Archival photos of what Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) looked like more than 100 years ago were released online. This place had another name - Duma Square, because the city Duma (City Council) was located here.
The unique photos were published on the page "Spraga: it is interesting in Kyiv" in Facebook.
In the published photos you can see the buildings, unfortunately, not survived to these days.
The photos are silent witnesses of the incredible beauty of old Kyiv, which no longer exists - the historical center of the capital was destroyed by time and wars.
"This is how the modern Maidan looked like at the beginning of the XX century. Then the square was called Dumska, in honor of the building of the City Council located there," - stated in the message.
Independence Square is the central square of Kyiv. Until the end of the X century, this place, like the entirety of today's Khreshchatyk, was called Perevysyshche and was a swamp. There was a Lyadsky Gate leading to the Upper Town where Sofiyska Street now begins. In the late XVIII and early XIX centuries, there was a wasteland, the so-called Goat Swamp. It was approached by defensive ramparts, at the foot of which was built a dam with a water mill.
Earlier, Apostrophe wrote about one of the oldest residential buildings in Kyiv.