Attractions of Kyiv region

The remains of one of the oldest settlements of primitive people in Ukraine in the late Paleolithic era (10,000 BC), found in the village of Dobranychivka during the construction of the road in 1952, are now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum "Dobranychivka settlement", which is a branch of Yahotyn historical museum.

Archaeologists have found here four household complexes around the central square.

The exposition pavilion of the "Dobranychivka settlement" Museum was erected directly above the excavation site of the largest of the household complexes. You can see the foundation of housing from the bones of mammoths and animal skulls, pits, fires and places of production of tools made of bones and flint.

The exposition presents products made of stone and bone, as well as two large panoramic canvases depicting scenes of the original mammoth hunt and the life of the inhabitants of "Dobranychivka settlement".

The Baker Synagogue in Vasylkiv was built at the beginning of the 20th century on the site of a wooden Jewish prayer house.

The two-story brick building of the synagogue has characteristic features of a Jewish religious building, richly decorated using elements of medieval architecture.

In 1927, the "Baker" synagogue was closed, the building was handed over to the South-Western Railway and rebuilt under the "Vasylkiv-2" railway station.

Currently, the building is in communal ownership, until recently several families lived in it.

The Museum-Exhibition Center "Kyiv History Museum" is a multifunctional complex representing various historical, artistic and cognitive projects.

Founded in 1978, until the end of the Soviet era it was located in the building of the Klovsky Palace in Pechersk, then huddled for a long time on two floors of the Ukrainian House. Today the museum is housed in a modern building on the corner of Khmelnytskoho and Yevhena Chykalenka streets.

The museum's collection includes about 300,000 exhibits that are part of the archaeological, numismatic, ethnographic collection, as well as thematic complexes of the modern period. These are Kyiv monuments of the late Paleolithic period (Kyrylivska camp), and archeological finds of the Stone Age, Bronze Age (Trypillya culture), found by Ukrainian scientists during archeological excavations in Kyiv; rare Byzantine stone icons and unique frescoes from the excavations of the Prince’s Palace of Ancient Kyiv; relics of Kyiv self-government, in particular, seals of Kyiv craft shops and a symbol of city self-government – a bas-relief of Archangel Michael from the city hall.

The decoration of the collection is a collection of old prints of the XVI-XVII centuries, collections of faience and porcelain of the Kyiv-Mezhyhirya factory and Miklashevsky factory, paintings by Mykola Prakhov and Oleksandr Murashko. Typical interiors of a noble living room of the beginning of the XIX century, a musical living room with a collection of musical instruments of the XVIII-XIX centuries, a craft room, a Swedish workshop, a photo studio of the beginning of the XX century are presented.

In the inclusive museum space with ramps and elevators, specialized tours "Kyiv to the touch" are conducted.

Branches of the Kyiv History Museum:
- Mykhaylo Hrushevsky Historical and Memorial Museum;
- Mikhail Bulhakov Literary and Memorial Museum;
- Sholom Aleichem Museum;
- Mansion at Kudriavka;
- Avant-Garde Museum;
- Ukrainian Sixtiers Dissident Movement Museum;
- Occupation of Kyiv Museum;
- Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora;
- Serge Lyfar Museum (under construction).

The National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine "Pyrohiv" gives an opportunity to feel the Ukrainian national flavor and all the diversity of nature and ethnic cultures of different regions of Ukraine.

The country's largest open-air museum (open-air museum) with an area of 133 hectares was founded in 1969 on the southern outskirts of Kyiv, on the relief territory of the ancient suburban village of Pyrohiv, from which it received its informal name.

Among the various landscapes reminiscent of the pastoral hills of the Dnipro, and the steep Carpathian Mountains, and dense Polissia forests, and dry southern steppes, scattered typical of these regions hamlets with authentic wooden buildings of the XVIII-XX centuries. All of them were brought from different parts of the country: temples, houses, outbuildings. In total, more than 300 buildings.

