Page 30 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

Kyiv and The Revolution on Granite – October
1990
From 1934, the construction of the city of Kyiv
as a capital centre resulted in many projects for
governmental buildings, including squares and
public places that formed a new Soviet urban
morphology (Vlasenko and Ryan 2024; Abyz-
ov and Markovskyi 2015). The Verkhovna Rada
(Figure 3), a parliamentary building, is situat-
ed in the Pecherskyi District, which is the his-
torical and political centre of Kyiv (Abyzov and
Markovskyi 2015). This building was built be-
30 tween 1936 and 1938 and designed by Volodymyr
Zabolotnyi, who was awarded the title of Chief
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
Architect of Kyiv due to his work on this pro-
ject (Vlasenko and Ryan 2024). The Verkhovna
Rada is located next to the eighteenth-century Figure 3: The Verkhovna Rada situated in the Pecherskyi
Baroque Mariinski Palace. During World War District, axonometric view, authors
II, the structure was damaged and underwent a
reconstruction project directed by Zabolotnyi, (Onuch 2019). They set up thousands of tents in
who followed the original design. As in many of the square on October 10th and made it their
the other cases, the eclecticism of the building base (O’Connor and Tereshchuk 2020). The
was a combination of neoclassical and vernacu- growing hunger strike was perceived by the au-
lar architecture – a common design principle of thorities as follows:
Stalinist architecture in the peripheries (Abyz- “There is no doubt,” it is noted in the infor-
ov and Markovskyi 2015). The building is locat- mation of the students’ speech, “that the above-
ed in a green area of the district, and its square mentioned action is one of the components of
is smaller than Lenin Square. As a result, dur- clearly planned actions of anti-Soviet, anti-com-
ing the period of dissolution, main parades and munist, anti-socialist forces” (Rukh – People’s
protests took place in what is now Independence Movement of Ukraine, URP – Ukrainian Rad-
Square, which was formerly known as Kalinin ical Party, SNUM – Ukrainian Youth Associa-
Square, Soviet Square, or the October Revolu- tion, etc.) aimed at seizing power, and dissolv-
tion Square. ing the parliament of the republic. (TsDAHOU,
One day after the unsuccessful ‘all-Ukrain- Fund 1, as cited in Boyko and Kamionka 2023, 61)
ian rally’ in Kyiv, the liberationist student un- The inconclusive meetings between the
ions started a hunger strike in the October Rev- student representatives and deputies result-
olution Square (Boyko and Kamionka 2023, 58). ed in a second hunger strike, similarly organ-
Their political attempt was unique to the Soviet ised with pitched tents on the ground (O’Con-
Union to that point and it was historically one of nor and Tereshchuk 2020). It was formed on the
the most crucial opposition protests in Ukraine evening of 15 October, in the square of Verkhov-
(Boyko and Kamionka 2023). Tens of thousands na Rada, under the name Freedom Town (Boyko
of students on strike were joined by other activ- and Kamionka 2023). This underlines that the
ists fighting for liberation, such as workers, ci- protest was accompanied by a specific spatiali-
vilians, and people from neighbouring cities sation scheme, a self-proclaimed town with an
like Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Ivano-Frankivsk alternative layout of the Soviet public sphere.