The square is home to the Arbatskaya metro station, on Filyovskaya Line.

Present-day square is dominated by the wide avenue of New Arbat, however, prior to redevelopment of the 1960s, the square was located south from this avenue, on the line of Arbat Street and the vestibule of Arbatskaya subway station.

There was no straight connection between Vozdvizhenka and Arbat: westbound coaches had to make a sharp turn south into Nikitsky Boulevard, past a corner block on this boulevard, then make a turn west into either Arbat, Povarskaya Street, Bolshaya Molchanovka, Malaya Molchanovka or Merzlyakovsky Lane.

In 1807–1812, it hosted Arbatsky Theater [ru], which perished in the Fire of Moscow (1812), as well as most of the neighborhoods around it.

In 1945, it was refitted with sculptures and granite slabs in stalinist style, only to be destroyed in the 1960s.