Attractions of Kyiv

The elegant building of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, which now adorns the European Square in Kyiv, was built in 1882 by architect Volodymyr Nikolayev as a club of the city's Merchants' Assembly.

Balls, charity events, concerts took place here. The columned hall of the Philharmonic Hall has unique acoustics, Chaykovsky,i Rakhmaninov, Shalyapin performed here.

In 1991-1996, a full-scale restoration of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine was carried out.

The date of the founding of the wooden Church of the Nativity of Christ in Podil in Kyiv is established by tradition. It is first mentioned in written sources in 1520.

The stone structure of the Nativity of Christ Church was built on Poshtova Square in 1809-1814 according to the project of architect Andriy Melenskyi.

In 1861, the people of Kyiv bid farewell to the ashes of Taras Shevchenko, who were being transported from St. Petersburg to Kanev, in the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

The Nativity of Christ Church on Podil was destroyed by the Bolsheviks in the middle of the 20th century and restored in 2003 in its original form.

The church in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nicholas the Good) in Kyiv was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by the hetman of the Zaporizhzhia Army, Matviy Kushka (Samiylo Kishka), to thank God for his rescue from Turkish captivity.

According to one of the versions, the "good" church was nicknamed for its neighborhood with the almshouse. In 1716, the temple was rebuilt in stone, and a stone bell tower was erected nearby. In 1800-1807, according to the project of the architect Andriy Melenskyi, a new stone temple in the style of classicism was built on the site of the fallen church. In 1913, the writer Mykhaнlo Bulhakov married his first wife, Tetyana Lappa, in the church of Nicholas the Good.

The temple was destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1937, but the bell tower was preserved. In 1992, an altar was installed in the bell tower, and it was consecrated as the Church of Saint Nicholas. The congregation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church conducts divine services there.

Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex (NSC) is the main sports arena of Ukraine. It is the main venue for home football matches of the national football team of Ukraine.

The Central Stadium of the city of Kyiv (formerly the "Republican Stadium") is located in the very center of city, at the foot of Cherepanova Hill. Its slope served as the basis for the construction of the southern and eastern tribunes of the Red Stadium named after Lev Trotskiy, which was first opened in 1923. Already in 1936, according to the project of the architect Mykhaylo Hrechyna, the reconstruction of the stadium began with bringing the capacity to 50,000 spectators, but due to the Second World war, the opening took place only in 1946.

After another reconstruction in 1966-1968 with the completion of the second tier of stands, the stadium began to accommodate 100,000 spectators, becoming one of the largest in the USSR and Europe. It was modernized twice, and in 2011, the Olimpiyskiy NSC Stadium opened after a complete reconstruction for the Euro-2012 football championship.

The central part of the stadium is a large sports arena with a football field, athletic tracks and two-tier stands for spectators. The capacity was reduced to 70,000 seats due to the expansion of aisles to sectors, VIP boxes, places for commentators and places for people with disabilities. A canopy of modern material was built above the stands, covering all seats.

In 2013, the Olimpiyskiy NSC History Museum was opened, where posters of historical matches, balls used by great athletes, 3D models and interactive installations of events, rare exhibits from the 1980 Olympics and much more are presented.

Excursions are available by appointment, during which visitors are shown the Olympic courtyard, the arena and the football players' locker rooms.

The complex also houses the Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Museum and the Klitschko Brothers Sports Achievements Museum.

Park "Pochayna" in Kyiv is located on the banks of the legendary Pochayna River (the right tributary of the Dnipro), which is currently a system of Opechen lakes connected by collectors

The source is Lake Redkine (Ministerske). The point of confluence with the Dnipro is Volkovata Bay a little south of the Pivnichniy Bridge.

In ancient times, the mouth of the Pochayna was located in the area of ​​the current Poshtova Square, where the Kyiv harbor was located. According to legend, it was in Pochayna that Prince Volodymyr Svyatoslavych of Kyiv baptized the people of Kyiv in 988.

In 2016, activists of the "Pochayna" community initiated a project to revive the historic river. A small section of the channel near the "Pochayna" metro station was cleared and arranged. In 2017, the Kyiv City Council decided to create a 10-hectare Pochayna Park.

