You're reading: Five must-see Kyiv sights

Kyiv recently celebrated its 1,530th birthday, making it one of the oldest cities of Eastern Europe.

It was the capital of the Rus people, to whom modern Ukraine, Russia and Belarus trace their roots. It is a place with a unique collection of historical sites mixed with modern cultural attractions.

Here’s a Kyiv Post selection of five must-see places to give you a feel of the city:

Pechersk Lavra

25 Ivana Mazepy Street

The Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves, is an Orthodox monastery complex built in 11th century. It consists of more than 50 buildings situated on the picturesque Dnipro hills and is included on the UNESCO world heritage list.

The Holy Trinity Church is the only building of the complex that preserved its original appearance from the 11th century. The others were renovated in the 18th century in Ukrainian baroque style.

The relics of saints who lived in the monastery 1,000 years ago are kept in the Lavra’s caves and are considered to the have healing powers.
Entrance costs Hr 50 and a guided tour is Hr 500.

To get there take bus #24, trolleybus #38 or marshrutkas #106, 470, 520, 527, or walk from Arsenalna metro stop.

If religious buildings are your thing, also visit St. Sophia Cathedral, built in the 11th century by Yaroslav the Wise, the prince and the first ruler of Kyivan Rus, or the 12th-century St. Michael’s Cathedral.

Andriyivsky Uzviz

Kyiv’s most charming cobbled street is frequently compared to Paris’s Montmartre for its plethora of art galleries and small cafes, as well as the outdoor arts and crafts stalls that can be found there throughout the year.

This is the place where you can buy souvenirs to take away from Ukraine – from magnets with Kyiv views to vyshivankas, the traditional embroidered shirt.

Andriyivskiy Uzviz, an easy walk from the city’s upper part to the lower Podil neighborhood near the Dnipro River, attracts tourists with souvenirs, restaurants and artwork for sale on the street. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)

The place got its name after the name of the saint who is believed to have erected a cross there 2,000 years ago and predicted the establishment of the city of Kyiv.

St. Andrew’s Church, designed by well-known Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the middle of the 18th century, is located on the uzviz, or descent.

To get there go to Kontraktova Ploscha metro stop. It is just 10 minutes’ walk from there.


Mystetskyi Arsenal

10-12 Lavrska Street

Ukraine’s biggest government-run art space is located in a beautiful 18th-century former weaponry plant.

It’s not far from the Pecherska Lavra.

Arsenal is currently hosting the first Ukrainian biennale, called Arsenale 2012 and featuring more than 200 works by global stars such as China’s Ai Weiwei, U.K.’s Chapman Brothers and modern Ukrainian artists.

Mystetskyi Arsenal, not far from Pechersk Lavra, offers the city’s largest space for art exhibitions. Arsenal is currently hosting the first Ukrainian biennale, called Arsenale 2012 and featuring more than 200 works by global stars such as China’s Ai Weiwei, U.K.’s Chapman Brothers and modern Ukrainian artists (Kostyantyn Chernichkin).

The exhibition fills 24,000 square meters of the building, and you can expect to see everything from huge frescoes to video and photo installations. You’ll pay Hr 80-Hr 200 for entrance.

To get there take bus #24, trolleybus #38 or marshrutkas #106, 470, 520, 527 or walk from Arsenalna metro stop.

For more modern art, visit PinchukArtcentre and M17 contemporary art center, modern art spaces displaying contemporary works by world-famous and leading Ukrainian artists.


National Museum of the Great Patriotic War

44 Sichnevogo Povstannia Street

Ukraine’s biggest state museum complex opened in 1981 to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, known here as the Great Patriotic War.

The war museum with several exhibitions featuring photos, documents, newspapers, letters from the times of war, coils up inside the base of the 102-meter Rodina Mat (Motherland) statue.

It’s located in Glory Park, where you’ll also find impressive bronze sculptures of battle scenes and examples of armored vehicles.

The cost of travelling up Rodina Mat depends on how high you go. For Hr 50 you can go up to a platform at 36.6 meters.

Rising to the highest platform at 91 meters will cost you Hr 200.

Entrance to the museum costs Hr 10, with a guided tour for an extra Hr 20-Hr 30.

Rodina Mat statue is located in Glory Park in Kyiv.


Entrance to the military vehicles exhibition is Hr 2, or Hr 10 for a guided tour.

To get there take bus #24, trolleybus #38 or marshrutkas #106, 470, 520, 527 or walk from Arsenalna metro stop.

History buffs can also visit the memorial at Babyn Yar, where tens of thousands of Jews and others were killed by Nazis in 1941.

To get there go to Dorohozhychi metro stop. It’s just 10 minutes on foot from there.


Chornobyl

For the more adventurous tourist, a visit to the town of Prypiat near the Chornobyl nuclear power plant is a must.

The town has been an exclusion zone since 1986 when a reactor at the nuclear plant blew up, spewing out a radioactive cloud that contaminated parts of Ukraine and Belarus.

Now the area is considered safe, and it is possible to tour Prypyat, located around 100 kilometers from Kyiv.

The fourth block of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is being covered by a shelter. (UNIAN)


A usual tour takes in the town, its church and the iconic abandoned fairground. You can visit abandoned flats, schools, kindergartens, feed mutant fish in the cooler pond by the Chornobyl plant and walk around the zone near the plant.

Guided tour to Chornobyl will cost you around Hr 1,500. For more information on tours, visit www.tour2kiev.com, www.ukrainiantour.com or www.chernobyl-tour.com.

If you don’t want to travel to Prypiat, you can visit the National Museum of Chornobyl on 1 Khoryva Lane near Kontraktova Ploscha metro stop. Entrance costs Hr 10, or you can go on a guided tour for Hr 40.

Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected]