<p><br />

One of<br />

the earliest photos of Kyiv depicting the Bessarabska square area in<br />

the 1860s. This locality was included in the city limits in the<br />

1840s; at the same time the fountain was constructed (on the left<br />

below). The Bessarabska square linked the Pechersk area and the Nova<br />

Budova area by Kruhlouniversytetska street. As early as the first<br />

part of the nineteenth century peasants started to trade on this<br />

square; this commercial activity was intensified after street trade<br />

had been transferred here from some other, more “bourgeoised”<br />

parts of Khreshchatyk street. Due to the fact that Vasylkivska<br />

street, which in its own turn opened way to the south, came out to<br />

the square, the latter was given its modern name; the square has<br />

continuously been officially named Bessarabska since 1881. It was in<br />

this place that the Khreshchatytsky stream fell into the Klov river;<br />

a bridge over the water body can be seen in the picture.</p><p>The photo<br />

depicts also the results of the improvement and beautification of<br />

Kyiv in the 1830s when the precipices were filled up, the bridge was<br />

built and the fountain was arranged. Judging from the picture,<br />

however, the square had no stone sidewalk at that time. In general,<br />

here we can see the Bessarabska square as it was before it was turned<br />

into one of the main commercial centers of Kyiv of the late<br />

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.</p><p>Olga Martyniuk</p>