The compositional center of the complex is a group of windmills on a hill above the Singing Field. The landscape panorama is complemented by wooden churches, the oldest of which is the Church of Saint Paraskeva in 1742 from the village of Zarubyntsi in Cherkasy region. The church of Saint Michael the Archangel may be even older - radiocarbon dating dates some of its parts to 1528.

Authentic interiors with ethnographic collections are recreated in the houses of traditional peasant yards, which give an idea of typical occupations and life of different ethnographic groups of Ukrainians: Bukovinians, Volynians, Hutsuls, Podilians, Polishchuks, Slobozhanians and others.

You can taste the most popular dishes of Ukrainian cuisine (borsch, kulish, varenyky), prepared according to traditional recipes, as well as popular street food dishes at the food court located on the central alley.

During the traditional folk festivals (Kolodiy, Easter, Green Holidays, Ivan Kupala, Pokrova) the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine "Pyrohiv" organizes folk festivals, concerts and performances with the participation of folk groups.

Themed festivals and fairs are held regularly.

The Museum "Kyiv Viyt House" is located in Kyiv in the oldest of the surviving civil buildings of Podil, which has undergone many reconstructions. According to the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine, the building has the name - "Residential building of Yan Bykovskyi (Peter I House)".

According to legend, in 1706 Petro I, who directed the construction of the Pechersk fortress, stopped here. However, the information about the Russian tsar's residence here is not documented.

Later, the house belonged to the Kyiv Viyt (city mayor) Yan Bykovskyi, who kept a tavern in it. Then there was a "house of humility", a parish school, an orphanage.

Now the premises are occupied by the Museum "Kyiv Viyt House", which functions under the rights of a subdivision of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Ancient Kyiv".

The museum exposition explores the history of the medieval monument at the corner of Kostyantynivska and Khoryva streets in the context of self-government and traditions of charity in Kyiv. Among the most valuable exhibits is the rare baroque icon "Mother of God with the Child" of the 18th century.

Babyn Yar in Kyiv is known throughout the world as a symbol of the genocide of the Jewish people. During the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, more than 100,000 civilians, prisoners of war, underground fighters, partisans, hostages, members of the OUN, mentally ill and other people were shot here. Now it is one of the most famous memorial sites associated with the Holocaust.

Deep between Syrets and Kurenivka in Kyiv, along the current Olena Teliha Street, has been known since the 15th century as the "Shalena Baba" tract. According to one version, this nickname was given to a local butcher who later sold these lands to a Dominican monastery.

A ramified 3.5-kilometer-long ravine stretches from the present Dorohozhytska metro station to the Saint Cyril’s Church. In the upper part of the ravine, since the end of the 19th century, the construction of the Lukyaniv Jewish cemetery began (the office building has been preserved).

During the Second World War, the natural topography of the Babyn Yar was supplemented with anti-tank ditches. They became the place of mass shootings and burials of Kyiv residents during 1941-1943. Only on September 29-30, 1941, the Nazis executed 33 thousand Jews here.

In 1976, a monument to shot citizens and prisoners of war was erected near Babyn Yar, which for a long time remained the only monumental embodiment of the tragedy. In 1991, a memorial sign "Menorah" in the form of a Jewish ritual seven-century candlestick was installed directly at the burial site. In 2001, a monument to the dead children was opened.

In 2007, the complex of monuments in the Babyn Yar tract was declared a national historical and memorial reserve.

Since 2016, the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center has been building a large museum-memorial complex on the territory of the reserve. In particular, in 2020, the installation "Mirror field" was opened, in 2020 - the symbolic synagogue "A place for reflection", as well as the installation "Looking into the past" dedicated to the Kurenivka tragedy.

Every year on September 29, mourning events take place in Babyn Yar.

In December 2024, UNESCO included the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve on the International List of Cultural Properties under Enhanced Protection.

Bila Tserkva Museum of Local Lore presents a large collection of objects of material and spiritual culture of the Southern Kyiv region.

