Minin and Pozharsky Square

Minin and Pozharsky Square

Площадь Минина и Пожарского
View of the square in 2016
Location within Central Nizhny Novgorod
Former name(s)	Annunciation Soviet
Namesake	Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky
Maintained by	City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod
Location	Nizhegorodsky District, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Postal code	603001
Coordinates	56°19′37″N 44°00′21″E / 56.326944°N 44.005833°E / 56.326944; 44.005833
North	Upper Volga embankment
East	The Kremlin
South	Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, Pozharsky streets and Zelensky Descent
West	Minin, Ulyanov, Varvarskaya, Alexeevskaya streets
Construction
Completion	c. 1787
Other
Designer	Yakov Ananyin

The Minin and Pozharsky Square (Russian: Площадь Минина и Пожарского, translit. Ploshchad Minina i Pozharskogo ("and Pozharsky" is usually not spoken out, for brevity or ignorance)) is the main square of Nizhny Novgorod. It is a social and cultural center of the city, the venue of the most important celebrations. It is located in the Nizhegorodsky city district from the southeast side of the Kremlin.

The square connects the central streets of the city: Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, Varvarskaya, Ulyanov, Minin, Upper Volga embankment and Zelensky Descent. There are many architectural monuments, the Minin University, Nizhny Novgorod State University and the Medical Academy; monuments to Minin, Chkalov; Exhibition Complex, as well as the first city fountain.

The square is the roadway. Movement on it overlaps only on holidays and at the time of other events.

Initially, the square was unofficially called the Verkhneposadskaya. It was the center of the Upper Posad: here were overland trade routes, there was bargaining, to ensure the needs of the upper part of the city. In 1697 the Annunciation Cathedral (Russian: Благовещенский собор, translit. Blagoveshchensky sobor) was built and square was called Blagoveshchenskaya (Annunciation).

The first regular plan of the square was drawn up in 1770. After the fire of 1768, at the request of the governorate authorities, a regular city development plan was drawn up in the St Petersburg Construction Commission, but the lack of local experienced urban planners hampered the implementation of the plan. According to the plan, square was trapezoidal. The plan fixed the directions of the departing streets and provided for the building of the square and adjoining streets only by stone houses.