Attractions of Kyiv

The National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine gives an opportunity to feel the Ukrainian national flavor and all the diversity of nature and ethnic cultures of different regions of Ukraine. The country's largest open-air museum (open-air museum) with an area of 133 hectares was founded in 1969 on the southern outskirts of Kyiv, on the relief territory of the ancient suburban village of Pyrogiv, from which it received its informal name.

Among the various landscapes reminiscent of the pastoral hills of the Dnieper, and the steep Carpathian Mountains, and dense Polissya forests, and dry southern steppes, scattered typical of these regions hamlets with authentic wooden buildings of the XVIII-XX centuries. All of them were brought from different parts of the country: temples, houses, outbuildings. In total, more than 300 buildings.

The compositional center of the complex is a group of windmills on a hill above the Singing Field. The landscape panorama is complemented by wooden churches, the oldest of which is the Church of St. Paraskeva in 1742 from the village of Zarubyntsi in Cherkasy region. The church of St. Michael the Archangel may be even older - radiocarbon dating dates some of its parts to 1528. Authentic interiors with ethnographic collections are recreated in the houses of traditional peasant yards, which give an idea of typical occupations and life of different ethnographic groups of Ukrainians: Bukovynians, Volynians, Hutsuls, Podolians, Polishchuks, Slobozhans and others.

You can taste the most popular dishes of Ukrainian cuisine (borsch, kulish, dumplings), prepared according to traditional recipes, in an existing tavern or ham. There is also a food court on the main avenue, which offers popular street food.

During the traditional folk festivals (Maslenitsa, Easter, Green Holidays, Ivan Kupala, Pokrova) the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine organizes folk festivals, concerts and performances with the participation of folk groups. Themed festivals and fairs are held regularly.

The history of Ukrainian literature from the 11th century to the present day is represented by the National Museum of Literature of Ukraine. It opened in 1986 in the historic building of the Pavel Galagan College, which housed one of the best private schools in pre-revolutionary Kyiv. The building in the style of late classicism was erected in 1871 by architect Alexander Schille at the request of public figure and philanthropist Gregory Galagan, who lost his only son Paul early. The interior of the two-story mahogany library by Italian masters, which has survived almost to this day, was particularly refined. Today, the library has an exhibition on the history of the school, which was called the "school of academics." In particular, the outstanding Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko, who in May 1886 married Olga Khoruzhynska in the house church of St. Paul at the college, worked here.

11 stylized halls correspond to the historical epochs of Ukrainian literature and acquaint visitors with the literary process in the Ukrainian lands from ancient times to the present. More than 5,000 valuable exhibits were presented, including unique old prints, manuscripts, lifetime editions of works by Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Taras Shevchenko, Panteleimon Kulish, Mykola Kostomarov, Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Drahomanov, manuscripts by Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Starytsky, Pavlo Tychyna, Maksym Rylsky, Vasyl Symonenko, personal belongings of Panas Myrny, Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky, Mark Vovchko, Oles Honchar, Ulas Samchuk, personal belongings of Panas Myrny, Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky, Marko Vovchok, Oles Honchar, Ulas Samchuk, magazines and almanacs of the XIX-XX centuries, works of famous artists, documentary materials. The Sokyrynets nativity scene from the estate of Hryhoriy Galahan, a box with a mobile puppet theater, is of great interest to visitors.

The National Museum of Medicine of Ukraine was established in Kyiv in 1973 on the basis of the Anatomical Theater of Kyiv University. The museum building was designed by the famous architect A. Beretti in 1853. The exposition demonstrates the development of medicine in Ukraine from ancient times to the present day. In addition to traditional stands with photographs, books, medical instruments and drugs, there are original interiors with portrait figures of famous scientists and doctors, as well as dioramas dedicated to the most outstanding events in Ukrainian medicine. The museum's exposition also widely presents works of Ukrainian fine arts on this topic. The Museum of Medicine of Ukraine is considered one of the largest and most original museums of medical profile not only in Ukraine but also in Europe.

