Hretska Ploshcha

Hretska Square
Грецька площа
Greek Square, Grecheskaya Square

Former name(s)	Martynovskogo Square, Aleksandrovskaya Square
Namesake	Greeks
Coordinates	46°29′0″N 30°44′08″E / 46.48333°N 30.73556°E / 46.48333; 30.73556Coordinates: 46°29′0″N 30°44′08″E / 46.48333°N 30.73556°E / 46.48333; 30.73556

Hretska Square, or Hretska Ploshcha (Ukrainian: Грецька Площа - Greek Square) is one of the main squares of Odessa. It is on the crossing of Hretska Street and Oleksandrivskyi Prospekt. At different times it has been called Aleksandrovskaya (Russian: Александровская площадь) or Martynovskogo (Russian: Площадь Мартыновского). This is one of the biggest squares of Odessa. It is rectangular, with the oval building of Mayurov House in the center, also with semi-round houses on the sides.

This is the oldest square in Odessa. It survived from the Market square of the town of Khadzhibey. Down by Hretska Street, between Hretska Ploshcha and Katerynynska Street, was a Muslim cemetery.^[1] After the capture of the Khadzhibey Fortress the square was free of buildings. The building construction started from the part close to Hretska Street, later from Deribasivska Street. The buildings were built mainly by Greeks in Ukraine of the families Ioannopulos, Serafinos, Papakhadzhis, Rallis, and Maraslis. The Greek secret society Filiki Eteria (Greek: Φιλική Εταιρεία is the Society of Friends) (whose aim was the struggle for independence of Greece) was in one of the buildings on the square since 1814.^[2]

House of Filiki Eteria

The main market of the city was in the square for a long time. The garden square was in the centre of the square until the Greek Orthodox church was built. But the church building was not finished, and its foundations were re-used for building Mayurov House, also known as the Roundhouse. The last construction was a mall.

In the Soviet period the square was an important transport centre. Here was the tram station (later the trolleybus station), also the bus terminal. The semi-round house which separated the square from the Bunina Street, was demolished during World War II. The place was used as a garden in the 1950s and 1960s, but later the modern restaurant building was constructed. Mayurov House was demolished in 1996 and then rebuilt with significant changes.

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Attractions in Odessa, Ukraine

Buildings	Bristol Hotel City Hall Londonskaya Hotel Maraslis House Mayurov House Opera Theater Odessa Passage Sea Port Odessa Train Station Odessa University Philharmonic Theater Potemkin Stairs Transfiguration Cathedral Vorontsov Palace Vorontsov Lighthouse

Museums	Archeological Museum Art Museum Catacombs Museum of the Cinema Literature Museum Maritime Museum Numismatics Museum Pushkin Museum Regional Hystory Museum Museum of Western and Eastern Art

Streets and squares	Deribasivska Street Hretska Ploshcha Katerynynska Ploshcha Prymorskyi Bulvar Pushkinska Street Rishelievska Street Soborna Ploshcha Frantsuzskyi Bulvar

Parks and gardens	Arcadia Park Botanical Garden City garden Luzanivka Hydropark Shevchenko Park Transfiguration Park Victory Park Odessa Zoo

Beaches	Arcadia Beach Langeron Beach Luzanivka Beach

Other	Chornomorets Stadium Privoz Market Kulykove Pole

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.