The square was created back in early 2000s as part of a joint Russian-Belgian project to symbolize the “unity” of the continent
Moscow city authorities have decided to change the name of ‘Europe Square,’ which is located near the Kievsky railway station in the western part of the capital. The area located between the railway terminal and the Moscow River is now to be known as ‘Eurasia Square,’ according to a city government decree published on Wednesday.
The document, signed by Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, does not provide any official explanations for the name change. It annuls all previous decisions by the city authorities related to the old name. The city officials have also not commented on the development.
Created back in 2002, the square was initially a part of a joint Russian-Belgian project aimed at symbolizing the unity of the continent, according to Russian media. The square has a fountain at its center decorated with the ‘Abduction of Europa,’ an abstract sculpture by Belgian artist Olivier Strebelle.
Earlier, the square also had 48 columns with the flags of European nations mounted on them. The flags were removed in 2023 amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. The city authorities did not officially comment on their removal, either.
The place also features a commemoration stone marking 300 years since the “Unification of Ukraine and Russia.” The monument refers to the moment when the Cossacks living on the territory of modern Ukraine broke away from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century following the Bogdan Khmelnitsky uprising and asked the then-Tsardom of Russia to take them in.
The territory they controlled effectively amounted to present-day Kiev, Chernigov, and Zhitomir regions – three areas in the north of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2022.
It is not the first time that places named after Europe in Russia have got new names in recent years. In 2022, the Council of Europe square in the Russian city of Saratov was named after the Donbass heroes. Later the same year, the city of Perm located in Russia’s Urals changed the name of its Europe square to the ‘Three Centuries Square.’