The greatest treasury of Ukrainian antiquities of all time is the National Museum of History of Ukraine (NMHU), located in the historic heart of Kyiv, on the ramparts of the Kyiv Dytynets (Citadel). The museum was founded in 1899 and officially opened in 1904 as the Kyiv Art, Industry and Science Museum. It was originally housed in a museum building built by architect Vladyslav Gorodetsky, which is now occupied by the National Art Museum. The first museum department of archeology was headed by the discoverer of Trypillia and Chernyakhiv cultures, a prominent Ukrainian archaeologist Vikentiy Khvoyka. After the Second World War, the historical museum moved to the current building in the style of classicism, which was built on Old Kyiv Hill in 1937-1939 for the art school.

Today, the National Museum of History of Ukraine is one of the leading museums in Ukraine in terms of the number and importance of collections. Its stock collections number about 850 thousand exhibits. These are world-famous archeological and numismatic collections, ethnographic collections, collections of weapons, monuments of decorative and applied arts, manuscripts, old prints, paintings and graphics, relics of the Ukrainian national liberation movement of the twentieth century. They are located in 33 halls and reflect the history of Ukraine from ancient times to the present.

In particular, you can see the mysterious binoculars of Trypillia vessels, an anthropomorphic idol of pit culture, an iron Scythian sword with a golden handle from the Bielsko settlement. The diorama "Kyiv of the X-XIII centuries" gives a clear idea of the medieval city. The grand royal carriage of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, which she presented to Kyiv Metropolitan Raphael Zaborovsky, impresses with its luxury. The pride of the National Museum of History of Ukraine is the holographic exhibition "Golden Treasury of Ukraine", where you can see in detail the hologram of the famous golden Scythian pectoral. The largest numismatic collection of the museum in Ukraine has 120 thousand units.

In addition to classic tours, the National Museum of History of Ukraine offers author's themed tours, theatrical tours with a deep immersion in the atmosphere of the era, interactive children's tours and quests. The museum shop offers historical publications, postcards, souvenir plates, magnets, etc. Admission to the museum is free every last Monday of the month.

The National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide in Kyiv preserves the memory of the victims of a terrible crime against the Ukrainian people, organized by the Bolshevik government in 1932-1933 by creating an artificial mass famine in Ukraine. Founded in 2008 as the National Museum "Memorial to the Victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine", it was also called the National Museum "Memorial to the Victims of the Holodomor".

The memorial complex authored by the People's Artist of Ukraine Anatoliy Haidamaki is located on the Dnieper cliffs in the Park of Eternal Glory in Pechersk in Kyiv. Through a symbolic entrance past two sculptures of angels, visitors enter the "Mill of Fate" square with a touching sculpture of a girl with spikelets in her hands "Bitter memory of childhood." The center of the memorial is the "Memory Candle", surrounded by crosses resembling the wings of a windmill, with sculptures of storks on top. The sides of the candle are decorated with ornaments of crosses resembling Ukrainian embroidery.

The Museum Hall performs the functions of a museum. Here are 19 volumes of the "National Book of Memory of the Holodomor Victims", memorials to the victims of the tragedy, archival documents, photographs, eyewitness accounts and maps of the project "Digital Atlas of the Holodomor". On the interactive touch screens you can see the results of decades of research by historians about the places of mass burial of Holodomor victims. Visitors are invited to watch a modern video in the technique of 3D mapping, use an audio guide in 34 languages, tactile layouts.

The construction of the second stage of the memorial is underway, which will house the main museum part of the complex.

According to the project "Inclusive Travels in Ukraine: accessibility of museums of Ukraine", this impressive memorial to the victims of the artificial famine of 1932-1933 is one of the most inclusive museums in Ukraine.

One of the largest art museums in Ukraine and the treasury of Ukrainian cultural heritage is the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art in Kyiv. It is located on the territory of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve in the premises of the former metropolitan rooms and the adjacent Church of the Annunciation, which are architectural monuments of the XVIII – early XX centuries.

The museum's 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 Kiev Art, Industry and Science Museum. Now the museum collection consists of more than 78 thousand works of traditional folk and professional decorative art of Ukraine from the XV 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 faience enterprises of Ukraine of the XVII–XIX centuries. The pride and decoration of the collection are the complexes of Ukrainian folk costumes of the XIX – early XX centuries from all regions of Ukraine, where a single artistic ensemble combines the art of cutting, weaving, embroidery, applique, beating, weaving, leather and metal. Traditional women's jewelry attracts attention: dukachi, corals, Venetian necklace, beadwork. The museum also has the largest collection of paintings by prominent Ukrainian folk artists Kateryna Bilokur and Maria Pryimachenko.

