Kiev
Information for the guests of Kiev:
Almost all sightseeing places can be looked at on this map. By clicking on the icon of the place you can not only find information as for the places of interest but also panoramic view for 360 degrees on each of them… so maybe you wont even need to go and see them... :))
A lot of useful information on Kiev you will find on this site: www.gorod.kiev.ua
...and also here
Map of Kiev
Metro map
Kiev in miniature
If you are short of time – you can easily see all the best place in Hydropark :) There is a museum here Kiev in miniature.
How to get there?
metro station Hydropark , Brovarskoy prospect, 9в. Map is here.
Ticket - 10 hrn.
Here you can see all interesting architectural sightseeing place in Kiev and it will only take 30-40 minutes of your time. This miracle of hands made miniatures was opened in 2006. You can see the center of Kiev, Kreshatic street, Independence sq. with cars, people, trees and fountains. And Also Verhovna Rada. Moscow breech via Dnieper river, great Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Central train station, Golden gates. All exhibits are copies of their originals in 1:33 and are gathered in the park of 1.8 Hec. At the moment there are 48 miniatures gathered there but it’s not the end! Other famous places of Kiev and Ukraine are under construction. IN future the miniature city will become alive – there will be cars driving and boats sailing on Dnieper river, there will be light in the houses and planes landing in Borispol airport.
Miniatures are made of special material which can stand fall rains and winter frosts and snow.
Short sightseeing tour in Kiev
In this section we will try to make a short walking tour in the central part of Kiev – the capital of Ukraine. It’s not a sightseeing tour and not a historical excursion in the capital of Old Rus. It’s just a hiking tour that you can take by yourself and see the most for the little time. Because even ten “Hats on the Dnieper” won’t be enough to evaluate all the beauty of our city. Distance – 7.7 km.
Lets start with Podol, Contractova square. (Info: Podol – historical district of Kiev – the oldest in the city. During the times of Kiev Rus it was a trading center of the capital). And let’s see the Contractoy dom built in 1817 as a center of trading fares. Around it you can see monuments of P.N. Sagaydachny, G.S. Skovoroda. Samson, Tent and Orange revolution. We start moving towards the St. Andrew descend.
Well who did not hear about St. Andrew descend? The castle of Richard the lion’s heart, St. Andrew’s church, Bulgakov house (#13), Historical museum, basement of Desyatinnaya church (under construction now) – is not the whole list of descend best places (info: St. Andrew’s church was founded in 1744 due to the visit of Queen Elisabeth Petrovna. It was finished in 1754 by the project of B.F. Rastrelli. The height of the church is 60 meters, length – 32 m, width – 23 m). There is a permanent souvenir faire on the stone tiled street. On top of that mountain Kiev started to be built 15 centuries ago. Don’t forget to go up the stairs close of Castle of Richard to get the best view on Podol spaces.
Walking down Vladimirska street you will find Sophia square. It’s the square in front of well known monument of architecture – St. Sophia cathedral. It’s also a place for the monument of Kozak hetman B. Khmelnitskiy where local players like to play in the evenings.
Walking down Vladimirskiy side-street we get to the favorite place of ultimate players – Michael square. You will find a monument of St. Olga, white spot of Ministry of foreign affairs, and of course – St. Michael golden tops cathedral. (info: it was built originally in 1108-13 on the territory of Michael monastery by the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise – Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich. It was constructed according to the old technology that I know nothing about :) (author’s remark)
Furthermore we go down to the Independence square. It’s that Maidan that became famous because of the orange drums, tents, flags, fur trees, sticks and oranges. You can see such monumentsd as: Lady on the ball, Batman, Lyadskie gates, and also buildings of Central postal office, conservatory, October palace, Unions house and also have a look at shopping mall Globe. We take Krechatic street to the Dnieper river and find ourselves at the European square. The building which is called Ukrainian house (old name – Lenin house) – is a place for fairs and head office of Orange revolution (the old usage was to accept people into Pioneers organization).
