Attractions of Kyiv

The pompous building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Mykhaylivska Square in Kyiv appeared in 1938 on the site of the ancient Church of the Three Saints.

It was the first building of the government complex of the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, which was planned to be built on the space from Mykhaylivska to Sofiyivska Square. In 1934, the Saint Michael's Gold-Domed Cathedral was demolished to clear the space under the Government Square, and the demolition of Saint Sophia of Kyiv was planned.

The first building for the Central Committee of the CP(b)U was built according to the project of the Leningrad architect Yosyp Lanhbard. The second twin building was to be built on the site of Saint Michael's Cathedral. A giant monument to Lenin was supposed to be placed between them. The implementation of these barbaric plans was prevented by the war. The Germans did not use the building. After the war, it again housed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

Currently, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The largest collection of works of Ukrainian painting, sculpture and icon painting from the XII-XX centuries is the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) in Kyiv - one of the oldest and largest museums in Ukraine. Its museum funds number about 40 thousand exhibits.

The neoclassical museum building at the beginning of Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv was built in 1899 by architect Vladyslav Horodetskyi specifically for the Kyiv Art, Industry and Science Museum. It was officially opened in 1904 with the assistance of patrons and art connoisseurs Khanenko, Tereshchenko and others. After the historical exposition was separated in 1934, only a collection of fine arts remained in the museum.

The oldest exhibit of the National Art Museum is the polychrome wooden relief "Saint George with life" of the XII century of Byzantine origin. Among the pearls of Ukrainian baroque art: Bereznyanskyi iconostasis (1760s, Chernihiv region), the icon "Shroud with a portrait of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi" (first half of the eighteenth century), Cossack portraits of the XVIII century and one of the largest collections in Ukraine popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth. centuries of folk paintings " Cossack Mamay".

Modern art is represented by the works of prominent Ukrainian artists Taras Shevchenko, Mykola Pymonenko, Oleksandr Murashko and others. Among the outstanding achievements of the Ukrainian avant-garde are the works of the world-famous sculptor Oleksandr Arkhipenko and the founder of the monumental artistic style "Boychukism" Mykhaylo Boychuk. The paintings of artists of the Soviet period: Fedir Krychevskyi, Tatyana Yablonska, Mykola Hlushchenko, and others are of great artistic value.

Also in the National Art Museum of Ukraine you can see the original sculptures "Samson with the Lion" and "Andrew the First-Called" from the stone rotunda on the Podil.

The National Historical and Architectural Museum "Kyiv Fortress" was established in 1927 on the basis of part of the fortifications of one of the world's largest surviving stone and earth fortresses.

The history of the Kyiv fortress in Pechersk begins in the second half of the XVII century, when the Cossacks under the leadership of Hetman Ivan Samoylovych built an earthen quadrangular fortress with a fence around the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Larger fortifications were carried out during the reign of Peter I, when the laurel was surrounded by a stone wall with loopholes and four towers at the expense of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, and later a more perfect fortress with nine earthen bastions was added to it.

In 1831-1856, the New Pechersk Fortress was built, consisting of the Kyiv-Pechersk Citadel, Vasylkivsky and Hospital fortifications, separately located defensive towers, barracks, arsenal workshops and other buildings.

One of the key defense nodes of the Kyiv Fortress was the Hospital Fortification, which has been perfectly preserved to this day - the Main Military Clinical Hospital is located on its territory.

The Kosyi caponier, located outside the main shaft of the Hospital Fortification, houses the Kyiv Fortress Museum with expositions "History of Fortification in Ukraine" and "History of the Use of Kyiv Fortress Buildings", an exhibition "From Nuclear to Shell", as well as an open-air exposition from defensive ramparts, fortress wall caponiers and ancient guns.

Parts of the museum complex "Kyiv Fortress" are the Spassky bastion of the Kyiv-Pechersk citadel and the largest in Europe Lysohirsky fort with an area of almost 120 hectares in Holosiyvskyi district of Kyiv.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON ACCESSIBILITY: The exhibits of the Kyiv Fortress Museum are equipped with ramps, all stairs and thresholds are marked with yellow paint. There is an information and demonstration stand with a coating for tactile perception of the contours of the Hospital Fortification (with buildings, ramparts, ditches, escarpment wall). Information is available in Ukrainian and English, as well as in Braille in Ukrainian and English. In the museum's exposition, visitors have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with museum items using tactile stands, which contain information about the exhibits, printed in Ukrainian and Braille. Also, the stands have QR codes for receiving audio information. In addition, tactile 3D models of museum items are located in the halls of the Kyiv Fortress Museum. You can order an adapted tour, and for a more detailed self-guided tour, there is a museum guide in Braille.

