Attractions of Kyiv

The Museum of Railway Transport, which opened in 2011 at the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi station, presents an exhibition of rolling stock of historical locomotives and carriages. The museum covers various stages of development of railway transport in Ukraine: pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern. The exposition presents three steam locomotives (series L, Er, СО17), four passenger and four freight cars, a water column and an operating traffic light. Of great interest is the equipment of saloon cars for senior officials: the personal car of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party V. Shcherbytsky (1957) and the car of the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire P. Stolypin (1910), on which he arrived in Kiev in fateful 1911, where he was killed.

The "House on the Priory" is called the Taras Shevchenko Memorial House-Museum on the Priory in Kyiv, a department of the National Shevchenko Museum. The poet lived here for some time in 1859, during his last stay in Kiev, waiting for permission to leave for St. Petersburg. The exposition of the museum recreates the life of the Kyiv suburbs of the second half of the XIX century. Most of the items on display in the house were donated by residents of Priorka, descendants of those who met Shevchenko in person. Near the house still grows a 400-year-old oak, under which, according to contemporaries, the poet loved to sit.

The Literary Memorial House-Museum of the outstanding Ukrainian actress, the first People's Artist of Ukraine Maria Zankovetska tells about the life and work of the representative of the luminaries of the National Ukrainian Theater of the late XIX - early XX centuries. Zankovetska spent the last years of her life in Kyiv, living in the house of her sister Lidia Karnaukhova. The first museum was organized in 1960. In 1980, the original architectural monument was destroyed, but 9 years later the house was restored to its original form and opened a renovated museum. The historical and biographical part of the exposition presents manuscripts, photographs, play posters, stage costumes and personal belongings of the actress. The memorial part recreates the interior of Maria Zankovetskaya's apartment, which consisted of three rooms: an office, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. The rooms are mostly furniture and things that belonged to the hostess. On the ground floor there is a museum living room and an exhibition hall.

The Mykhailo Hrushevsky Historical and Memorial Museum in Kyiv was opened in 1992 in a three-story building that the Hrushevsky family purchased in 1908. Prominent Ukrainian historian, politician and public figure, Chairman of the Central Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic Mykhailo Hrushevsky has lived here for many years with his brother Oleksandr, daughter Kateryna and nephew Serhiy Shamray. Many figures of the Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921 visited Hrushevsky here. The premises of the Hrushevsky House have preserved an authentic atmosphere: interior decoration, stairwell, parquet, window fittings, wooden terraces. The exhibition presents furniture, household items, personal documents, manuscripts, a complete collection of works by Hrushevsky and publications edited by him. In the daughter's room there are two rarities – a photo portrait of the historian, given to him by students on the day of the 60th anniversary, and a picturesque portrait of Kateryna Hrushevska by Ivan Trush. Also in the exhibition you can see a clock from the office of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, English porcelain and Mezhyhirya faience from the collection of the Hrushevsky family. The museum is located in a closed courtyard (entrance through the arch), surrounded by a garden, which was the decoration of the estate during the Hrushevsky period. The museum regularly holds evening events "Hrushevsky Coffee Stories" and others.

The museum of the outstanding Ukrainian sculptor, film director and playwright, People’s Artist of Ukraine Ivan Kavaleridze opened in 1993 in a house on Andriyivsky Descent in Kyiv, where the artist worked on a project of a monument to Princess Olga in 1911. The museum has about 3.5 thousand exhibits. The exhibition presents projects of monuments, easel sculptures, in which the sculptor refers to the image of Taras Shevchenko, Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Shalyapin, Ambrose Buchma, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykola Amosov and other prominent personalities. The museum also exhibits materials that highlight the life and career of Ivan Kavaleridze. The sightseeing tour includes the artist's memorial room, where furniture and his personal belongings are exhibited. Visitors are shown digital copies of Kavaleridze's films.

The National Museum of Arts named after Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko in Kyiv presents the world art of Europe, Asia and the Ancient World in Ukraine. The exposition is based on the artistic collection of the Khanenko family – prominent Ukrainian entrepreneurs, collectors and philanthropists of the XIX-XX centuries. The museum is located in their family mansion, built in the late XIX century in the style of historicism using artistic features of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo.

The Khanenko Museum represents about 4,000 years of art development in different parts of the world, more than 1,000 works in a permanent exhibition. Western European art of the XIV-XVIII centuries is represented by the works of such masters as Francois Boucher, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacques-Louis David, Giovanni Bellini and others. Among them are two masterpieces of Spanish painting - "Still Life with a Chocolate Mill" by Juan Surbaran and "Portrait of Infanta Margarita" by Diego Velázquez. The Khanenkos themselves valued the painting "Venus Dedicates Bacchanalia in the Secret of Love", which was attributed to Titian, but modern researchers have concluded that it is only an imitation of the master of an unknown Venetian artist of the XVII century.

