Attractions of Kyiv

The Kyiv Literary and Memorial Museum of Maksym Rylsky was opened in 1966 in the building next to the Holosiyivsky Park in Kyiv, where the outstanding Ukrainian poet lived the last 13 years of his life, from 1951 to 1964.

It was here that he wrote his most famous poetry collections "Roses and Grapes", "Winter Notes", "Evening Conversations".

The living room, office and library of Maksym Rylsky have been preserved in the building. In three more halls, there is a biographical exposition that illuminates the life and creative path of the poet.

In total, the museum's funds include more than 10,000 items. It is possible to listen to recordings of the poet's voice.

The house is surrounded by a garden and flower beds, created by the hands of Maksym Rylsky. A monument to the poet has been installed in front of the house.

The first interactive museum of mathematics in Ukraine "Cuboid" opened in 2025 on the territory of the National Complex "Expocenter of Ukraine" (VDNG) in Kyiv. This is a space for studying mathematical phenomena through experiments with interactive exhibits.

The goal of the museum is to show how mathematical laws work in nature, technology and everyday life. Here visitors can get acquainted with the laws of geometry, algorithms, probability theory and other mathematical phenomena on their own experience.

The exposition is located on two floors and consists of six thematic zones, each of which is a separate educational laboratory for schoolchildren and teachers. There are 120 exhibits that become little scientific adventures for visitors. For example, "Penalty Kick" teaches how to analyze angles and trajectories, and "Skyscraper" helps to understand the principles of engineering through building simulations.

With the help of the "Storm Warning" exhibit, you can analyze weather data, record your own weather forecast and save it for yourself. The "Cybersecurity" exhibit allows visitors to enter an online computer game where they have to defend themselves against attackers such as computer bugs and viruses.

In addition to the exhibits, the Museum of Mathematics offers educational programs for two main groups - educators and children. They are available both in person at the museum and online for everyone.

The MIA of Ukraine Museum opened in 2004 in the premises of the National Academy of Internal Affairs in Kyiv. The exposition tells about the activities of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine from the times of Kyivan Rus to the present day.

In particular, in the museum you can learn about the work of the General Secretariat of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian People's Republic during the time of the Central Council, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian State under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi, law enforcement agencies of the Soviet period and the modern Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Photographs, documents and personal belongings of famous law enforcement officers are presented; the most important legal acts related to the creation, organization and activity of law enforcement agencies; awards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; samples of weapons and uniforms of different historical periods.

Collections of cold and firearms seized from criminals, counterfeit money and documents, as well as the tools used to make them, materials of high-profile criminal cases, physical evidence, etc. are exhibited.

There is a separate hall dedicated to the participation of units of the MIA of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Miniland Railway Miniature Museum is the largest railway model in Ukraine, which opened in 2022 in the Blockbuster shopping center in Kyiv.

On an area of 87 square meters, exact moving copies of dozens of trains, hundreds of real buildings and natural objects of Ukraine, as well as about 1,500 figurines of people are presented. All objects on the model are made as realistic as possible on a scale of 1:87. In particular, you can see models of Olesko Castle, Ivano-Frankivsk Railway Station, Buky Canyon, Trypillia TPP, etc. The model has a system of automatic regulation of train movement and dynamic lighting that simulates day and night conditions.

The Miniland Museum is constantly replenished with new exhibits, which are mini-copies of real objects from all over Ukraine.

Monitor "Zheleznyakov" - a legendary warship of the Second World War, which became famous during the fighting on the Danube, the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov. It went through the entire war, receiving the nickname "elusive" among the people.

Monitors are low-sided armored artillery ships designed for combat operations in shallow water. Monitor SB-37 was built in 1934 at the Kiev shipyard. Named by the Soviet authorities in honor of the Russian anarchist and rebel Anatoliy Zheleznyakov.

Monitor "Zheleznyakov" met the Second World War as part of the Danube Flotilla and fought until victory.

In 1965, it was installed on a pedestal on Rybalsky Island, immediately behind the Havansky Bridge.

