At the beginning of the 18th century at the foot of the hill the square was limited by St. John the Baptist Monastery and St.Nicholas Convent, and near the ditch there stood the Church of Joachim and Anne. At the end of the 18th century in front of the Spasskaya tower the stone bridge was built instead of the wooden one.

In the 18th century the square was known as Ivanoskaya square after the St.John the Baptist Monastery. At the beginning of the 19th century the merchant centre was built on the southern part of the square. In 1848 the house of Kazan merchant Evreinov was reconstructed to the City Duma building – the present day Mayor’s Office. At the end of the 19th century the ditch was filled, and the bridge – dismantled.  On August 30, 1898 the grand monument to Alexander II (the Liberator) was raised on the square. And the square was renamed to Alexander square. The monument was decapitated by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

In 1905 at the south-eastern part of the merchants centre the city museum was opened. The square was stoned. In 1942 the square was renamed as the First of May Square. In 1966 the monument to Tatar poet-hero Musa Jalil was raised in the centre of the square, the monument also contains bas-reliefs of the members of “Jalil group”.