The National Science and Natural History Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is located in the center of Kyiv, in an old building with original neoclassical architecture. Founded in 1966. Now it is a large museum complex, uniting 5 museums: archaeological, geological, paleontological, zoological, botanical.

In 24 halls on the area of 8,000 square meters collected more than 30 thousand exhibits that tell about the origin of the Earth, its structure and evolution, flora and fauna, as well as the history of material culture of tribes and peoples who inhabited the territory of Ukraine in ancient times. A prominent place is occupied by a complex of dioramas – about 30 landscape exhibitions and biogroups. In particular, in the paleontological exposition you can see the dioramas "Paleozoic Sea", "Northern Black Sea Coast at the end of the Miocene" and "Archaic human settlement in the Kiyik-Koba cave", skeletons of deinattery, mammoth, hairy rhinoceros and giant deer, reconstruction of dwellings from Paleolithic sites in Mezyn and Mezhyrich.

The Archaeological Museum of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is located on the ground floor. In particular, there is a set of painted mammoth bones of the Upper Paleolithic period from the Mezyn Paleolithic site, interpreted as the world's oldest musical instruments.

The Aviation Museum of the National Aviation University in Kyiv was opened in 1972. There are 28 exhibition stands in a cozy hall with an area of 350 square meters. The historical part of the exposition tells about the activities of the Kyiv Aviation Society, the work of the first Kyiv aircraft designers, record flights of Igor Sikorsky, the opening of regular air traffic on the route Kharkiv - Kyiv, the creation of the first Soviet passenger plane K-1 and other events of socio-economic life in Kiev. to open a higher educational institution of aviation profile. The following stands cover the activities of the school in different periods.

Kyiv Oceanarium "Sea Tale" in Darnytsia opened in 2012 in the shopping center "Children's World". In the first gallery in the form of a sunken wooden ship there is an exposition of the coral complex. An underwater tunnel at a depth of 2 m leads to the second hall - all underwater life takes place in front of visitors. In the next hall you can see corals of acropolis, jellyfish, flocks of chrysipters, fish-surgeons, as well as an aquarium with more than 20 species of clownfish. The next gallery is home to fish-thinkers, several species of dangerous moray eels, seahorses, and a green sea turtle. One of the pearls of the aquarium is the outdoor pool with starfish and stingrays, which can be touched by hand. The show "Feeding Sharks" is held on Tuesdays and Fridays at 15:00.

Park "Ukraine in Miniature" is an exhibition of models of the most famous monuments of Ukraine in the open air. Collected in the park area on the banks of the Dnieper, in the Hydropark. The exhibition opened in 2006 as a park "Kyiv in Miniature". On an area of ​​1.8 hectares under collected about 50 models of famous Kiev buildings, monuments and structures on a scale of 1:33. All models are made of modern synthetic material, but require regular care due to environmental influences. At the moment, the "population" of the mini-Kiev is almost 1,000 figures of residents. It has its own Khreshchatyk and Independence Square, and the mini-Dnieper is crossed by four bridges: North, Pedestrian, Metro, South. Monuments to Ukrainian cultural, political and artistic figures are located in the parks and squares of the mini-city, and five planes from around the world landed at the airport. Recently, the exhibition has been replenished with models of the most famous monuments of other cities of Ukraine. Among them are the famous Crimean palaces, Chernivtsi University, Kachaniv Palace and Park Complex, Donbass Arena Stadium and others. Park "Ukraine in Miniature" is open all year round.

The first private pharmacy in the city was opened in 1728 by the German pharmacist Johann Geiter, but it went down in history as a "Bunge pharmacy" (named after Geiter's son-in-law). In 1986, the pharmacy was restored in the surviving building, an exposition of the history of pharmacology and pharmacy was opened. The museum displays utensils for preparing herbal mixtures, various jars and glasses for medicines, ancient recipes, tools of pharmacists of past centuries, alcoholic snakes and crabs and many other interesting things. In the basement of the museum there are installations - the basement of the alchemist and the house of the sorceress. Here you can buy fragrant handmade soap.

