Attractions of Kyiv region

Trukhaniv Island is one of the most favorite vacation spots of Kyiv residents.

According to legend, the island was named after the Polovtsian khan Tuhorkhan, because at the end of the 11th century it was the residence of his daughter - the wife of the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk.

For a long time this land was uninhabited, from the 19th century it began to gain popularity as a recreation area with the Central Beach. In the 1950s, it was connected to the Right Bank of the Dnipro by a suspended pedestrian bridge, which vibrates noticeably underfoot when there is a large crowd of people.

The Trypillia Ethno-Historical Complex is located in a picturesque place above the Dnieper Bay in the village of Trypillia in the Kyiv region, opposite Divych Hill. This is a private museum and entertainment institution of a modern format, which in an interactive form introduces the history and culture of Ukraine from the earliest times.

Back in 2006, the famous collector Oleksandr Polishchuk together with the architect Volodymyr Lazorenko, the artist Anatoliy Haydamaka and the historian-fiction writer Yuriy Shylov opened the private historical and archaeological museum "Ancient Aratta-Ukraine" at this place. The basis of his exposition was Polishchuk's personal collection of household items of Trypillya culture.

After a long break, the museum reopened in 2023 in a new format. The exposition on three floors introduces the archaeological findings on the territory of Kyiv region and the intangible cultural heritage of the region.

On the first floor of the museum, you can visit the Ukrainian room and the handmade hall, where ancient looms, spindles, as well as a large collection of ancient embroidered shirts, towels, and carpets are presented. Fossils of the first living organisms and animals that were found on the territory of Ukraine are exhibited in the hall of the Ediacaran period. The exhibition of Cucuteni-Trypillya culture presents ceramics of the Trypillya type (mostly passportless and unattributed). The exhibition hall is currently exhibiting the Motanka dolls of the craftswoman Yuliya Petrenko.

The Residence-Museum of Saint Nicholas opens in a separate building in winter. There is a cafe with a fireplace in the Ukrainian style, where children's master classes, tea ceremonies, themed events are held, lunches are offered to the order of tourist groups. In addition to regular excursions, the museum conducts quests. The souvenir shop sells handmade products.

The Park of Trypillya sculpture is considered a business card of the city of Rzhyshchiv, which disputes with the village of Trypillia for the informal title of the capital of Trypillya culture.

Trypillya Park was created in the square in front of the building of the Rzhyshchiv City Council and the new cultural center in 2003-2004 at the initiative of the local authorities. The central element of the park is a large sculpture in the form of a Trypillya binocular vessel by the sculptor Anatoliy Haydamaka. This ritual vessel also became the central element of the new coat of arms and the main symbol of Rzhyshchiv.

The park also features female statuettes and other enlarged Trypil figures by sculptors Mykola Bilyk, Mykola Sivak, Volodymyr Sholudko and others.

The tulip tree or tulip liriodendron is not directly related to tulips - it is a relative of the magnolia.

It comes from the north-east of America, where it reaches a height of 50-60 meters. It has a leaf of an unusual shape - without a tip. The tree got its name thanks to the delicate yellow-green flowers, similar to tulips.

In Vorzel, a tulip tree was planted in 1914 at the manor of Zherebtsov, secretary of the Kyiv Zemstvo Administration. This tulip tree is one of the largest in Ukraine (they say that there are only two of them in the country, but in fact there are about 30). Its height is about 30 meters, and the diameter of the trunk is more than one meter. Blooms in late May - early June.

The building of the two-class school in Hermanivka was built in 1883 according to the project of the prominent Kyiv architect Volodymyr Nikolayev, the author of the building of the National Philharmonic.

Now it is Hermanivka gymnasium.

The first monument in Ukraine to hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi, who was deposed from the hetmanship during the Black Council (Chorna Rada) held in Hermanivka in 1659, was installed on the territory.

One of the largest art museums of Ukraine and a treasury of Ukrainian cultural heritage is the Ukraine National Decorative Art Museum  in Kyiv (used to be called the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art).

It is located on the territory of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" in the premises of the former metropolitan chambers and the Annunciation Church adjacent to them, which are architectural monuments of the 18th - early 20th centuries.

The museum collection was founded in 1899 as one of the components of the collection of the newly created City Museum of Antiquities and Arts, renamed in 1904 to the Kyiv Art, Industrial and Scientific Museum.

Now the museum collection consists of more than 78,000 works of traditional folk and professional decorative art of Ukraine from the 15th century to the present day. The main rarities of the museum: a wooden carved cross in a silver frame of 1576, clay tiles of the XV-XVII centuries, items of church sewing of the XVIII century, products of the leading porcelain and earthenware enterprises of Ukraine of the XVII-XIX centuries.

The pride and decoration of the collection are complexes of Ukrainian folk costumes of the 19th and early 20th centuries from all regions of Ukraine, where the art of cutting, weaving, embroidery, appliqué, punching, weaving, leather and metal processing are combined in a single artistic ensemble. Traditional women's jewelry attracts attention: dukachi, coral, Venetian necklace, beadwork.

