<p>A look of the Dumska (now Maydan

Nezalezhnosti) square from the garden behind the City Duma building.

As it was the case with Bibikovsky boulevard, this garden had a

fencing, this time a delicate metal one. The main purpose of the

fencing must have been to ban access for peasants, who sold farm

products, as well as for city artisans or workers. These fences were

used as an instrument of social segregation; after all, this was a

place where the nobles gathered away from the noisy municipal

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

that time it started to fullfill an aesthetic function instead of an

economic one. Earlier, before the 1870s-1880s, people could take

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

access was complicated because of a flowerbed made around it. It

could also be connected with the fact that the neighbouring houses

were already provided with running water. The housing scale was

changed at that time, two-storied houses being supplemented with

three-storied and higher ones. The St. Sophia cathedral’s belfry

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