The Austriaplatz (P. Ghica Voda, Soborna pl.) is the highest elevation downtown Chernivtsi (225 m). It is one of the oldest marketplaces in town where also firewood was traded. Therefor it used to be called Holzplatz. Later is was called Criminalplatz (after the court and jail locted at it) an only in 1875 it got the name Austriaplatz, commemorating 100 years of Austrian rule over the Bukowina. At this occasion the eight meters high monument of the “Austria” was erected in the middle of the square. The statue was created by the sculptor Karl Pekary out of Carrara marble and showed in an allegoric way a lady symbolizing Austria. It had some similarity to Empress Maria Theresia, under whose rule the Bukowina became Austrian. The monument was destroyed after the first World War, however, the damaged statue was found again in 2003. Helmut Kusdat
