubyanka Square. In 1958, the fountain at the center of the Lubyanka Square was replaced by an 11-ton statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky ("Iron Felix"), founder of the Cheka, made by Yevgeny Vuchetich.{{Cite web|last1=RIR|last2=Romendik|first2=Dmitriy|date=2014-02-11|title=The dark history of Lubyanka|url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/2014/02/11/the_dark_history_of_lubyanka_32985|access-date=2020-08-09|website=www.rbth.com|language=en-US}}
In 2014, Jacques von Polier designed the Raketa Monumental which is largest watch mechanism in the world. It is currently installed at the square.https://web.archive.org/web/20150721124726/http://en.hals-development.ru/news/2014/07/22/worlds-biggest-clock-to-be-installed-in-centralny-, https://www.buro247.com/me/lifestyle/news/moscow-giant-clockwork-raketa.html, http://www.njt.ru/en/news/19129/
On October 30, 1990, the Memorial organization erected the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to the victims of the Gulag, a simple stone from the Solovki prison camp in the White Sea. In 1991 the statue of Dzerzhinsky was removed by liberal protesters following the failure of the coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev, and the square's original name was officially restored.
Lubyanka Building
Lubyanka Square is best known for the monumental Lubyanka Building, designed by {{Interlanguage link multi|Aleksandr V. Ivanov|ru|3=Иванов, Александр Васильевич (архитектор)}} and constructed from 1897 to 1898. Originally built for the insurance company Rossiya, it later became better known for housing the headquarters of the KGB in its various incarnations. {{As of | 2016}} the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) occupies the building.
Detsky Mir
Opposite the FSB building stands the massive Central Children's Store, known by its historical name of Detsky Mir ({{langx|ru|Де́тский мир}}, "Children World"), Europe's largest children's store, built between 1953 and 1957,{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Dan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9euSbo6q3MC|title=The Rough Guide to Moscow|date=2001|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-85828-700-3|language=en}} and fully restored in 2014. It hosts in its main atrium the world's largest mechanical clock movement: Raketa Monumental.{{cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f80c83fe-d3c8-11e4-a9d3-00144feab7de.html#axzz3i10ZWja9 |title=Do not advertise a past dark with pain |work=The Financial Times |date=26 March 2015 |access-date=3 September 2015|last1=Weaver |first1=Courtney }}{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-31/hamleys-moscow-store-transcends-toy-retailer-s-london-flagship|title= Hamleys Moscow Store Transcends Toy Retailer's London Flagship|author= Ilya Khrennikov |date=31 March 2015 |work=Bloomberg |access-date=3 September 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.raketa.com/mehanicheskie-chasyi-v-tsdm-na-lubyanke/ |title=Механические часы В ЦДМ на Лубянке производства ПЧЗ "Ракета" - Русские часы: Ракета / Russian Watches: Raketa |work=Raketa.com |access-date=3 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905212338/http://www.raketa.com/mehanicheskie-chasyi-v-tsdm-na-lubyanke/ |archive-date=5 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}
Metro
The Moscow Metro station Lubyanka operates under Lubyanka Square.
Gallery
Image:Lubyanka-ca1910.jpg|Lubyanka Square in the early 1900s
Image:RIAN archive 11720 Dzerzhinsky Square.jpg|Dzerzhinsky Square in 1966, with the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky
Image:KGB-Lubyanka-1983.jpg|KGB building in 1983
Image:Loubianka square memorial.jpg|The Solovetsky Stone monument
Image:Lubyanka CDM view from Panoramic view point 05-2015 img01.jpg|A less common view
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}