View source for Lubyanka Square

{{Short description|Public open space in central Moscow}}
{{Infobox street
| name        = Lubyanka Square
| native_name ={{native name|ru|Лубянская площадь}}
| image       = Lubyanka Square1.jpg
| caption     =  [[Lubyanka Building|FSB headquarters]] and [[Central Children's Store on Lubyanka|Central Children's Store]] in Lubyanka Square
|image_size      = 320 px
| postal_code = 101000
| length_km   = 
| length_ref  = 
| location    = [[Moscow]]<br/>{{nowrap|[[Central Administrative Okrug]]}}<br/>[[Tverskoy District]]
| metro       =  {{MOSMETRO-bull|1}} [[Lubyanka (Moscow Metro)|Lubyanka]] 
| coordinates             = {{Coord|55|45|34|N|37|37|37|E}}
}}

'''Lubyanskaya Square''' ({{Langx|ru|Лубянская площадь}}, Lubyanskaya ploshchad'), or simply '''Lubyanka''' in [[Moscow]] lies about {{convert|900|m|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 Lubyanitsa street of their native city.

== Name ==
The square was renamed Dzerzhinsky Square for many years (1926–1990) in honor of  the founder of the Soviet security service [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]].

== Square center ==
A fountain used to stand in front of the building, at the center of the Lubyanka Square. In 1958, the fountain at the center of the Lubyanka Square was replaced by an 11-ton [[Monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, Moscow|statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky]] ("Iron Felix"), founder of the Cheka, made by [[Yevgeny Vuchetich]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last1=RIR|last2=Romendik|first2=Dmitriy|date=2014-02-11|title=The dark history of Lubyanka|url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/2014/02/11/the_dark_history_of_lubyanka_32985|access-date=2020-08-09|website=www.rbth.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2014, [[Jacques von Polier]] designed the [[Raketa]] Monumental which is largest watch mechanism in the world. It is currently installed at the square.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20150721124726/http://en.hals-development.ru/news/2014/07/22/worlds-biggest-clock-to-be-installed-in-centralny-, https://www.buro247.com/me/lifestyle/news/moscow-giant-clockwork-raketa.html, http://www.njt.ru/en/news/19129/ </ref>

On October 30, 1990, the [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] organization erected the [[Solovetsky Stone]], a monument to the victims of the [[Gulag]], a simple stone from the [[Solovki prison camp]] in the [[White Sea]]. In 1991 the statue of Dzerzhinsky was removed by liberal protesters following the failure of the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev]], and the square's original name was officially restored.

== Lubyanka Building ==
Lubyanka Square is best known for the monumental [[Lubyanka Building]], designed by {{Interlanguage link multi|Aleksandr V. Ivanov|ru|3=Иванов, Александр Васильевич (архитектор)}} and constructed from 1897 to 1898. Originally built for the insurance company ''Rossiya'', it later became better known for housing the [[Lubyanka (KGB)|headquarters of the KGB]] in its various incarnations. {{As of | 2016}} the [[Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation]] (FSB) occupies the building.

== Detsky Mir ==
Opposite the FSB building stands the massive [[Central Children's Store on Lubyanka|Central Children's Store]], known by its historical name of [[Detsky Mir]] ({{langx|ru|Де́тский мир}}, "Children World"), [[Europe]]'s largest children's store, built between 1953 and 1957,<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Dan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9euSbo6q3MC|title=The Rough Guide to Moscow|date=2001|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-85828-700-3|language=en}}</ref> and fully restored in 2014. It hosts in its main atrium the world's largest mechanical clock movement: [[Raketa|Raketa Monumental]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f80c83fe-d3c8-11e4-a9d3-00144feab7de.html#axzz3i10ZWja9 |title=Do not advertise a past dark with pain |work=The [[Financial Times]] |date=26 March 2015 |access-date=3 September 2015|last1=Weaver |first1=Courtney }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-31/hamleys-moscow-store-transcends-toy-retailer-s-london-flagship|title= Hamleys Moscow Store Transcends Toy Retailer's London Flagship|author= Ilya Khrennikov |date=31 March 2015 |work=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] |access-date=3 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raketa.com/mehanicheskie-chasyi-v-tsdm-na-lubyanke/ |title=Механические часы В ЦДМ на Лубянке производства ПЧЗ "Ракета" - Русские часы: Ракета / Russian Watches: Raketa |work=Raketa.com |access-date=3 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905212338/http://www.raketa.com/mehanicheskie-chasyi-v-tsdm-na-lubyanke/ |archive-date=5 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Metro ==
The [[Moscow Metro]] station [[Lubyanka (Metro)|Lubyanka]] operates under Lubyanka Square.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Lubyanka-ca1910.jpg|Lubyanka Square in the early 1900s
Image:RIAN archive 11720 Dzerzhinsky Square.jpg|Dzerzhinsky Square in 1966, with the statue of [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]]
Image:KGB-Lubyanka-1983.jpg|KGB building in 1983
Image:Loubianka square memorial.jpg|The [[Solovetsky Stone]] monument
Image:Lubyanka CDM view from Panoramic view point 05-2015 img01.jpg|A less common view
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}

[[Category:Squares in Moscow]]