PinchukArtCentre is an international center of contemporary art, an open platform for artists, art and society. Created by one of the greatest Ukrainian businessmen and philanthropists V. Pinchuk in 2006. Pinchuk Gallery is located in the ancient architectural ensemble of Kyiv's Bessarabian quarter, which was restored at the beginning of the XXI century. The architectural design and interior design of the art center was designed by French architect F. Kiambaretta. The center is located on 6 floors and combines exhibition halls on 4 floors, video-lounge and cafe on the 6th floor, as well as the administrative part. Main areas of activity: collecting, exhibitions, projects, communication, education, publication, research. In addition to large-scale projects, the art center holds short-term exhibitions as part of the PAC-UA art space, designed to showcase exclusively new works by Ukrainian artists. On the sixth floor of the Pinchuk Art Center is SkyArtCafe, decorated in exclusively white tones, which offers creative vegetarian dishes.

Sholom Aleichem Museum in Kyiv is the first state museum of Jewish themes in modern Ukraine. Opened in 2009 to the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth on the site of the house where he lived in 1896-1903. The exposition tells in detail about the life and work of Sholom Aleichem, as well as introduces Jewish culture. Some ceremonial Jewish objects, objects of traditional Jewish life are presented. On the monitors installed in the hall, you can see fragments of films and performances based on the works of Sholom Aleichem, Jewish architecture, Jewish tombstones (matzevot), ancient Jewish books, ancient manuscripts, copies of Jewish calligraphy. The museum program includes many lectures and presentations.

The magnificent 19-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv is the oldest architectural monument of Rus, one of the largest Christian churches of its time, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. The temple complex of the Sophia Monastery is located in the historical center of Kyiv, on Old Kyiv Hill, within the City of Prince Yaroslav.

According to the latest research, St. Sophia Cathedral was founded by the Kyiv prince Volodymyr the Great in 1011, and it was built no later than 1018. Earlier it was believed that the cathedral was erected in 1037 in honor of the victory of Yaroslav the Wise over the Pechenegs, as indicated in the Tale of Bygone Years. A grandiose building for those times with a very complex structure was built by Byzantine craftsmen on the model of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople. The temple acquired the current Ukrainian Baroque style during the reign of Hetman Ivan Mazepa as a result of the reconstruction initiated by Metropolitan Peter Mohyla, carried out in the 17th century by the Italian architect Octaviano Mancini. The interiors have preserved priceless ancient Rus mosaics and frescoes, including the iconic mosaic image of the Mother of God of Oranta.

St. Sophia Cathedral was the main temple of the Kyiv state, under its arches ceremonial entrances to the grand prince's throne, church cathedrals and receptions took place. Buried in the church are Prince Yaroslav the Wise, his wife Iryna (Ingigerda) and son Vsevolod with his family, Prince Volodymyr Monomakh, and many Kyiv metropolitans. A valuable source of historical information is numerous ancient graffiti, which can be considered an unofficial chronicle of the St. Sophia Cathedral and the entire Rus-Ukraine of the 11th-18th centuries.

Today the National Reserve "Sophia of Kyiv" unites 77 architectural monuments. Around the cathedral there are monastic buildings of the 17th-18th centuries: the house of the metropolitan, the fraternal building, a bursa, a refectory, a bakery, cells and a hotel. The complex is surrounded by a wall with Zaborovskiy gates and a southern entrance tower. The bell tower, which serves as the main gate, is open to the public. On the square in front of the bell tower, there is the grave of Volodymyr, Patriarch of the UOC-KP, who was buried at the entrance to Sofia on Black Tuesday, July 18, 1995 after a violent clash between believers and police. There is also a tactile model of the cathedral with relief plaques in front of the entrance. The reserve is made more accessible thanks to an inclusive information center.

Separate objects of the reserve are the Golden Gate, St. Andrew's Church and St. Cyril's Church in Kyiv, the Sudak Fortress in Crimea.

Baroque pearl - St. Andrew's Church - welcomes visitors to St. Andrew's Descent in Kyiv. The church was founded on the site of St. Andrew's Bastion of the Old Kyiv Fortress in 1744 before the arrival of Elizabeth I in Kyiv. According to legend, St. Andrew the First-Called erected a cross on this site and foretold the emergence of the "eternal city". Probably, this is the only work of architect V. Rastrelli that has survived in Ukraine. Rich interior decoration is close to the Rococo style. The balustrade of the church offers a picturesque panorama of Podil. The St. Andrew's Church holds services of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - daily morning liturgies, evening services, water consecration, baptisms, weddings, other rites and spiritual rites. A night service is held on the night from Saturday to Sunday.