The museum also has a huge collection of art from the Middle and Far East: Japanese Nets, Chinese porcelain, Persian rugs and Tibetan bronze sculptures. A small collection of artifacts from South America and Africa is presented.

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 Kiev fortress in Pechersk begins in the second half of the XVII century, when the Cossacks under the leadership of Hetman Ivan Samoilovych built an earthen quadrangular fortress with a fence around the Kiev-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, Vasylkiv and Hospital fortifications, separately located defensive towers, barracks, arsenal workshops and other buildings.

One of the key nodes of defense was the Hospital Fortification, which is perfectly preserved to this day - on its territory is the Main Military Clinical Hospital. The oblique 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 are the Spassky bastion of the Kyiv-Pechersk citadel and the largest in Europe Lysogirsky fort with an area of almost 120 hectares in Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv.

The Museum of the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin in Kyiv was opened in 1999 on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the poet. The exhibition is based on the collection of researcher Yakov Berdychevsky, who during his lifetime collected materials about Pushkin and donated them to the city in 1987. The museum was housed in a two-story building from 1816, which the poet himself had never been to (only Pushkin's mansion at 14 Hrushevskoho Street is associated with Pushkin's stay in Kyiv), but it was in this house that the writer Mikhail Bulgakov lived as a child. The interiors of the apartment recreate the atmosphere of the Pushkin era. Here you can see furniture, fabrics, porcelain, glass, beadwork, engravings of the XVIII-XIX centuries and other things that are characteristic of the life of the Russian nobility. In total, more than 1,200 exhibits are presented. The pearl of the collection is a copy of the magazine Sovremennik (1836, volume two) with censorship permission signed by censor Krylov. No less valuable are the poet's lifetime editions, such as individual chapters of the novel in the poems "Eugene Onegin", published in so-called "notebooks" for seven years before the full text of the work in March 1833.

The Kyiv Planetarium of the Knowledge Society of Ukraine is one of the largest planetariums in the CIS. Founded in 1952 by world-famous astronomer S. Vsekhsvyatsky. For the needs of the planetarium then converted the church of St. Alexander (later returned to the faithful). By 1988, a new building had been erected next to the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex. The star hall of the planetarium has a dome with a diameter of 23 m and a height of 11.5 m. It can accommodate up to 320 spectators. In the center of the hall is the main device - "planetarium", a machine for demonstrating stars and celestial phenomena. Auxiliary projectors are used in the Star Hall for more efficient programs. The kaleidoscope of planetary encounters under the starry sky includes art programs and educational lectures to help the school curriculum in astronomy, geography and science. The possibilities of the planetarium allow us to explain the laws of nature with great clarity. The new AtmaSfera360 cultural and entertainment center with a spherical cinema, a play area and an art playground operates at the Kyiv Planetarium.

The exhibition of achievements of the Klitschko brothers was organized on the initiative of the official fan club of athletes. The brothers presented about 70 of their exhibits for the exhibition, including their championship belts, gowns, boxer shorts, medals, cups and other honorary trophies. Vitali Klitschko also presented his star of the Hero of Ukraine and the Order to the museum. Visitors to the exhibition are shown a film about the most outstanding episodes of the Klitschko brothers' career. With the help of modern multimedia equipment, museum visitors can feel the atmosphere of boxing matches.

The ArtPrichal Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kyiv has opened under the new Havana Bridge, near the -21-2 berth. The curator of the gallery is a famous photographer O. Ktitorchuk. The gallery is located under the arches of the bridge, the structures of which are painted with bright graffiti. ArtPrichaly hosts exhibitions of paintings and photographs, presents art installations by contemporary artists and sculptors, organizes dance parties, hosts film festivals and holds master classes.

The Museum-Exhibition Center "Kyiv History Museum" is a multifunctional complex representing various historical, artistic and cognitive projects. Founded in 1978, until the end of the Soviet era it was located in the building of the Klovsky Palace in Pechersk, then huddled for a long time on two floors of the Ukrainian House. Today the museum is housed in a modern building on the corner of Khmelnytsky and Pushkinskaya streets.

The museum's collection includes about 300,000 exhibits that are part of the archaeological, numismatic, ethnographic collection, as well as thematic complexes of the modern period. These are Kyiv monuments of the late Paleolithic period (Kyrylivska parking lot), and archeological finds of the Stone Age, Bronze Age (Trypillia culture), found by Ukrainian scientists during archeological excavations in Kyiv; rare Byzantine stone icons and unique frescoes from the excavations of the Prince’s Palace of Ancient Kyiv; relics of Kyiv self-government, in particular, seals of Kyiv craft shops and a symbol of city self-government – a bas-relief of Archangel Michael from the city hall.