Also, the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art has the largest collection of paintings by prominent Ukrainian folk artists Kateryna Bilokur and Mariya Prymachenko.

The Ukrainian Costume and Easter Egg Museum was opened in 2007 in one of the buildings of the Nemishaieve Agricultural Technical College on the initiative of teacher Tamara Uhnivenko. The institution operates on the basis of the Scientific and Methodological Center of Higher and Vocational Pre-Higher Education.

The exposition presents 50 men's and women's national costumes of the mid-19th - early 20th centuries from all regions of Ukraine, as well as household and wedding towels with traditional ornaments.

A significant place in the exposition is occupied by a collection of 3,000 Easter eggs of 27 types. Pottery and carving, weaving, and embroidery products are also presented. The exhibition of charms is of particular interest.

Thematic excursions and master classes on pysankari are held.

The Ukrainian Gram Records Museum opened in 2023 on the territory of the "Singing Field" cultural and artistic complex. The original exhibition was created by the Kyiv City Center of Folk Art at the initiative of Ukrainian musician Ivan Moskalenko (DJ Derbastler), one of the pioneers of the Ukrainian electronic scene.

The museum's collection contains treasures of Ukrainian music on various soundcarriers. More than 400 exhibits tell about the history of gramophone records and various aspects of the musical culture of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Sixtiers Dissident Movement Museum in Kyiv opened in 2012 in the building that houses the party "People's Movement of Ukraine".

The Art Nouveau mansion with a lion sculpture on the facade was built in 1907-1908 by architect Ihnatiy Ledokhovsky. Before the Bolshevik coup of 1917, housed the surgical hospital of Dr. Ihnatiy Makovsky. In 1911, the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, Petro Stolypin, died in the Makovsky clinic, mortally wounded by a terrorist during a performance at the Opera House.

Since 1999, the central office of the People's Movement of Ukraine, one of the oldest political parties in Ukraine, whose founders were the famous Ukrainian sixties Vyacheslav Chornovil, Ivan Drach, Mykhaylo Horyn and others, moved to the building. Their political and human rights activities began during the "Khrushchev thaw" in the USSR in the 1960s, but later some of the sixties were repressed.

The Sixtiers Museum was opened on the basis of the collection collected by the activists of the sixties public organization. The exposition includes about 20,000 exhibits.

The Ukrainian Sixtiers Dissident Movement Museum is a branch of the Kyiv History Museum.

The Hrebeni Historical and Local Lore Museum bears the name of its founder, local historian Vasyl Kalynovskyi. It was on his initiative that the museum in Hrebeni was opened in 1967.

The exhibition presents fragments of ceramics of Trypillya culture, jewelry and tableware from the times of Kyivan Rus, weapons of the 16th and 17th centuries, materials about the events of the Second World War, ancient household items of local residents, photographs and documents of famous residents of Hrebeni: writer Oles Berdnyk, bandurist Vasyl Lytvyn and others.

The art gallery exhibits the works of local artists, sculptors and folk craftsmen. A collection of sculptures from the Soviet period is presented.

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.

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 historical and local lore museum of the Velyki Pritsky village was opened in 2016 on the initiative of the local journalist and poet Nadiya Vehera-Predchenko. It is located on the second floor of the building of the Velyki Pritsky village council.

The exposition presents objects, documents and materials about the history, culture and life of the village. A prominent place is occupied by the collection of embroidered towels, which includes more than 150 specimens. More than 100 scarves, many ancient women's and men's embroidered shirts are also collected.

Materials are presented about the villagers who participated in the Soviet-Afghanistan war, liquidation of the consequences of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident, and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

A separate exhibition is dedicated to the achievements of the local agricultural enterprise "Kolos".

A memorial to the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 was erected on the outskirts of Obukhiv in 2008.

During the famine organized by the Soviet authorities in Ukraine, every fourth resident of Obukhiv died of starvation. In general, according to the estimates of local historians, the Holodomor took the lives of up to 3,000 residents of Obukhiv.

The author of the monument to the victims of the Holodomor is the Ukrainian artist-monumentalist Anatoliy Haydamaka.

Victoria Films Studio near Kyiv is one of the largest and most modern film studios in the country, engaged in the development, production and post-production of film and television projects.

The filming location of the film studio on the territory of 36 hectares is located on the outskirts of the village of Hurivshchyna, 15 kilometers from Kyiv. Large-scale real-life sites are located here: "Village", "Old Town", "Prison", "Lake", "River", "Field". There are also shooting pavilions, prop warehouses, a park of game vehicles, etc.

But the most attention is attracted by the entrance gate of the Victoria Films Studio in the form of a fairy-tale castle, reminiscent of Cinderella's castle in Disneyland. The gate is guarded by stylized figures of the Alien and the Predator over 3 meters high.

Access to the territory is closed, excursions are not conducted.