Taras Shevchenko Square, Kolomyia

Taras Shevchenko Square is a part of Rynok Square in Kolomyia. On May 28, 1914, a monument to Taras Shevchenko was unveiled on this square. The square was named after him. On this occasion, a concert was held in the hall of the Savings Bank (later, in Soviet times, the House of Officers, and now the People's House), where, in particular, Shevchenko's poetry was recited by the future innovator of Ukrainian theater Les Kurbas. The novelist Vasyl Stefanyk delivered a speech. On September 15, 1914, during World War I, Russian troops entered Kolomyia. The monument to Shevchenko was deliberately destroyed. After World War II, the square was called Karl Marx Square.

It got its modern look after reconstruction (around 1970). It is a beautiful square. At the junction with the then Lenin Square (modern-day Renaissance Square), there is an unnamed monument in the form of a three-meter-high pile of large stones, which is supposedly a symbolic monument to Oleksa Dovbush. A central department store was built at the opposite end of the square, and a cascading fountain was installed near the central department store, which has since been open only for the first few weeks of its existence.

In 1991, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the first written mention of Kolomyia, a memorial sign was erected on the site of the Shevchenko monument destroyed in 1914. On the square closer to the town hall, a number of berry yew trees were planted-an interesting, original, and now rare tree that once grew in abundance in the Carpathians, and now this tree can be seen on this square and in the Yew Reserve near Kolomyia.

In 2016, a light and music fountain was opened on the square. The townspeople received this gift to celebrate the 775th anniversary of Kolomyia.

Buildings on Taras Shevchenko Square in Kolomyia

• House No. 1 In the 1920s, it was Max Deitsch's clothing store and Stepan Romanovych's spice shop. During the Soviet era, it was a tailoring studio.
• House No. 10 In the early twentieth century, it housed Josef Lederfeind's spice, sugar, and candy shop and a restaurant. Now it is the Hutsulochka shop of the Prut agricultural factory.
• House No. 11 In the 1900s, it was a warehouse of knitwear and haberdashery goods by Rubinzoff and Heller. Nowadays it is a building materials company.
• House No. 12 In the 10s and 20s of the twentieth century, it housed a bookstore, a paper warehouse, and a frame shop run by T. Zimpler, and later, Osyp Yurchyshyn's workshop (repairing printing and sewing machines, bicycles, motorcycles, and Roentgen machines). A branch in Sniatyn. Now a hall of slot machines "Royal".
• House No. 13 In the first half of the twentieth century it was Abraham Rosenboom's hairdressing salon; on the second floor it was Dr. Offe's dental office. Nowadays it is a shop of curtains and curtains "Fantasia".
• House No. 14 In the 1920s, it housed Michał Żyborski's bookstore and paper warehouse, Gershon Tau's vodka shop, and M. Feldman's pharmacy (1938). Now it is a pharmacy No. 14.
• House No. 15 In the interwar period, it housed the tinsmith workshops of Schneck and Moses Leib. Now the Green Pharmacy.
• House No. 17 In the 1910s, the Providence of God pharmacy of Yevstakhii Turianskyi operated here. Now it is a household chemicals store "Moya" and a KPM "Posud".
• House No. 18 In the early twentieth century, it housed a warehouse of jewelry, gramophones, pianos, and records by Maura Pistiner and a brush workshop by David Vogel (1920s). Today it is the Electrotovary factory.
• House No. 19 Originally housed Sigmund Hoffmann's iron and tin warehouse, Chaim Borten's haberdashery shop (1910s), Abraham Golder's watchmaking workshop (1920s), and Starer's store. Now it is the Camellia store.
• House No. 20 For a long time, there was a bookstore, a paper warehouse, and a bookbinding workshop run by Isidor Ginsberg and later by Bertha Ginsberg (1910s-20s); the Bottle of Attraction bookstore, a paper warehouse, and Simon Sinensib's antiques shop (1910s); B. Horner's bookstore and paper warehouse (1920s); and Hersch Krauthammer's breakfast rooms.
• House No. 21 In the first half of the twentieth century, Heinrich Gerstenhaber's mechanical workshop worked in the courtyard.
• House No. 23 In the 1910s it was a metalware store run by Slopkowitzer and Singer; later it was the largest warehouse of candy, confectionery, coffee, tea, and southern fruits by F. Weintraub; a fabric store run by S. Landmann and Sons; and a shoemaker's workshop run by Frohim Brunwasser. Now the Bomis Ltd.
• In the 1920s, the building was owned by Samuel Feldman, who ran a perfume and paint shop called "Black Dog." At the same time, the vodka shops of Tauba Leibman and the Polish cooperative operated here. Now it is a photo salon "Smile".
• For a long time, the house was a pharmacy of Dr. Stefan Stenzl, which offered, among other products, the "Carpathian Potion" for coughs and lung diseases, which was awarded a silver medal at the General Exhibition in Lviv in 1904; in the 1910s it was a children's and women's shop. - Berta Marcus's children's, women's, and men's clothing store, R. Blecher's musical instruments warehouse, Jerzy Helwing's haberdashery goods wholesale store; in the 1920s and 30s: Leisor Baumwogl's candy store, and W. Niedielski's meat products warehouse. Nowadays it is a CT pharmacy No. 101.

The photo (by the famous Kolomyia writer Mykola Vasylchuk), taken on May 28, 1914, captures the moment of the opening of the monument to Taras Shevchenko in the center of Kolomyia (the celebration lasted for two days).

"These were the last peaceful weeks before the outbreak of the First World War, which turned people's worldview upside down and reshaped the world. Ukrainians in Kolomyia received permission from the city authorities to install the bust on the square near Archduke Rudolf Street(now Taras Shevchenko Square). The committee for the construction of the monument was headed by Councilor Romuald Dumyn. Most of the funds for its construction were donated by the lawyer and writer Meletii Kichura (later shot by the Bolsheviks). In an old photo with a high magnification, you can recognize people's faces and read inscriptions. But what strikes me most is the sea of hats. But there are no more hats, no more people who wore them, no more monument. During the First World War, Kolomyia was under Russian occupation. The modest bust of Shevchenko, which pleased the eyes of Ukrainians, stood for a little more than three months and was knocked off its pedestal. In 1991, a memorial sign was unveiled in Kolomyia in the center of the city, near the newest fountain. It indicates the approximate location of the first monument to Shevchenko."