The monument to the heroes of the cartoon "There once was a dog", based on the Ukrainian folk tale "Sirko" by director Eduard Nazarov, is located in the center of Kyiv near Peyzahnna Alley.

The author of the work, Vinnytsia sculptor Volodymyr Zayets, depicted the Wolf and the Dog sitting under a festive table with a bottle of moonshine, the inscription "Many years" and a thigh. The sculpture is carved from linden, varnished and treated with special wood protection solutions that protect it from atmospheric influences.

the sculptural composition "There once was a dog" complements a number of works located on Peyzahnna Alley.

The monument to tank soldiers on Shulyavka in Kyiv is better known among Kyivans simply as the "tank monument".

The legendary T-34 tank of the Second World War was installed on a pedestal in 1968 in honor of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, which liberated Kyiv from fascist occupiers during the Second World War.

The monument is a 43-meter-long concrete strip (a symbol of front-line roads), at the end of which is a T-34-85 medium tank with serial number 111, which participated in the liberation of Kyiv. It is interesting that a combat vehicle with a full crew and a calculation of paratroopers on board reached the place of eternal parking and climbed the pedestal on its own.

In 1982, the monument to the tankers was supplemented with stelae with soil from the hero cities of the USSR.

On April 10, 2022, immediately after the de-occupation of Kyiv Region during the Russian-Ukrainian war, activists and security forces of Kyiv removed the names of Belarusian and Russian hero cities, which received this title after the Second World War, from the ceilings near the monument. Instead, the names on the steles were replaced with the names of the hero cities of Ukraine: Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Volnovakha, Okhtyrka, Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel and Mariupol.

The Taras Shevchenko Memorial Building-Museum on Priorka in Kyiv, a department of the Shevchenko National Museum, is called "House at Priorka".

The poet lived here for some time in 1859, during his last stay in Kyiv, waiting for permission to leave for St. Petersburg.

The museum exposition recreates the life of the Kyiv suburbs of the second half of the 19th century. Most of the things exhibited in the house were handed over by residents of Priorka, descendants of those people who personally met Shevchenko.

A 400-year-old oak still grows near the house, under which, according to contemporaries, the poet liked to sit.

The Museum "Mansion at Kudryavka" (the former Pushkin Museum) was opened in Kyiv in the two-story building of 1816, where the writer Mykhaylo Bulhakov lived as a child.

The interiors of the residence reproduce the atmosphere and represent the life and everyday life of the city in the first half of the 19th century. Here you can see furniture, fabrics, porcelain, glass, beaded embroideries, engravings of the 18th-19th centuries and other things characteristic of the life of the nobility of that time.

The exhibition was based on the "Pushkinian" collection of the researcher Yakiv Berdychevsky, who donated it to the city in 1987. In total, more than 1,200 exhibits are presented. The pearl of the collection is a copy of the magazine "Contemporary" (1836, volume two) with a censorship permit signed by the censor Krylov. No less valuable are the poet's lifetime publications, such as separate sections of the novel in verse "Yevheniy Onyehin", which were published as so-called "notebooks" for seven years before the publication of the full text of the work in March 1833.

Currently, the team of the museum "Mansion at Kudryavka" is working on the development of the structure and the filling of the new exposition, in part, repair and restoration works are being carried out, which the museum premises desperately need.

Since 1975, the Museum of Books and Publishing of Ukraine has been located in the building of the monastery printing house of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which has been operating continuously for over 300 years - from the beginning of the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century.

The exposition covers the history of domestic books and book business from the times of Kyivan Rus to the present day. Among the oldest manuscripts are the "Gospel of Reims" (XI-XIV centuries), the "Ostromir Gospel" (1056) and an integral attribute of the inauguration of the Presidents of Ukraine "Peresopnytsia Gospel" (1556-1561), examples of translation and orig. literature of Kyivan Rus.

Among the unique monuments of printing are the first Ukrainian printed book "The Apostle" (Lviv, 1574) and the first Slavic "Bible" (Ostroh, 1581), published by Ivan Fedorov.

You can also get acquainted with rare editions of Ukrainian printing houses: fraternal, monastic and private.

