Philharmonic Square in Chernivtsi

The cozy Philharmonic Square in Chernivtsi, despite the changing names throughout time, attracts people's eyes and thoughts. Everything here seems to be laconic, but there is still a slight flavor of mystery.One of the oldest squares of the Austrian era is Philharmonic Square. The history of this square dates back to the end of the eighteenth century, when it was a marketplace where people traded mainly in flour. Hence its first name - Flour Square, or Melplatz in German. Later, the square was renamed many times: it was Rudolfsplyats (in honor of the son and only heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I Rudolf), from 1918 it was called Dacia, from 1944 - Victory, although the old-timers called this place Melplatz in their own way.

One of the oldest squares in Chernivtsi was built during the Austrian period. Most of the houses belonged to private owners. At the end of the eighteenth century, the first prison, called a "dungeon," was set up on the square. Later it was moved to the present-day Cathedral Square. The area was also used as a powder magazine and a food warehouse.

The purpose of the square changed in the 60s of the nineteenth century. The reason was growth. Now it was not an outskirt, but the center of Chernivtsi. The aforementioned barracks and kazamats were moved to another area. It would be interesting to add that their new location is the place where the well-known Taras Shevchenko Central Park of Culture and Recreation in Chernivtsi now stands. Instead of a prison, a building with a beautiful facade called the National grew up and began to be built with residential stone houses. Most of the houses belonged to private owners. The square began to take on a decent appearance and was liked by Chernivtsi residents.

The main building of the architectural ensemble, which determined the modern name of the square, is the former building of the Music Society, now the regional philharmonic. Right now, we will begin to transfer to the time when people could not live without music. Bukovyna is a land of songs. The "Society for the Promotion of Musical Art," which was established in 1862, did not have its own concert hall and held its events in rented hotel rooms, the city hall, and private homes.

The city authorities met the music lovers halfway. In 1868, a committee was set up to build a building for the music society, and a plot of land was allocated on Muchna Square. Funds for the construction of the building were raised by the wives of high-ranking officials of Bukovyna and the magistrate, and voluntary donations were constantly coming in. Already in 1876, one of the first stones was laid, which served as the foundation for the future cultural center. The event was very solemn. Symbolically, everything took place to the tune of the head of the society, Vojtech Adalbert Grzymal. He was the composer of the majestic melody "Praise of Music." In November 1877, the building of the Music Society was inaugurated. The plan and estimates of the building were made by the imperial-royal advisor Alois Bulirtz. The interiors were painted by the Viennese artist Karl Jobst, who was also responsible for the interior paintings of the Metropolitan Residence. In about a hundred years, this building would become the center of the Chernivtsi Philharmonic, and the adjacent territory would bear the same name, Philharmonic Square in Chernivtsi.

At various times, the Philharmonic's stage was home to celebrities who toured or worked in Chernivtsi: Enrico Caruso, Orest Rusnak, Anton Rubinstein, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Mykola Lysenko, Fyodor Chaliapin, Josef Schmidt, and Sidney Tal. People's artists of Ukraine Sofia Rotaru, Nazariy Yaremchuk, Vasyl Zinkevych, Pavlo Dvorsky, and other famous singers began their ascent to the big stage here.

Despite the beautiful building of the Chernivtsi Philharmonic, another high-rise building from the old days catches the eye. The square is decorated with a luxurious four-story building with a corner bay window tower, the former Bristol Hotel, which was built in 1905-1906 at the expense of local citizens Josef Landau and Max Meissner. "The Bristol was considered one of the best hotels in Chernivtsi. The building had 57 rooms and three elevators. The wealthiest guests of the city stayed here. In the basement of the hotel there was a restaurant where the guests, satisfied with their lives, spent their money. In 1940, the hotel was nationalized and valued at four million lei. The luxurious inscription "Hotel Bristol" on the top of the facade and the red-tiled roof have been preserved since then. Today it is a dormitory of the Chernivtsi Medical Institute, and the first floor is occupied by the Potato House cafe.

Not far from the hotel there is a decorative cast-iron water column that functioned during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nearby is a monument to the famous Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt. Here, Chernivtsi residents and visitors make wishes by rubbing the famous musician's nose, and they say that wishes come true. If you press the button behind the monument, you can hear Liszt's music.

Philharmonic Square got its modern look as a result of reconstruction in 2004-2005. After the demolition of the Covered Market, which appeared on the square in the 1930s, a spacious area with a musical fountain in the middle, which was illuminated in the evening, was built in its place.

The fountain looks like a bowl with a diameter of 9 meters, which is lined with granite slabs and embodies a combination of water figures of different heights and configurations. The total number of nozzles (devices that spray liquid) and, accordingly, the water figures they create is 57 pieces. The fountain is illuminated by 42 spotlights. This decoration operates in four modes with automatic programming. The first mode is static, when the set water architecture will not change for a certain period of time. The second is the change of architectural water forms during the programmed time. The third is the music show mode: the fountain (water and light) plays to ten programmed musical compositions. And the fourth is the fountain's play (also of color and water) in rhythm with any musical composition from a CD. The fountain "sings" no more than twice during the day, and more often on weekends. The play of water and colors can be seen only in the evening. On major holidays, the national anthem is also programmed to play.

In 2006, Japanese cherry trees were planted along the perimeter of the square. Sakura has successfully taken root in Bukovyna and has been pleasing the eyes of Chernivtsi residents every spring since then.

Chernivtsi is the capital of Bukovyna. It is one of the most beautiful and pleasant Ukrainian cities. There is one of the most beautifulrailway stations in the country, theChurch of St. Paraskeva of Serbia, the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, the ship house, the City Hall (every day at 12:00 a trumpeter plays the melody of "Marichka" from the tower), the Art Museum, then Kobylianska Street, the German Folk House, the Armenian Church and the Assumption Church (the oldest stone Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Chernivtsi), the Theater Square and the Kobylianska Theater. Kobylianska Theater Square, Jewish People's House, Chernivtsi University (included in the UNESCO World Heritage List), Turkish Square (Chernivtsi has been a part of Turkey, Modova, Romania, Austria-Hungary, the USSR, Rus, and Ukraine), and a large rover,cozy streets and cobblestone streets, the so-called Drunken Church, Nazariy Yaremchuk's house, then another house-ship, two houses with the same number (Olha Kobylianska lived here), the house where Volodymyr Ivasyuk lived, the pink church - the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

Chernivtsi sights

• St. Nicholas wooden church (from 1607, restored in 1954);
• stone Church of St. George on the Bitterroot (1767 in the Baroque style);
• wooden Trinity Church in Muggles (one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four), moved in 1874 to Kłokuchka;
• wooden Assumption Church on Kaleczanka (1783);
• City Hall with a two-story, 45-meter-high Empire-style tower (1843-1847, architect A. Mykulych), now the City Council;
• Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1825-1830 in the Baroque style);
• Byzantine-style cathedral (1844-1864, architect Roll);
• Church of St. Paraskeva in the pseudo-Romanesque style, completed in 1662 (architect A. Pavlovsky);
• residence of Bukovyna metropolitans - since 1956 one of the buildings of Chernivtsi University);
• Armenian Gregorian Church (1869-1875, architect J. Hlavka);
• Chernivtsi University building (1874-1875);
• Jesuit church in the Neo-Gothic style (1893-1894);
• Railway station (1898-1903) in the Art Nouveau style;
• the City Theater (1904-1905, architects F. Fellner and G. Helmer) in the Viennese Baroque style with Art Nouveau elements (now the O. Kobylianska Music and Drama Theater), etc.