Lubyanka Square
Coordinates: 55°45′34″N 37°37′37″E / 55.75944°N 37.62694°E
Lubyanskaya Square (Russian: Лубянская площадь, Lubyanskaya ploshchad'), or simply Lubyanka in Moscow lies about 900 metres (980 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 Lubyanitsy district of their native city.
Lubyanka Square is best known for the monumental Lubyanka Building, designed by Aleksandr V. Ivanov 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[update] the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) occupies the building. The square was renamed Dzerzhinsky Square for many years (1926–1990) in honor of the founder of the Soviet security service, Felix Dzerzhinsky. Yevgeny Vuchetich's monumental statue of Dzerzhinsky (nicknamed Iron Felix) was erected in the center of the square in 1958.
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