<p>A look of the Dumska (now Maydan<br />

Nezalezhnosti) square from the garden behind the City Duma building.<br />

As it was the case with Bibikovsky boulevard, this garden had a<br />

fencing, this time a delicate metal one. The main purpose of the<br />

fencing must have been to ban access for peasants, who sold farm<br />

products, as well as for city artisans or workers. These fences were<br />

used as an instrument of social segregation; after all, this was a<br />

place where the nobles gathered away from the noisy municipal<br />

institution.</p><p>A fountain was arranged in the center of the square; at<br />

that time it started to fullfill an aesthetic function instead of an<br />

economic one. Earlier, before the 1870s-1880s, people could take<br />

drinking water from it (the so-called “Urod” fountain); now<br />

access was complicated because of a flowerbed made around it. It<br />

could also be connected with the fact that the neighbouring houses<br />

were already provided with running water. The housing scale was<br />

changed at that time, two-storied houses being supplemented with<br />

three-storied and higher ones. The St. Sophia cathedral’s belfry<br />

can also be seen in the background.</p><p>Olga Martyniuk</p>