Attractions of Kyiv region

Ukrainian Culture and Art Center in Kyiv was established in 2005 with the aim of reviving national customs and traditions.

Here children are taught the technique and culture of embroidery, weaving, painting and other types of decorative and applied art, as well as being introduced to ancient customs and rituals.

Since 2011, the Center of Ukrainian Culture and Art has had its own building in Podil, where a gallery of traditional Ukrainian art is housed, exhibitions and various events are held.

The water tower and the carriage house building adjacent to it in Shpytky were built at the beginning of the 20th century.

The complex was part of the Tereshchenko estate, which has not been preserved. A manor cellar also remained on the territory of the manor park.

Hydropark in Kyiv is one of the most popular summer vacation spots on the Dnipro River, convenient thanks to the metro station.

It is located on the site of Predmostova slobidka, which arose near the first Kyiv Chain Bridge and was nicknamed "Venice of Kyiv". The modern recreation complex unites the Venetian and Dolbetsky islands.

The Hydropark has many beaches, attractions, sports fields, restaurants, cafes, and nightclubs.

The private museum of Vasylkiv majolica opened in 2021 in the "Passage" shopping center in Vasylkiv.

It was founded by public activist Lyudmila Shkulkova on the basis of her own collection of products of the Vasylkiv majolica factory.

The factory was founded in 1934 in Vasylkiv, which has long been known as one of the centers of pottery in the Dnipro region. Many masters of artistic ceramics worked at the factory, including Prokip Bidasiuk, Nadiya and Valery Protoriev. In the second half of the 20th century, the factory was one of the leading enterprises of the art industry of Ukraine, its products participated in exhibitions of decorative art in many countries around the world.

Many samples of products are presented in the exposition of the museum: wall plates, services, kumans, vases, jugs, mugs, candlesticks, decorative sculptures. Among them is the famous "Borodianka rooster", which became a symbol of the indomitability of Ukrainians during the Russian armed aggression. Its authorship is attributed to Prokip Bidasyuk, but it is more likely the work of Valeriy Protoryev.

The exposition is available for external inspection at all times, but tours must be arranged in advance.

The old part of the building of the current Vasylkiv Secondary School No. 1 is a synagogue built in Vasylkiv in 1812.

Later, a Jewish school was located here. After the Second World War, a comprehensive school was opened in the premises of the former synagogue. For some time, a museum operated under it.

Vasylkiv Museum of Local Lore is located in the building of the House of Culture in the center of Vasylkiv.

The museum funds include 1,200 exhibits. Ancient tools, weapons, jewelry, and other archaeological material from the Stone Age, Trypillya culture, Scythian times, and Ancient Rus are presented, collected in particular during excavations near Vasylkiv settlement during the archaeological expedition of 1985.

The ethnographic exposition presents work tools, dishes and clothes used by Vasylkiv residents in the past.

There are also departments of collectivization in the 1920s and 1930s, cultural development of the Vasylkiv region, World War II, decorative and applied arts.

The Vasylkiv majolic factory is a former enterprise of the porcelain and earthenware industry, where highly artistic handmade ceramic dishes were produced.

The enterprise arose in Vasylkiv on the basis of a group of artisans who in 1928 created the "Keramik" craft. Since 1931, pottery began to be painted with Ukrainian national ornaments, dishes began to take on a look close to majolica. Since 1960, the Vasylkiv majolica plant has become one of the leading enterprises of the Ukrainian art industry, its products were sold all over the country.

In 2005, a private enterprise "Vasylkiv Majolic" was established on the basis of a part of the factory's production premises, which continued the traditions of the production of majolica dishes in an ethnic style. Excursions were conducted for children's groups.

Unfortunately, the Vasylkiv majolic factory finally ceased to exist in 2019.

The Cathedral of Anthony and Theodosius in Vasylkiv is an example of Ukrainian Baroque architecture.

The cathedral in honor of Saints Anthony and Theodosius was built in the middle of the 18th century by the serf of the Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra, Stepan Kovnir, by order of the Lavra Archimandrite (according to legend, an underground passage was laid from the Vasylkiv Cathedral to the Lavra).

From the outside, it resembles the Kozelets Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. Gables with cornices of double curvature are considered a characteristic detail of architecture (sculptor Talyanets).

Paintings by Vasyl Bibibkov have been preserved in the interior. The main shrine is the miraculous icon of the Three-Handed Mother of God.

The Astronomical Observatory of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University is one of the oldest university observatories in Ukraine, which has existed since 1845.

