Freedom Square, formerly Ostrozhnaya Square, colloquially Svoboda — a city square at the intersection of Varvarskaya Street, Gorky Street, and Belinsky Street Streets.
A major transport hub. Freedom Square is served by every mode of urban transit: tram, trolleybus, buses, and marshrutka minibuses; a taxi rank is located in the center of the square.
Behind the square stands the Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog building, which now houses a museum, and a small park with the Monument to the Nizhny Novgorod FIDO.
When Nizhny Novgorod residents say "let's meet at Svoboda" or "I'm heading to Svoboda," they mean this park.
Thanks to the proximity of the Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog, "Svoboda" is a favorite venue for unsanctioned rallies and demonstrations. Trolleybuses were overturned here during the tobacco riots of the late USSR era; here the Militia (police) disperses the Dissidents and members of the Limon Party.
The city's Opera House adjoins the square.