[2][3] The Samara State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and public gardens covering seven hectares are located on the square.

On April 17, 1866, the birthday of Emperor Alexander II, the site for the construction of the Samara's main cathedral was consecrated, beginning the square's project designed by architect Ernest Ivanovich Ziber.

In May 1869, a cathedral designed by Konstantin Thon in a Neo-Byzantine style with a capacity of 2500 people was laid, but the construction was slow and the square remained largely undeveloped.

[4][5] On November 3, 1931, the Middle Volga Regional Executive Committee adopted a resolution on the construction of the Palace of Culture designed by Noi Trotsky on the site of the demolished cathedral.

[6] A monument to Kuybyshev was erected in the square in 1938, coinciding with the completion of the Palace of Culture in November.