in 1926, when the construction of the Government House began. It was developed until the 1950s when the rest of the five buildings were constructed and finally completed in 1977, when the National Gallery was built. The square was named Lenin Square (, Lenini hraparak; , ploshchad’ Lenina) for Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, whose statue was erected in the square in 1940 and dismantled in 1991. On 25 August 1990, the flag of Soviet Armenia was lowered and that of independent Armenia was raised on the Government House in the square. On 1 November 1990, the Yerevan City Council decided to rename Lenin Square to Republic Square. In 2013, the municipal authorities proposed a controversial renovation of the square, which architects criticized. Surrounding buildings Lenin's statue A statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, erected by Sergey Merkurov and standing atop an high pedestal, was inaugurated in the square on November 24, 1940. The monument faced the site of the planned National Gallery and "soon gained considerable acclaim as a great piece of monumental art." On March 28, 1991, the Yerevan City Council voted to remove Lenin's statue. Mayor Hambardzum Galstyan abstained and argued in favor of a more nuanced and tolerant stance. It was removed on April 13, 1991. It was "placed on a truck and, like the body of a deceased person, driven round and round the central square as if in an open coffin" while people cheered. Some people threw pebbles and coins at the statue. The statue was placed in the yard of the Museums Building. The singer Cher was famously photographed with the headless statue of Lenin when she visited Armenia in April 1993. In 1996 president Levon Ter-Petrosyan ordered the dismantling of the pedestal, causing significant controversy and a wave of protests from a wide range of groups and individuals who emphasized its fine aesthetics. Levon Abrahamian notes that the pedestal was a "good piece of architecture" and despite its Soviet symbolism, it was perceived by many as a work of "national art." According to Abrahamian, "The fight for preserving the pedestal proved to be much more ferocious than the discourse on removing Lenin from the square. Journalists, architects, artists, poets, well-known figures of culture wrote articles in newspapers in defense of the pedestal." The poet Silva Kaputikyan called its dismantling an "act of vandalism." On July 31, 1996, some 50 members of the Armenian