Bessarabian market
Description:
In 2012, the building of the covered Bessarabian market on the square of the same name in Kiev was a hundred years old. This monument of Art Nouveau architecture became the first covered market in Kiev.
The natural market in the square existed long before the construction of the building. At the beginning of the XX century, the square was strikingly different from the ceremonial Khreshchatyk. It was cluttered with counters, flooded with sewage, served as a refuge for street children, called in Kiev “bessarabs”.
The money for the construction of the new market was bequeathed to the Kiev sugar producer Lazar Ivanovich Brodsky. In 1908, the architect Heinrich Guy, who had already built a similar market in Warsaw, won the competition for the development of a market project.
The advanced technologies of that time were used in the construction. The walls of the market were built of brick, and the glass roof rested on a vaulted frame of steel beams. For the first time in Kiev, a refrigeration unit was used at the Bessarabian market. The facade of the building was decorated with sculptural works in the style of folk art.
Bessarabian market became the most expensive and prestigious market in Kiev.
Today, Bessarabskaya Square and the market building have been restored, a shopping complex is located under them.