The museum was founded in 1924 by local historian Stepan Drozdov-Myshkivskyi on the basis of his own collection of antiquities. The museum is now housed in an original constructivist building erected in 1983 on Castle Hill opposite the Church of Saint John the Baptist, near the foundations of the ancient Church of Saint George in the time of Prince Yaroslav the Wise.

The exposition consists of nine chapters that tell about the nature of Southern Kyiv, the ancient history of the region, the events of the Polish-Lithuanian era and the Cossacks, the heyday of the city in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the development of industry and education, the Soviet era and modernity.

Among the most valuable exhibits of the museum: the Scythian sword akinak, a unique Chernyakhiv lamp with the image of a human face, ancient Rus women's jewelry. Valuable relics of the Cossack times are the flag of the Cossack Hundred of the Bila Tserkva Regiment, a mace, a bunchuk, timpani and weapons. The basis of the collection of numismatics are Roman coins, Kyiv hryvnias, money of the Cossack era. The art department presents icons, paintings and sculptures of the XVII-XX centuries from the Branytsky collection. Visitors are especially interested in the recreated interiors of housing of different segments of the population at that time.

A modern reconstruction of the Church of Saint George, which gave the city its current name, was built on the Castle Hill of ancient Saint George near the Bila Tserkva Museum of Local Lore. A monument to the city's founder, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, has been erected on the observation deck above the Ros River.

 Earthen ramparts and a defensive moat have been preserved at the home of the historical Hillfort  Bilhorod on the bank of the river. Irpin in present-day Bilohorodka.

The city of Bilhorod was founded in 990 by the Kyiv prince Volodymyr the Great as a princely residence and became one of the key strongholds of ancient Kyiv's defense against Pecheneg and Polovtsy raids.

According to the legend, during one of the long Pecheneg sieges, the people of Bilhorod dug two wells, lowered a barrel of jelly into one of them, and a barrel of honey into the other, and invited the Pechenegs to negotiations. Seeing that the land itself feeds the besieged, and they can hold out for a long time, the Pechenegs decided to lift the siege.

In 991, the first church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built in Bilhorod, and soon an episcopal chair was founded in Bilhorod. Later, the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles was built, the remains of which were discovered by archaeologists.

In 1240, Batya's hordes destroyed Bilhorod.

Currently, the ramparts of the fortress can be seen both at the entrance to Bilohorodka from the Kyiv side and at the exit in front of the bridge over Irpin.

100 meters from the monument at the foot of the shaft next to the bridge, you can see a spring, which is associated with the legend of the wells.

The estate with a park in Kmitiv Yar on Tatarka in Kyiv served for some time as the residence of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Mykyta Khrushchev, and since then it has been called "Khrushchev's dacha".

The construction of the first manor house, according to the project of the architect Mykola Kazansky, for the apothecary assistant Octavian Bilsky, began here in 1893. This house has remained unchanged.

After the revolution and nationalization, the manor was set up as a government residence. In 1934-1937, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR, Vsevolod Balytskyi, one of the organizers of the Holodomor in Ukraine, lived here. It was the heyday of the park - a complex of park bridges, gazebos, park sculptures, and artificial lakes were built.

After the liberation of Kyiv in 1943, Mykyta Khrushchev settled here. With him, the park continued to sparkle with its luxury - bears lived in a small castle above the precipice, peacocks walked around the park.

After Khrushchev's departure to Moscow, the estate remained the residence of the first secretaries of the party's central committee. In 1978, the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology moved to the building near the park, and its administration was located in the country houses.

Today, the park has preserved only the remnants of its former luxury and is in a rather neglected state. Entrance through the passage from Platon Mayboroda Street. Free entrance.

The Branitsky Winter Palace served as the city residence of the count family in Bila Tserkva, while in the summer the Branitskys lived in a country palace on the territory of Oleksandriya Arboretum.