The Church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is the first in Ukraine to be built on water.

It is located near the Saint Elijah Church in Podil (a number of historians believe that the baptism of Rus took place in this place). Construction near the Kyiv river station was started in 2003 at the initiative and at the expense of the Ukrrichflot company, and a year later the church was consecrated.

The church in honor of the heavenly patron Saint Nicholas of annuals was erected in the Dnipro water area on stilts, 15 meters from the embankment. The height is 23 meters.

The Museum of One Street is dedicated to the history of Andriyivsky Descent, the most famous and colorful street in Kyiv.

Founded by the literary search association "Mayster", whose activists decided to reveal to visitors some secrets of Andriyivsky Descent, to acquaint with its most famous inhabitants, to recreate and preserve a special aura that surrounds this romantic street - Mecca of artists, writers and other creative people.

The "One Street Museum" has reconstructed the interiors of some typical rooms, demonstrating the peculiarities of the life of Kyivans in the 19th century. Separate expositions are dedicated to Mykhailo Bulhakov, Fotiy Krasytsky, Ivan Kavaleridze, and others.

In 2002, the One Street Museum was named one of the best museums in Europe. Historical, documentary and art exhibitions are held regularly.

Park-Museum "Ukraine in Miniature" is an open-air exhibition of models of the most famous sights of Ukraine in Kyiv.

Collected in the park area on the banks of the Dnipro, on the territory of the Hydropark. The exhibition opened in 2006 as the park "Kyiv in miniature". About 50 models of famous Kyiv buildings, monuments and structures on a scale of 1:33 have been collected on an area of 1.8 hectares. All models are made of modern synthetic material, but require regular maintenance due to environmental exposure.

At the moment, the "population" of mini-Kiev is almost 1,000 figurines of residents. It has its own Khreschatyk and Independence Square, and the mini-Dnipro is crossed by four bridges: Northern, Pedestrian, Metro, and Southern. In the parks and squares of the mini-city there are monuments to figures of culture, politics and art of Ukraine, and five planes from different countries of the world landed at the airport.

Recently, the exposition has been replenished with models of the most famous monuments of other cities of Ukraine. Among them are the famous Crimean palaces, Chernivtsi University, Kachanivka palace and park complex, Donbas Arena stadium and others.

Park-museum "Ukraine in miniature" works all year round.

The pharmacy museum is located in Kyiv in the old Podil district near the Florivsky Monastery. It is located in the historic building of the city's first private pharmacy, which was opened in 1728 by the German pharmacist Yohann Heyter, but it went down in history as the "Bunhe Pharmacy" (after the surname of Heyter's son-in-law, the young German pharmacist Heorh-Fridrikh Bunhe).

Four generations of the Bunhe family owned the pharmacy and continued the pharmaceutical business. In 1871, the great-granddaughter of the founder of the first Kyiv private pharmacy Heyter, the granddaughter of the founder of the famous Kyiv Bunhe family, the daughter of a pharmacist, the widow of a pharmacist, and in the past the owner of the pharmacy herself, 70-year-old Yelyzaveta Tetsner, sold her estate with the old pharmacy building and outbuilding to the family of the college assessor Kostyantyn Vasylchykov.

At the end of the 20th century, the pharmacy building was restored, the interiors of the pharmacy of the 18th-19th centuries were recreated, and exhibitions were created. The collection was collected bit by bit, from different regions of Ukraine, ancient pharmacies of Western Ukraine, and in 1988 it opened its doors as a pharmacy-museum.

Today, the museum exposition of the pharmacy-museum is presented in 12 thematic halls. In the "Trade Hall", thanks to the preserved interiors and pharmacy relics, you can feel the atmosphere of a pharmacy that served people hundreds of years ago. "Apothecary's Office" gives an idea of ​​the work of a pharmacist and demonstrates the working environment of a pharmacist. The majestic oak cabinets of the "Library" store ancient pharmaceutical textbooks that are over 300 years old. Along the walls of the "Laboratory" are antique cabinets with multi-colored flasks and bottles filled with alcohol-soaked specimens of fauna (crabs, snakes, eels and other creatures), from whose organs ancient pharmacists created unique medicines. The "Antique Hall" with its classic atmosphere, where antiquity is combined with an elegant interior and exhibits, transports you to the atmosphere of ancient culture.