The decoration of the collection is a collection of old prints of the XVI-XVII centuries, collections of faience and porcelain of the Kyiv-Mezhyhirya factory and Miklashevsky factory, paintings by Mykola Prakhov and Oleksandr Murashko. Typical interiors of a noble living room of the beginning of the XIX century, a musical living room with a collection of musical instruments of the XVIII-XIX centuries, a craft room, a Swedish workshop, a photo studio of the beginning of the XX century are presented.

In the inclusive museum space with ramps and elevators, specialized tours "Kyiv to the touch" are conducted.

National Museum "Kyiv Art Gallery" opened in 1922 in the former house of Kyiv industrialist and philanthropist Fedir Tereshchenko, located opposite Shevchenko Park and the main building of the Shevchenko National University. The mansion was built in 1880-1884 by architect Vladimir Nikolaev, designed by Andrei Gun. From the beginning, the architects planned a hall to house a public art gallery with lighting through the glass ceiling. The basis of the museum fund was the Tereshchenko family's own collection of paintings. A significant part of it are works relating to n art culture.

The collection includes more than 13 thousand works of painting, sculpture, graphics, decorative and applied arts. The exhibition reflects all stages of development of n painting from the XIII century to the present day. Works by Borovikovsky, Vasnetsov, Shishkin, Ge, Tropinin, Aivazovsky, Repin, Vereshchagin, Nesterov, Kuindzhi, etc. are presented, including world-class textbook masterpieces. The pride of the museum is a unique collection of works by Mikhail Vrubel, including "The girl on the background of the Persian carpet" (1886), "Oriental Tale" (1886), illustration to the poem by Mikhail Lermontov "Demon" (1890). There is also a fairly large collection of works by many great masters of almost all former republics of the USSR.

A monument to the artist Ilya Repin has been erected in front of the entrance to the gallery. In the courtyard of the museum there is a monument to the Russian Emperor Alexander II, which stood before the revolution in the lobby of the Alexander Library (according to urban legend, it is a monument to Nicholas I, which stood in the park on the site of the current monument to Taras Shevchenko).

The Holy Dormition Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is the oldest monastery in Rus, one of the main Christian centers of Ukraine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery complex is located on the Pechersk hills above the Dnieper in Kyiv and is the architectural dominant of the historical landscape of the Kyiv mountains.

Kyiv Pechersk Monastery was founded by St. Anthony of Pechersk in 1051, under Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Initially, it was a complex of manually dug underground passages and rooms on the territory of the present Far Caves. In 1062 the first ground structures appeared, and at the end of the 11th century – the Upper Lavra complex. Assumption Cathedral (1073-1089, restored in 2000) – the oldest stone building of the monastery, where Prince Konstanty Ostrogski is buried. The Great Lavra Bell Tower (1731-1745), 96.5 m high, is the tallest bell tower in Ukraine, and for a long time was the tallest building in Kyiv and all of Eastern Europe (374 steps, open to the public). Trinity Gate Church (1107) was built at the expense of Prince Svyatoslav Davidovich (Nicholas Svyatoshi), preserved wall paintings of the XVIII century. The Church of the Savior in Berestov (XII century) served as the tomb of the Monomakhovych family, the daughter of Volodymyr Monomakh Euthymius, his son Yuri Dolgoruky and grandson Gleb Yuriyovych are buried here. In general, the architectural complex of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra has more than 50 buildings for various purposes.

The Lower Lavra complex is a functioning Orthodox monastery of the UOC-MP. The main relics are the relics of the reverend fathers of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, who lived in the period from the XI to the XV century. In particular, the Rev. Anthony of Pechersk and Jerome of Pechersk, as well as the epic hero Ilya Muromets are buried in the Near Caves. The relics of 49 canonized saints rest in the Far Caves.

On the territory of the Upper Lavra there is the National Historical and Cultural Reserve "Kyiv Pechersk Lavra" with the Museum of the History of the Lavra, the Museum of Microminiatures of Nikolai Syadristy, and other permanent and temporary exhibitions. In addition, the Lavra also houses the Treasury of the National Museum of History of Ukraine, the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art, the Museum of Books and Printing, the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinematography (tickets are sold at the entrance to each museum).

At the entrance to the monastery there is a tour desk, guides are sold in different languages, you can use the audio guide. When visiting existing temples and distant caves, women should be in skirts below the knees and with their heads covered (you can rent a skirt at the entrance to the caves).

The post office in Poloda is the oldest surviving post office in Kyiv. The one-storey building in the Classicist style was built in 1853-65 as the main building of the Podolsk post office complex, which was of special importance due to its location in the busiest shopping area of ​​the city with the largest bazaars, handicrafts and industrial enterprises, Contract Fair and pier. Since 1999, the Post Office has hosted the exhibition "On the History of Self-Government in Kyiv" - Museum of Magdeburg Law. The museum's collection includes various rare photographs of Kyiv, archival documents, icons, paintings, postcards of the old city. The museum also features archeological finds, including coins and Kyiv faience.