The two-story building in the style of classicism was built at the end of the 18th century on the bank of the Ros River to the west of Castles Hill. The main facade is decorated with a four-column portico of the Ionic order.

Now the building of the former Branitsky Winter Palace houses the Art School named after Yuriy Pavlenko. Almost no interiors have been preserved.

A small, elegant country palace surrounded by a park was built at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries by Crown Hetman Frantsysk-Ksaveriy Branytskyi, the founder of the Oleksandriya Park in Bila Tserkva.

A bas-relief above the portal reminds of Branytskyi's romantic relationship with his wife Oleksandra.

In the basement next to the palace, according to legend, the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God from Rudoselska appeared to Stanislav Zalevskyi, the new owner of the estate.

To this day, the palace has survived in a deplorable state and continues to crumble.

The Pereyaslav City Gymnasium was built in the 19th century and originally belonged to the complex of buildings of the Ascension Monastery. The brick building, which housed the dormitory of the seminary until 1917, still impresses with its monumentality.

Until 1941, it housed an orphanage, and during World War II, it housed the German commandant's office. During the war, the building lost most of its magnificent decor. After restoration, in 1958, the educational building of the pedagogical school was opened there.

In 2000, the building was reorganized into primary school No. 6 and a gymnasium, then into the Pereyaslav Academic Lyceum named after Ivan Mazepa.

The cultural and entertainment complex "Mamayeva Sloboda" in Kyiv is a reconstruction of a Cossack village of the 18th century. Located in the "Vidradnyi" park, near the sources of the Lybid River.

There are 98 different objects on the territory of 9.2 hectares, the wooden church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos occupies a prominent place among them. There is also a Cossack chieftain's tenement house, a regimental treasury in the Ukrainian Baroque style, a palanka (Cossack outpost), a blacksmith's and a potter's manor, a tavern, and many other ethnographic objects that reproduce the life of Cossacks.

The complex is named after the legendary Cossack Mamay, one of the most popular characters in Ukrainian folk tales. On major holidays, folk festivities take place here. It is possible to organize wedding ceremonies in the national style, as well as various corporate events.

The former building of the Institute of Noble Maidens is located on the hill dominating Khreshchatyk in Kyiv, which offers the best view of Maydan Nezalezhnosti.

The building of the institute was built according to the project of the architect Vikentiy Beretti, and was the property of the Kyiv noble assembly. The institute provided general education, aesthetic and ethical education, graduates were given the right to work as tutors in noble and merchant families. Mykola Kostomarov, Oleksiy Stavrovsky, Vitaliy Shulhyn, Mykola Bunhe, Mykola Lysenko, Yosyp Vytvytsky and others taught here. Natalya Zabila, Olena Pchilka, Natalena Koroleva, Thalberр sisters (singer and pianist) studied at the institute at different times.

During the Soviet rule, the building was occupied by various institutions, including the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR. A memorial cross was erected in honor of repressed Ukrainians, the creation of a museum is being discussed.

Currently, the building of the former Institute of Noble Maidens has the status of the International Center for Culture and Arts (the former "Zhovtnevy Palace"), the audience hall is used for public and cultural events, the annex houses the first high-tech cinema "Kinopalats" in Kyiv.

In front of the entrance is the "Alley of Stars", on which the names of prominent Ukrainians are placed.

Eternal Glory Park in Kyiv was opened in 1957 on the site of the ancient Commandant's Garden on the slopes of the Dnipro.

The central place of the complex is occupied by the Memorial of Eternal Glory to the soldiers of the Second World War, which is a 27-meter obelisk made of dark marble. At its foot is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, over which an eternal fire burns. The Alley of Fallen Heroes leads to the obelisk with 34 graves of soldiers who distinguished themselves with special valor during the war.

The monument was created according to the project of architects Avraam Miletskyi, Volodymyr Baklanov and Volodymyr Novikov.

In 2008, a memorial complex commemorating the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was opened next to the park.