Literary Memorial Museum-Apartment of Pavlo Tychyna was opened in 1980 in the house where the prominent poet and statesman lived in Kyiv from 1944 to 1967.

It was during this period that he worked as Minister of Education, then was Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Soviet Ukraine. Tychyna's apartment was located on the second floor, but the museum was originally located on the first floor, and only in 1990, on the 110th anniversary of the poet, the museum was given his memorial apartment №3.

The exposition of the museum is deployed in five rooms of the apartment, in which the authenticity of the interiors and the atmosphere is preserved as much as possible, which creates the effect of "the presence of the owner". The main part of the exposition consists of memorial items of Pavlo Tychyna, which were handed over to the museum by his wife Lydia Petrivna.

His books, musical instruments, art collection and personal drawings are stored in the study. The master bedroom and the room of Pavlo Hryhorovych's mother-in-law, Kateryna Kuzmivna Paparuk, are very cozy. Pavlo Tychyna Memorial Library has more than 20,000 items of printed materials. The exposition of the living room reflects the life of the Ukrainian creative intelligentsia of the middle of the XX century. It is here that the museum holds various creative events.

The souvenir shop offers books by Pavlo Tychyna, souvenirs with the museum logo.

In the same building is the Literary Memorial Museum-Apartment of Mykola Bazhan, who was a neighbor of Tychyna.

The pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Volodymyrsky descent in Kyiv is called the "Klitschko Bridge" in honor of the initiator of the project, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.

It was opened for Kyiv City Day in 2019, and since then it has immediately become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the capital. The reinforced concrete bridge on four piers has a length of 212 meters (in some sources – 216), the height of the highest pier is 32 meters. The bridge has a winding canvas, on each of the two main bends there are viewing platforms with glass windows in the floor and observation binoculars.

A pedestrian and bicycle bridge connects Volodymyrska Hill with the Arch of Friendship in Khreshchaty Park. It is a key part of the tourist route through Kyiv parks from Landscape Alley to Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Petra Sahaydachnoho Street is the main thoroughfare of the old part of Podil, one of the most colorful streets in Kyiv.

Connects Kontraktova Square with Poshtova Square. It was part of the Podil-Pechersk highway. It is named in honor of hetman Petro Sahaydachnyi, whose monument is erected in the park on Kontraktova Square.

On weekends and holidays, Sahaydachnoho Street becomes a pedestrian zone, with many shops and cafes.

In the central part is the Balabukh Estate (27 Petra Sahaydachnoho Street).

The equestrian monument to Hetman Petro Sahaydachny was installed in the square at the intersection of Sahaydachnoho Street and Kontraktova Square, near the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

A hero of the Cossack era, a talented commander, a champion of Orthodoxy, hetman of the Zaporizhzhia Army, Petro Sahaydachny also became famous in the field of enlightenment and philanthropy. With the active participation of Sahaidachny, the Orthodox hierarchy was restored in Ukraine in 1620, which had been abolished after the Brest Church Union in 1596. In particular, he financially supported the Kyiv sister school - the future Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and after his death in 1622, he was buried on the territory of the academy - in the Kyiv Bratsky Epiphany Monastery.

The monument to Petro Sahaydachny was created by architects Mykola Zharikov, Ruslan Kukharenko and sculptor Valeriy Shvetsov. The funds for the construction of the monument were collected by the residents of the city of Kyiv, as well as the residents of the village of Kulchyntsi in the Lviv region, where Sahaydachny is from.

Poshtova Square in Kyiv is a connecting link between the Upper Town, Pechersk, and Podil. This is where the piers of ancient Kyiv were located, which were later replaced by the River Station.

The square owes its name to the Post Office (1850-1860s), from which the main building has survived. The decoration of Poshtova Square is the Church of the Nativity of Christ (1809-1814), restored in the years of independence. Across the street from it is the lower station of the Funicular (1905), which connects Podil with the Upper Town.

In recent years, the appearance of Poshtova Square has changed significantly due to high-rise buildings.

The post office in Podil is the oldest surviving post office in Kyiv.

The one-story building in the classicist style was built in 1853-1865 as the main building of the Podil post station complex, which was of particular importance due to its location in the busiest shopping district of the city with the largest bazaars, handicraft and industrial enterprises, the Kontraktovy Fair and the pier.

