59°55′52″N30°21′43″E / 59.931°N 30.362°E /59.931; 30.362

Vosstaniya Square (Russian:Плóщадь Восстáния,romanized:Plóshchad' Vosstániya,IPA:[ˈploɕːɪtʲvɐsːˈtanʲɪjə],lit. 'Uprising Square'), before 1918Znamenskaya Square (Russian:Знаме́нская пло́щадь,lit. 'Square of the Sign'), is a major square in theCentral Business District ofSaint Petersburg,Russia. The square lies at the crossing ofNevsky Prospekt,Ligovsky Prospekt,Vosstaniya Street andGoncharnaya Street, in front of theMoskovsky Rail Terminal, which is the northern terminus of the line connecting the city withMoscow. Administratively, the Vosstaniya Square falls under the authority of theTsentralny District.

From the 1840s to 1918, the square was known asZnamenskaya Square, after theCathedral of the Sign [ru] built there between 1794 and 1804 in aNeoclassical design byFedor Demertsov [ru]. The church building commemorated theicon ofOur Lady of the Sign.

Four years before theRomanov Tercentenary, in 1909, PrincePaolo Troubetzkoy, an artist and sculptor, completed a tremendous equestrian statue ofTsar Alexander III. It stood oppositeNikolayevsky Station in Znamenskaya Square. The statue was removed by the Soviet regime in 1937. It remained in storage for fifty years before its re-erection in 1994 in front of theMarble Palace.^[1]

The square was a scene of many revolutionary demonstrations and protests. After theBolsheviks took control ofPetrograd in 1917, they had the square renamed (1918) intoUprising Square to commemorate these events. The Church of the Sign was demolished by the Soviet government in 1940 to make room for the surface vestibule of thePloshchad Vosstaniya (Vosstaniya Square)Metro station, which opened in 1955.^{[citation needed]}

The LeningradHero-City Obelisk was erected on the spot of the former Alexander III monument in 1985 in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of RussianVictory Day. The obelisk received mixed reviews, as its design and style did not match that of the neo-classic square.^[2]

In 2010, the 200,000-square-metre (2,200,000 sq ft)Galereya shopping center opened on the square, including a largeStockmann department store.^[3]

The Vosstaniya Square is a major traffic hub of Saint Petersburg. It is home to the largeMoscow Rail Terminal, from where trains depart forMoscow,Novosibirsk and other major cities. It is filled with passengers every day.

The square is home to themetro stationPloshchad Vosstaniya. The square is also a main hub formarshrutkas,taxis,buses,trolleybuses andtrams.

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  View ofNevsky Prospekt from Znamenskaya Square in the 1890s
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  The Church of the Sign on Znamenskaya Square (built in 1794–1804), demolished in 1940
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  Construction of the tramway junction, 1906
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  Under the Soviet regime, 1927
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  Vosstania Square and Oktyabrskiy hotel (hotel of the October Revolution, before 1922: the Northern hotel)
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  Moscow Rail Terminal
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  Metro stationPloshchad Vosstaniya

• List of squares in Saint Petersburg