Hretska Ploshcha

Hretska Ploshcha

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°ECoordinates: 46°29′0″N 30°44′08″E / 46.48333°N 30.73556°E

Hretska Ploshcha (Ukrainian: Грецька Площа - Greek Square) is one of the main squares of Odessa. It is located on the crossing of the streets Hretska 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 has a rectangular shape 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 which survived as Market square of the city of Khadzhibey. Down by the Hretska Street, between the Hretska Ploshcha and Katerynynska Street, was a muslim cemetery.^[1] After the capture of the Khadzhibey Fortress the square was free of buildings. The buildings construction started from the part close to Hretska Street, later from Deribasivska Street. The buildings were constracted mainly by Greeks of families Ioannopulos, Serafinos, Papakhadzhis, Rallis, Maraslis. The Greek secret society Filiki Eteria (Greek: Φιλική Εταιρεία is the Society of Friends), which aim was the struggle for independence of Greece, was located 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 construction of the Greek Orthodox church. But the church building was not finished; the background of the church was used for the construction of the 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 the World War II. The place was used as a garden in the 1950s and 1960s, but later the modern restaurant building was constructed. The Mayurov House was demolished in 1996 and then rebuilt with significant changes.

References

1. Поздравляю одесситов с днём украденной истории города: Сегодня — день переименования Гаджибея в Одессу
2. Фонд греческой культуры

Links

• Греческая площадь (Александровская, Мартыновского)
• Про Греческую площадь и не только
• Греческая площадь
• Греческая площадь
• Из воспоминаний об Одессе