Lubyanka Square

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. In 2014, Jacques von Polier designed the Raketa Monumental which is largest watch mechanism in the world. It is currently installed at the square.

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 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. 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 (, "Children World"), Europe's largest children's store, built between 1953 and 1957, and fully restored in 2014. It hosts in its main atrium the world's largest mechanical clock movement: Raketa Monumental.

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

References

1. (2014-02-11). "The dark history of Lubyanka".
2. 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/
3. Richardson, Dan. (2001). "The Rough Guide to Moscow". Rough Guides.
4. (26 March 2015). "Do not advertise a past dark with pain". The [[Financial Times]].
5. Ilya Khrennikov. (31 March 2015). "Hamleys Moscow Store Transcends Toy Retailer's London Flagship". [[Bloomberg L.P..
6. "Механические часы В ЦДМ на Лубянке производства ПЧЗ "Ракета" - Русские часы: Ракета / Russian Watches: Raketa". Raketa.com.