A liquid crystal display comprising: a lower substrate and an upper substrate; a lower electrode disposed on a surface of the lower substrate and including at least one unit pixel electrode; an upper electrode disposed on a surface of the upper substrate and including at least one upper unit electrode facing the at least one unit pixel electrode; and a liquid crystal layer positioned between the lower electrode and the upper electrode and including a plurality of liquid crystal molecules aligned approximately perpendicular to the surface of the substrate in the absence of an electric field, wherein the unit pixel electrode includes a cross-shaped stem including a transverse stem and a longitudinal stem forming a boundary between a plurality of sub-regions and a plurality of branches extending in different directions in different sub-regions, the upper unit electrode includes a cross-shaped opening facing the stem including a transverse opening and a longitudinal opening and extending parallel to the stem, any alignment aid to pretilt the liquid crystal molecules is absent, and a length of the branches is less than about 53 μm the unit pixel electrode includes a center pattern positioned at a center of the cross-shaped stem, characterized in that the center pattern includes a polygon including a plurality of straight edges, a straight edge of the polygon extends straight and obliquely in each sub-region starting from the transverse stem ending at the longitudinal stem and the width of the transverse stem and the longitudinal stem is smaller than the width of the transverse opening and the longitudinal opening. a lower substrate and an upper substrate; a lower electrode disposed on a surface of the lower substrate and including at least one unit pixel electrode; an upper electrode disposed on a surface of the upper substrate and including at least one upper unit electrode facing the at least one unit pixel electrode; and a liquid crystal layer positioned between the lower electrode and the upper electrode and including a plurality of liquid crystal molecules aligned approximately perpendicular to the surface of the substrate in the absence of an electric field, wherein the unit pixel electrode includes a cross-shaped stem including a transverse stem and a longitudinal stem forming a boundary between a plurality of sub-regions and a plurality of branches extending in different directions in different sub-regions, the upper unit electrode includes a cross-shaped opening facing the stem including a transverse opening and a longitudinal opening and extending parallel to the stem, any alignment aid to pretilt the liquid crystal molecules is absent, and a length of the branches is less than about 53 μm the unit pixel electrode includes a center pattern positioned at a center of the cross-shaped stem, characterized in that the center pattern includes a polygon including a plurality of straight edges, a straight edge of the polygon extends straight and obliquely in each sub-region starting from the transverse stem ending at the longitudinal stem and the width of the transverse stem and the longitudinal stem is smaller than the width of the transverse opening and the longitudinal opening.