A separate hall is dedicated to the dynasty of the pharmacy's founders - the Bunhe family. The hall's exposition tells about the prominent family of Heorh Bunhe, who had 12 children: 8 sons and 4 daughters. In 1784, Heorh and his sons were entered into the noble family book of the Kyiv province. The descendants of this family became famous doctors, scientists, travelers and political figures, making a significant contribution to the development of medicine and science.

The basement of the Pharmacy Museum houses unique artifacts found during the exploration of the underground passages that run under the building. Among the unique artifacts are not only fragments of Scythian and Greek ceramics from the 4th–3rd centuries BC, but also a sensational find from the pre-Christian period: 300 human skulls, which, according to researchers, belonged to warriors sacrificed to the god Perun. The "Alchemist's Cabinet" is also located here, the mystical atmosphere of which has always surrounded representatives of the 15th century alchemist guild. Under the ancient vaults of the rabbit "Wine Cellar" cozy tea parties are held, where guests can taste herbal preparations according to ancient recipes, and soap-making workshops are held, during which you can create your own natural soap using traditional ingredients and techniques.

One of the most romantic halls of the Pharmacy Museum in Podil is the "Home Church". Here, the owner of the estate, Heorh-Fridrikh Bunhe, being a believer, held services for the German Lutheran community of Saint Catherine.

The "House of the Healer" is dedicated to folk medicine - herbs smell fragrant, a fire burns in the stove, herbs are spread out on a wooden table, and dishpans for dishes hang above the benches. All kinds of healer's utensils are collected here, in particular, a trough for soaking herbs, towels-amulets, household treasures - pots, mortars, mills, tubs, nightshades, bags, bunches of plants, roots. The healer's hut is a real laboratory of the folk healer.

The "Apothecary Gardens" hall introduces visitors to the history of the creation of special areas for growing medicinal herbs.

One of the most beautiful and romantic buildings of pre-revolutionary Kyiv - Pidhorsky's house - is sometimes called the "Baron's Castle" by Kyivans.

The house on the corner of Yaroslaviv Val and Lysenko Street, near the Golden Gate, was built at the end of the 19th century by order of the Polish landowner Mykhaylo Pidhorskyi (architect Mykola Dobachevskyi) in the modernized Gothic style popular at the time. The house is crowned with a high spire, the facade is decorated with sculptures of fantastic animals.

It was nicknamed the "Baron's Castle" not only because of its characteristic "knightly" appearance, but also because the house next to it really belonged to Baron Rudolf Steinhel, and many believed that the baron owned both houses.

Pidhorsky's house was profitable. On the first floor there was a confectionery cafe "By the Golden Gate" (then a cinema hall), and on the remaining floors there were residential apartments that were rented out.

The extravagant building has survived to this day in an almost unchanged form. Stucco molding, beautiful fireplaces and other decorative elements have been preserved in many rooms of the house. Throughout the Soviet period, it housed communal apartments.

Pidhorsky's house is currently in private ownership and is being restored. On the first floor, there is a gallery of differences "Miracle Icons of Athos" with copies (lists) of the most famous Athos icons: "Abbess of the Holy Mount of Athos", "Sweet Kiss", "All-Empress", "Rejoice and Consolation", "It is Worthy", "The Quick Obedient" ”, “Iverska” (or “Vorotarnytsia”), “Triruchnytsia” and others.

The complex of buildings of the Presence places was erected in the middle of the 19th century on the site of city fortifications.

The project was developed by architects Ivan Shtrom, Mykhaylo Ikonnikov and Ksaversh Skarzhynskyi. In 1900, the building was reconstructed by adding a third floor.

The bureaucratic apparatus of pre-revolutionary Kyiv, including the judicial and police departments, was located here. In Soviet times, the premises retained their purpose, and the address "Korolenko, 15" (the former name of Volodymyrska Street) became a common name.

Currently, the building houses the regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Court of Appeal and other authorities.