From European square we move along the Phiarmony house and find ourselves at the Arch of unification constructed to commemorate 300 years of unification of Ukraine and Russia. There is a great view area there to see Pochtova sqare, river port. The arch itself has a unique sound effects: if two persons will be standing on the basis of two poles – the can hear each other despite the big distance between them. We go up from the arch to Kreshatiy park (founded in 1743). Here you can find Museum of water opened on May 24th 2003 and situated in two water tours and reservoirs that were built 130 years ago. Close to it you can see the new building of Puppet theatre that was originally as a stereo cinema “Dnieper”.
While walking through the park we find the breach of love (info: Breach of love was designed in 1910 by the professor Eugene Paton and it connects today the upper terraces of Kreschaty and Gorodskoy parks). You can see the stadium Dinamo named after V.V. Lobanovskiy. It’s hard to imagine that this place use to be a Valley of roses created according to the European sample of Dresden one. The Gorodskoy park is a place for rollers and .. dancers because there is an open stage.
Along the slope we come to the next view place with the great view on the left banc of the river Dnieper (we have a lot of them). From here Mariinskiy park starts. And here you will find two buildings that might be of your interest – the residence of the President – Mariinskiy palace and building of Verhovna rada of Ukraine. (info: the first one was built in baroque style designed by B.F. Rastrelli in 1750-1755 for the queen Elisabeth. The first floor and archers were build out of wood and second floor – wooden. During the fire in 1819 the upper floor was gone. In 1870 it was reconstructed before the arrival of emperor Aleksandr II and his wife Maria. We would like to state that these three parks – Marrinskiy, Gorodskoy and Kreschaty – are favourite places for our game and freezebee golf and the place of the non official international competitions. We go further and along Grushevskogo street we come to the metro station Arsenalna – the deepest metro station in Kiev and Europe. We you can also find the monument of Arsenal workers (the gun machine) dedicated to the heroic workers of Arsenal factory which were fighting for the victory of Great October and Soviet power establishing in Ukraine.
Take Yanvarskogo vosstaniya street and you will find yourself on the Glory square where the park of Eternal glory, the monument of eternal glory on the grave of the unknown soldier (27 meters obelisk) and eternal fire.
From here you can see the metro breech, Hydropark, Brovarskoy avenue, Dovbychka beech – the place of annual “Hat on the Dnieper”. One more fact – the stairs that go down the obelisk is a place for training of Gigolo team.
We go further through the park of Eternal Glory and we enter the walls of one more monument of architecture – Kiev Pechersk lavra (info: Kiev Pechersk lavra is an orthodox monastery, founded in 1051 by the monks Antoiy and Feodosiy in caves by the summer knyaz residence Berestovo close to Kiev. In the 11th century the monastery became the center of Christianity if Kiev Rus. Well who doesn’t know Kiev Pechersk lavra with its bell tour 96 meters tall, reconstructed Uspenskiy cathedral, which was broken down by the soviet soldiers during World War II, museum of miniatures, caves, churches, cells and other historical valuables? We can tell a lot of stories about it, you can see a lot of interesting and exciting things there but you need to take a separate tour there in this case.
By walking via Yanvarskogo vosstaniya stret close to Lavra walls we come to the monument of Ukrainian soldiers who died in Afganistan, then go through the alley into the Pechersk landscape park where you will find the Museum of World War 1941-1945. It was opened on May 9th, 1981. There is a huge territory where you can find 18 halls of the main museum, “The flame of glory”, Alley of the hero cities, museum of armors and other monuments. The memorial is topped by the monument of Motherland – 62 meters high with sword (16 meters high and 12 tons and with the shield (12x8 m) in her hands. The weight of the monument is 530 tons, the height with the basement where museum is situated – 102 m. One more interesting fact. This monument was built during soviet times and as all the other of that period is looking towards Moscow.
Have a nice walk, our dear friends! :)
