Dnipro
Cityscape

Dnipro is a primarily industrial city of around one million people. It has developed into a large urban centre over the past few centuries to become, today, Ukraine's fourth-largest city after Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa. Stalinist architecture (monumental soviet classicism) dominates in the city centre.

Immediately after its foundation Yekaterinoslav, began to develop exclusively on the right bank of the Dnieper River. At first the city developed radially from the central point provided by the Transfiguration Cathedral, completed in 1835. Neoclassical structures of brick and stone construction were preferred and the city began to take on the appearance of a typical European city of the era. Many of these buildings have been retained in the city's older Sobornyi District. Among the most important buildings of this era are the Transfiguration Cathedral, and a number of buildings in the area surrounding Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt, including the Khrennikov House.

Over the next few decades, until the final end of the Russian Empire with the October Revolution in 1917, the city did not change much in appearance. The predominant architectural style remained neo-classicism. Notable buildings built in the era before 1917 include the main building of the Dnipro Polytechnic, which was built in 1899–1901, the art-nouveau inspired building of the city's former Duma (parliament), the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, and the Mechnikov Regional Hospital. Other buildings of the era that did not fit the typical architectural style of the time in Dnipropetrovsk include, the Ukrainian-influenced Grand Hotel Ukraine, the Russian revivalist style railway station (since reconstructed), and the art-nouveau Astoriya building on Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt.

Once Yekaterinoslav became part of the Soviet Union (officially in 1922), and became Dnipropetrovsk in 1926, the city was gradually purged of tsarist-era monuments. Monumental architecture was stripped of Imperial coats of arms and other non-socialist symbolism. Following the 1917 October Revolution, a monument to Catherine the Great that stood in front of the Mining Institute was replaced with one of Russian academic Mikhail Lomonosov.

Later, due to damage from World War II, badly damaged buildings were, more often than not, demolished completely and replaced with new structures. In the early 1950s, during the ongoing industrialisation of the city, much of Dnipropetrovsk's centre was rebuilt in the Stalinist style of Socialist Realism. This is one of the main reasons why much of Dnipro's central avenue, Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt (formerly Karl Marx Prospect), is designed in the style of Stalinist Social Realism. A number of large buildings were reconstructed. The main railway station, for example, was stripped of its Russian-revival ornamentation and redesigned in the style of Stalinist social-realism.

The Grand Hotel Ukraine survived the war but was later simplified much in design, with its roof being reconstructed in a typical French mansard style as opposed to the ornamental Ukrainian Baroque of the pre-war era. Many pre-revolution buildings were reconstructed to suit new purposes. For example, the Emperor Nicholas II Commercial Institute in the city was reconstructed to serve as the administrative centre for the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a function it fulfils to this day. Other buildings, such as the Potemkin Palace were given over to "the proletariat " (the working man), in this case as the students' union of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University.

After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the appointment of Nikita Khrushchev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the industrialisation of Dnipropetrovsk became even more profound, with the Southern (Yuzhne) Missile and Rocket factory being set up in the city. However, this was not the only development and many other factories, especially metallurgical and heavy-manufacturing plants, were set up in the city.

As a result of all this industrialisation the city's inner suburbs became increasingly polluted and were gradually given over to large, industrial enterprises. At the same time the extensive development of the city's left bank and western suburbs as new residential areas began. The low-rise tenant houses of the Khrushchev era (Khrushchyovkas) gave way to the construction of high-rise prefabricated apartment blocks (similar to German Plattenbaus). In 1976, in line with the city's 1926 renaming, a large monumental statue of Grigoriy Petrovsky was placed on the square in front of the city's railway station.

Since the independence of Ukraine in 1991 and the economic development that followed, a number of large commercial and business centres have been built in the city's outskirts. To this day the city is characterised by its mix of architectural styles, with much of the city's centre consisting of pre-revolutionary buildings in a variety of styles, stalinist buildings and constructivist architecture, while residential districts are, more often than not, made up of aesthetically simple, technically outdated mid-rise and high-rise housing stock from the Soviet era. Despite this, the city has a large number of 'private sectors' where the tradition of building and maintaining individual detached housing has continued to this day.

The local statue of Lenin was toppled by protesters in February 2014 the day after Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia following months of protests against him. The square were the statue had stood for some 50 years was soon renamed from "Lenin Square" to " Heroes of Maidan Square ".

In late November 2015 about 300 streets, 5 of the 8 city districts and one metro station were renamed to comply with decommunization laws.

The 1976 Petrovsky statue was destroyed by an angry mob on 29 January 2016.

As part of the derussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 110 toponyms in the city were renamed from February to September 2022. On 3 May 2022 alone more than a dozen memorials erected during Soviet times were dismantled. In December 2022 the Dnipro communal services (in accordance a decision of the City Council) removed from the city all monuments to figures of Russian culture and history. This this meant that monuments to Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Matrosov, Volodia Dubinin, Maxim Gorky, Valery Chkalov, Yefim Pushkin and Mikhail Lomonosov were removed from the public space of the city. On 16 November 2022 Pushkin Avenue in Dnipro had been renamed Lesya Ukrainka Avenue. In January 2023 a T-34 tank on Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt that served as a monument to Hero of the Soviet Union Yefim Pushkin was removed after the Dnipro City Council had decided the monument "has no historical or artistic value." 26 more streets were renamed in Dnipro on 22 February 2023. In December 2023 the renaming of streets continued with on 20 December 2023 again 53 city toponyms their names being changed by the Dnipro City Council. Also on this day the Dnipro City Council renamed a part of Dnipro's central avenue, Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt, in honor of commander of the 1st Mechanized Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Hero of Ukraine Dmytro Kotsiubailo (who had perished on 7 March 2023 in battle near Bakhmut). On 31 January 2024 92 other toponyms were renamed by the Dnipro City Council, including the avenue named after (Soviet cosmonaut and first human in space) Yuri Gagarin.
length_constraints:number_sentences[9], startend:end_checker