in Europe, and its unique feature lies in the symmetry which can only be felt at one point, in the centre of the square. As a tribute to the engineering design by Kharkiv's Technical University, none of the attempts to blow the building during the Second World War were successful, and it still remains the symbol of Kharkiv today. Other examples on the square, however, were less fortunate. Such was the fate of the House of Projects (presently the Kharkiv University), which again was designed by Serafimov, built to symmetrise the Gosprom on the square's curvature, it too was a monumental achievement of constructivism. However, during the war it was seriously damaged and was rebuilt in a semi-Stalinist style that left little of the original building intact. Capital: Kyiv (1934–1991) In 1934, the capital of Soviet Ukraine moved to Kyiv. During the preceding years, the city was seen as only a regional centre, and hence received little attention. All of that was to change, but at a great price. By this point, the first examples of Stalinist architecture were already showing and in light of the official policy, a new city was to be built on top of the old one. This meant that priceless examples such as the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery were destroyed. Even the St. Sophia Cathedral was under threat. However, the Second World War did not see the project realised. The surviving pre-war Kyivan constructions include the Building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (presently occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Built by architect, only the northern wing was completed, the identical and symmetrical southern wing to be built on the place of the destroyed monastery to house the Rada of Ministers was never completed. The other example is the Verkhovna Rada building built in 1936–38 by architect Volodymyr Zabolotny. Following the heavy destruction of the Second World War, a new project for the reconstruction of central Kyiv was unveiled. This transformed the Khreshchatyk avenue into one of the finest examples of Stalinism in Architecture. A total of individual 22 projects were drawn up, when the initial competition began in 1944, none of which was realised due to extensive critique and finally in 1948 KyivProekt institute submitted its final version, headed by architects A. Vlasov and from 1949 Anatoly Dobrovolsky. For the next two decades, this figure would dominate all of