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A lot of history happened here in the Old Town Square. It was a regular place for markets and public meetings . Kings were crowned here . Some people were hanged or beheaded here. This 1978 photo shows the square during the 30-year commemoration of the Communist Party takeover . Ten years earlier, Soviet tanks brutally put down a reform movement here, shattering many illusions about the Soviet system. Only eleven years later, the Communist government collapsed in November 1989. Happily, things had quieted down by the time we arrived in 2000. (Both aerial photos taken from an old National Geographic magazine. )
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Eastern Europe