Pushcha-Vodytsia is a suburban resort village on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, the most famous country area near the capital. Even in the 11th century, the princes of Kyiv loved to hunt in the forests of Pushcha-Vodytsia ("Pushcha" means a dense forest, Vodytsia is the name of a small river).

In 1724, state forestry was created, and in the 1890s, the city council, on the initiative of entrepreneur and public figure Mykola Chokolov, founded the country village of Pushcha-Vodytsia.

In 1904, anti-tuberculosis sanatoriums were built, and later general health sanatoriums, a tram line and a telephone connection were laid. In the pre-revolutionary years, maivkas were held here. The sanatorium-resort profile was preserved in the village even in Soviet times. More than 60,000 people were treated here during the year. He received elite status thanks to the departmental "Tsekiv" sanatorium "Pushcha-Ozerna". By the mid-1990s, most of the sanatoriums had closed, many areas with forest areas fell into private ownership, but some examples of summer cottages from the beginning of the 20th century were preserved.

The neo-Gothic building under the mountain Uzdyhalnytsia on the Andriyivsky descent bears the romantic name "Castle of Richard the Lionheart", built on the order of the merchant Dmytro Orlov as a profitable house.

According to legend, the builders, dissatisfied with the payment, specially planned the ventilation in such a way that the wind would howl in the pipes, which led to rumors of ghosts in the house.

During Soviet times, bohemians lived here. In 1992, Richard's Castle was purchased by an American investor for a hotel, but due to problems with local authorities, the reconstruction was suspended.

The chapel in honor of Saint Andrew the First-Called Apostle, who, according to legend, foretold the foundation of Kyiv, was built on the slopes of the Dnipro near Askold's grave.

The construction was carried out at the expense of the Public Fund of Saint Andrew the First-Called, the project was developed by the architect Mykola Zharikov. The temple facing upwards is made in the style of a modern interpretation of the Ukrainian Baroque. According to the peculiarities of style and territorial affiliation, the Saint Andrew chapel was included in the Lavra complex.

A commemorative sign in honor of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ has been installed nearby. Across the road from the church, a monument to Andrew the First-Called (architect Mykola Zharikov) was opened in 2000. The monument is made of a solid block of granite. The pedestal in the upper part is stylized as clouds, which emphasizes the holiness of the apostle.

The Saint Dimitry Church on Podil in Kyiv was founded in the 17th century as the church of Equal-to-the-Apostles Kostyantyn and Olena.

The beginning was wooden. In 1742-1750, according to the project of the famous architect Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi, the stone Kostyantyn and Olena temple with a bell tower and a refectory of the Saint Dimitry church was built.

In the 1930s, the main church was destroyed by the Bolsheviks, but the refectory building, which housed the school gym for a long time, was preserved.

Currently, the Church of Saint Dimitry belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, reconstruction is planned with the restoration of the lost dome.

The gloomy Neo-Renaissance building of the Zemska Administration, built on the order of the provincial authorities, in Soviet times was transferred to the NKVD department, then the KGB. During the German occupation, it served as the premises of the CD.

The entire block around the building is equipped for the needs of the secret police, including temporary detention cells.

The building still retains its profile - the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is located here.

The caisson of the Stalinist metro is a huge reinforced concrete structure in the Natalka Park in Obolon, which is popularly nicknamed the "Concrete Ship" for its characteristic shape, reminiscent of a submarine with a cockpit.

This is "Title No. 12" - one of the objects of the so-called "Construction No. 1", as mentioned in secret documents, a project of an underground transport system duplicating railway bridges across the Dnipro in the Kyiv region. Currently, the object is known as "Stalin Metro". Two railway tunnels to the south and north of Kyiv (now within the city limits) were intended to ensure reliable, safe and secret transfer of troops and cargo between the right and left banks of the Dnipro.

The construction of the Northern tunnel in the area of present-day Obolon began later than the construction of the Southern tunnel in the area of Zhukiv Island. At the beginning of the Second World War, in 1941, underground work had not yet begun.

A reinforced concrete tunnel and caisson section remained on the surface of the earth near the bank of the Dnipro, designed to sink into the soil and create an underground working chamber for the work of walkers in water-saturated soils.

Since the information about "Construction No. 1" remained secret until recently, the history and purpose of the "Concrete Ship" - a caisson on Obolon was overgrown with many urban legends. The further fate of the building has not yet been determined.