Since 1999, the exhibition "To the history of self-government in Kyiv" - the Museum of Magdeburg Law has been housed in the Post Office building. The museum's collection includes various rare photographs of Kyiv, archival documents, icons, paintings, postcards of the old city.

The museum also displays archaeological finds, including coins and Kyiv faience.

The monument to Prince Volodymyr the Great is the oldest sculptural monument in Kyiv, one of the symbols of the city.

In the 1840s, the so-called decoration of the Volodymyr hill was made. Before that, its irregular slope constantly threatened to slide onto the Volodymyrsky (at that time Oleksandrivskyi) mountain. The mountain was strengthened and an intermediate terrace was arranged on it.

In 1843, the famous sculptor Vasyl Demut-Malynovsky prepared a "Project for the construction in the city of Kyiv on the highest steepness of the corner of Oleksandrivska Hill, above the place where the baptism of the Rus people took place - a monument to the Holy Rivnoapostolic Prince Volodymyr." The solemn opening of the monument took place only after 10 years of public discussions and agreements.

The 16-meter-high octagonal pedestal is made of brick and lined with cast iron, the sculptural design with the scene of the baptism of Rus, the image of the Archangel Michael, was made by the sculptor Petro Klodt. Illumination of the cross turned out to be a good idea, thanks to which the monument was visible from the opposite bank of the Dnipro even at night. At first, gas horns were used for this, but in 1895, at the expense of patron Semen Mohylevtsev, electric lighting was made from several dozen light bulbs. The lighting, lost during the Soviet era, was restored at the end of the 20th century.

The monument to Princess Olha, Apostle Andriy, Kyryl and Mefodiy is erected on Mykhaylivska Square in Kyiv, opposite the Saint Michael Golden-Top Cathedral.

The monument was first opened in 1911. The concrete sculptures of the princess and two enlighteners were sculpted by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze, and the apostle by Petro Sniikin. During the Soviet era, the monument was destroyed - the sculptures were broken and buried.

In 1996, after excavations in the square, it was possible to find parts of the broken figure of Princess Olha. The monument was restored according to photographs by sculptors Vitaliy Sivko, Mykola Bilyk and Vitaliy Shyshov. This time the figures were carved from white marble and placed on a pink granite plinth.

The monumental ensemble of Princess Olha was solemnly opened on May 25, 1996, on Kyiv Day. And the found pieces of the old monument were fastened together and placed in the sculpture park of Ivan Kavaleridze on Andriyivskyi Uzviz.

A monument to hetman Pylyp Orlyk was erected on Pechersk in Kyiv to the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Pylyp Orlyk is the author of the document "Pacts and Constitution of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhzhia Army" from 1710, which is considered the first Ukrainian Constitution of Cossack times.

The sculpture depicts the hetman signing a document. The spatial composition of the elements of weapons, art and statehood is placed on both sides of the alley, which allows you to pass through it and get acquainted with each element separately.

The monument was created by the author's collective of sculptor, People's Artist of Ukraine, full member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Anatoliy Kushch, and honored architect of Ukraine, member of the Academy of Architecture, Oleh Stulakov.

The National Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and Revolution of Dignity Museum is being created in Kyiv in memory of the participants of the protest actions of 2013-2014, who died during the attempts of the then government to stifle popular protest in Ukraine.

To date, we know of 107 deaths at the hands of security forces and their mercenaries.

The memorial complex unites the places where the revolutionary events of that time took place, in particular on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Yevropeyska and Mykhaylivska squares, Instytutska, Hrushevskoho and Khreshchatyk streets (information stands have been installed at the relevant locations).

The main element of the complex should be the Revolution of Dignity National Museum on the Heavenly Hundred Heroes Alley (preparation for construction is ongoing). The temporary exhibition is available in the Information and Exhibition Center of the Maidan Museum, located on two floors of the Trade Union Building. Here you can see the original things of Maidan citizens from the time of the Revolution of Dignity, photos and videos of those events. The museum collection also includes handmade barricades, self-defense items, protest art, and more.

Thematic exhibitions are held in the Gallery of Protest Art on Lypska Street. The administration of the museum is located on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.