The two exhibition halls periodically display art, book and illustration, photo exhibitions, as well as events dedicated to important events in the cultural life of Ukraine and abroad.

The institution offers a museum-pedagogical event "Game in a fairy tale" for children's groups.

The Museum of Occupation of Kyiv was founded in 2008 and is located on the territory of the Partisan Glory Park of Culture and Recreation. Covers the most dramatic periods of the city's life - from the beginning of the Ukrainian Revolution in 1917 to the restoration of Ukraine's independence in 1991, when the country was under occupation by various states. The exposition reveals the themes of ideologies of different occupation regimes, their policy of occupation terror against citizens, their purposeful destruction of the urban environment. Photographs and documents, personal belongings of the direct participants in the events, leaflets and newspapers of different periods of occupation, samples of weapons and military equipment of those times, maps and diagrams are presented.

Visitors are also invited to view the interactive VR-exhibition "Babyn Yar".

The Museum of the Occupation of Kyiv is a branch of the City History Museum.

The Museum of Popular Science and Technology "Experimentanium" in Kyiv is a scientific and entertainment center, where the laws of science and the phenomena of the surrounding world are clearly and easily demonstrated.

The permanent exposition of the museum has about three hundred interactive exhibits and covers the main sections of physics studied at school: mechanics, molecular physics, electricity and magnetism, optics, acoustics.

The exhibits are designed so that visitors can conduct experiments that illustrate the work of a law of nature. One of the most interesting exhibits is a Tesla plasma ball, which demonstrates crisp experiments with high voltage.

On the second floor Experimentanium there is a cozy cafe.

The first state science museum was opened in 2020 by the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on the territory of the VDNH National Expocenter of Ukrainein Kyiv. The exposition demonstrates the most important scientific achievements of mankind, the laws of nature and their interaction in an understandable and accessible form.

The museum space is divided into five zones, where you can get to know individual branches of science. The "Strange Matter" zone is dedicated to materials science and work with the tiniest particles of matter - molecules and atoms. In the "Acoustics" zone, you can see your voice and hear it through acoustic mirrors. Interactive tables in the "Human" area allow you to look inside living organisms. The "Optics" zone invites you to discover the world of color and learn what light is made of. In the "Great Inventions" zone, you can see a bicycle with square wheels and learn about the discoveries of four of the most famous Ukrainian scientists.

Acquaintance with the exhibits takes place in the form of free exploration of the space without the help of tour guides, but interpreters work near the exhibits, who are happy to help find answers to all questions.

The Museum of Theater, Music and Cinematography of Ukraine was founded in Kyiv in 1923 as a theater museum at the Berezil Art Association, headed by a prominent figure in the Ukrainian theater Les Kurbas.

It is located on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, in an adapted room of the former Lavra infirmary.

The exhibition tells the history of theater in Ukraine from its inception in ancient folk art to the early twentieth century. The creative activity of the constellation of luminaries of the Ukrainian theater is presented: Marko Kropyvnytsky, Mykhaylo Starytsky, Ivan Karpenko-Kary, Mykola Sadovsky, Panas Saksahansky, Mariya Zankovetska.

A separate exhibition is dedicated to the life and career of the genius Ukrainian actor and world-class director-innovator Lesya Kurbas.

The exhibition "Ukrainian Film Genesis" presents the history of the origin and formation of national cinema.

The museum also has unique collections of Ukrainian folk musical instruments and rare Ukrainian nativity scenes with dolls.

Sightseeing, thematic and interactive music excursions, children's master classes are carried out.

The Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora, which tells about the fate of Ukrainian immigrants, is located in an ancient Kyiv mansion of the 19th century.

Here are presented documents, photographs and some personal belongings that once belonged to Ukrainian artists, writers, and musicians who at various times were forced to leave their homeland.

Several halls of the museum are dedicated to the work of immigrant artists: Lyudmyla Morozova, Oleksa Bulavnytsky, Vadym Dobrolizh and others. The largest exposition is dedicated to the life and work of the famous ballet master and dancer Serzh Lyfar.