Revolution Square is the main square in Ivanovo. The Administration of Ivanovo and the City Garden are located here. A Monument to Workers was erected in the center of the square in 1975. It is dedicated to the events of the first Russian revolution of 1905. Lenin Avenue, the main transport artery of Ivanovo, begins at Revolution Square.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Ivanovo-Voznesensk (as Ivanovo was called until 1932) was a major industrial center of Russia. Most of the regions of Russia at that time remained agrarian, and there were many textile factories in Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Accordingly, many workers lived in the city.
During the first revolution of 1905, the first City Soviet (Council) of Workers appeared in Ivanovo. In 1917, after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks transferred all power to such Soviets, and the country was called the Soviet Union. But the first Soviet (Council) appeared in Ivanovo in 1905, therefore, there is a Museum of the First Soviet in the city..
This soviet coordinated the demands of the strikers in the factories of Ivanovo-Voznesensk. Then they did not have political demands. All the demands related to improving working conditions, which at the beginning of the 20th century were quite difficult in factories around the world. As a result of the general strike, the factory owners went to partially fulfill the workers` demands. But the strike was suppressed by force, and hunger forced the workers to return to the factories.
The monument on Revolution Square is dedicated to these events, when the factory owners, then fulfilled the demands of the workers, then refused them. The monument depicts a worker who raises a banner from his comrade weakened by hunger. A rectangular monument of black color rises above the monument. It symbolizes the prison where many participants of those events were imprisoned. Inside the monument there is a crystal with pulsating illumination, symbolizing a beating heart.
Next to the monument on the Revolution Square of Ivanovo there is a City Garden. The Chapel of the Fedorovskaya Icon of the Virgin Mary was built here in 2011. The Holy Cross Church stood on this site in the 19th century, but it was demolished in 1932. In front of the chapel there are beautiful flower beds and small sculptures.