At different times, outstanding scientists worked in the observatory, who made a number of astronomical discoveries. In particular, in 1969, the Churyumov-Herasymenko comet was discovered, which in 2014 became the first in history to be landed on by a spacecraft.

The observatory's main building is built in a simplified style of late classicism, has the shape of an octagonal tower. The observatory complex also includes a meridian circle pavilion, a horizontal solar telescope pavilion, three brick pavilions, laboratories and living quarters.

The Astronomical Museum has been operating since 1990, and its collection includes 20,000 objects. The exposition presents devices and instruments, photographs and personal belongings of employees, manuscripts, documents, drawings, star charts, observation journals and old publications. In particular, you can see a portable telescope from 1838, an astograph from 1895, a meridian circle from 1870 and other astronomical instruments of the past.

During the excursions, you can participate in astronomical observations on the operating telescopes of the observatory. Excursions are conducted by appointment.

The majestic cathedral in honor of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God was built in Boryspil at the end of the 20th century according to the project of the archbishop of Cherkasy and Kaniv Sophronius.

The cathedral has four thrones: the central throne is consecrated in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God, the right aisle is in honor of the miracle of Archangel Michael in Khony, the left one is in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the lower church is consecrated in honor of the holy pious princes of the martyrs Boris and Hlib.

It belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

A spectacular equestrian monument to the Soviet military leader Mykola Shchors stood from 1954 to 2023 on Tarasa Shevchenko Boulevard in the city of Kyiv, where Shchors was appointed commandant in 1919. Dismantled as part of decommunization after long discussions and public pressure.

The monument was located at the intersection of Shevchenka Boulevard and Symona Petlyury Street, which leads to the Central Railway Station. Until 1926, a monument to Count Oleksiy Bobrynskyi, the organizer of the construction of the railway in Kyiv, stood on this place.

The heroization of the personality of division commander Mykola Shchors, who was of little significance in the history of the Soviet-Ukrainian war, began in 1935 at the initiative of Yosyp Stalin, who wanted to create a propaganda image of the "Ukrainian Chapayev". Shchors commanded the 1st Ukrainian Soviet Division, which captured Kyiv in February 1919 and fought with the troops of Symon Petlyura's Ukrainian People's Army, Denikinians and units of the Ukrainian Galician Army. Shchors died near Korosten under unexplained circumstances (he was probably shot by his associates).

The monument to the red commander was erected 18 years after the relevant government decree was issued, and was erected for the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Council. According to legend, 20-year-old student Leonid Kravchuk - the future president of Ukraine - posed for the sculptors Mykhaylo Lysenko, Vasyl Boroday and Mykola Sukhodolov.

In 2015, the Shchors monument came under the influence of the law "On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols", but a few years before that it was entered into the State Register of immovable monuments of cultural heritage of national importance, which prevented its immediate dismantling. After long public discussions and under the pressure of public activists, in 2023 the monument was removed from the state register and dismantled.

The sculpture was sent for storage to the State Aviation Museum named after Oleh Antonov.

The ancient wooden church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin is located in the northern suburb of Vasylkiv, at the entrance to the city from the Kyiv side.

Built in 1859. A small building with two baths is characterized by a successful composition and plasticity of forms. Consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the second half of the 20th century.

A small park in the central part of Vasylkiv is called "Venice", where an elongated pond, similar to a canal, has been created. Some resemblance to Venetian canals is provided by openwork bridges thrown over it.

On the shore of the pond stands a small neo-Gothic building of a children's art school with two pointed towers.

In the center of the park there is a monument to Afghan soldiers.

The Saint John's Monastery in Mala Soltanivka was founded in 2004 at the expense of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in honor of John of Kronshtadt. Part of this church united with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, but the monastery in Mala Soltanivka is being built by the part that does not recognize this union.

The Saint John's Monastery is the largest monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) in the world. After the construction is completed, it will be the largest in Ukraine. Currently, there are 6 churches here, as well as a male and female hermitage. The monastery is modern and everything is modern in it: building materials, furniture, and computers.

Currently, the Security Service of Ukraine, at the request of a deputy, is conducting a pre-trial investigation into the high treason of the Saint John's Monastery in Mala Soltanivka.

The Church of Saint Nicholas in Vasylkiv combines features of classicism with characteristic elements of the Baroque. It is famous for its rich decoration, paintings of the 19th century and a wonderful carved iconostasis.

The architectural monument is an active Orthodox church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Near the Saint Nicholas Church is a spring discovered by Saint Theodosius. A chapel was built above it.