Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Independence Square

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Ukrainian)
View of Maidan Nezalezhnosti from Khreshchatyk Street
Location	Kiev, Ukraine

Coordinates: 50°27′0″N 30°31′27″E / 50.45000°N 30.52417°E / 50.45000; 30.52417

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Ukrainian: Майдан Незалежності [maɪ̯dˈan nezal'ɛʒnosci], literally: Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square has been known under many different names, but often it is called simply Maidan ("square").

In the 19th century, the square contained buildings of the city council and noble assembly.

Since the start of Ukraine's independence movement in 1990, the square has been the traditional place for political rallies, including four large-scale radical protest campaigns: the 1989 student "Revolution on Granite", the 2001 "Ukraine without Kuchma", the 2004 Orange Revolution, and the 2013–14 Euromaidan. Maidan is also a regular site for non-political displays and events.

The square received its current name Майдан Незалежності Majdan Nezaležnosti "Independence Square" in 1991 in the aftermath of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine and the collapse of the Soviet Union. is a Ukrainian word for "square, open space", ultimately from Arabic language ميدان maydān, via Turco-Persian transmission, Persian ميدان meydan meaning "field, park, open space, square". The Arabic word originally meant "horse-racing ground; hippodrome" (c.f. Lane's Arabic dictionary).