Lenin Square, Tver, Square in Tver, Russia
Lenin Square is an octagonal square in central Tver, about 120–130 m long with sides of roughly 50 m, formed where Sovetskaya Street meets the pedestrian Trekhsvyatskaya Street. Four buildings frame its eight corners, among them the 1783 former governor's offices at No. 11 and the theatre building at No. 32. A Lenin monument and a mass grave of 1941–1942 soldiers stand on the square.
The octagonal square was laid out under Pyotr Nikitin's 1767 town plan, after the 1763 fire, as one of Tver's three central squares. It was called Pravda Square only from 1919 to 1935, when it received Lenin's name. Its four corner buildings, including the 1783 governor's offices, were damaged in 1941 and later restored.
The square's names record its past: Fountain Square referred to a planned fountain and pool never built, Monumental Square to a monument to Catherine II erected in 1777, and from 1919 to 1935 it was Pravda Square, after the newspaper. A mass grave of Soviet soldiers who died liberating the Kalinin region in 1941–1942 lies on the square.
The square sits at the crossing of Sovetskaya Street, Tver's main axis, and the pedestrian Trekhsvyatnaya Street. Four buildings frame its eight corners, so orientation is easy: the city administration is at No. 11, the Bank of Russia at No. 13, the children's and youth theatre at No. 32 and the city duma at No. 34. The square measures about 120–130 metres across.
The square's octagonal plan was copied from Amalienborg Square in Copenhagen, built in 1749. Tver's version, laid out by architect P. R. Nikitin after the 1763 fire, was among the first octagonal squares in provincial Russia and was later reproduced in Yegoryevsk, Mikhailov, Spassk and Chern.
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