Like any city with an ancient history, Kyiv has its own legends and mystical stories to spook the cynic out of you.
Like any city with an ancient history, Kyiv has its own legends and mystical stories to spook the cynic out of you.
During its 15 centuries of growth and development, the capital has had it all – witches, headless riders and immovable bloodstains.
Excursion agency Interesting Kyiv conjured up a tour map of 13 sinister places that you can pick up free of charge at any Coffee House in Kyiv. Fortunately, there are no bloodstains, but there’s still some howling at night now and again.
You’ll need walking shoes for a two-hour stroll starting at Podil, known for its winding cobblestoned streets, and ending at Pechersk Lypky, a posh area of the former Communist elite’s homes and current seats of government.
Known as the oldest Christian church in Kyiv, Illinska Church (2 Pochaynynska St.) kicks off the haunted tour.
First mentioned in 945, the modern brick building of the church dates back to the end of 17th century.
The legend goes that it helped curb the plague spreading in Kyiv thanks to a prayer in the name of Allah. This blend of Muslim and Christian faiths is strongly denied by the Illinska priests today.
Heading northwest from the church, stop by Florivsky monastery (6/8 Frolivska St.) and climb up an abandoned flight of steps through woodland to find an old cemetery on Zamkova hill.
Unsectioned modern and old graves crown mysterious Zamkova hill. (Andrey Kravchenko)
Apart from deafening silence, you’ll bump into some old tomb stones and a couple of fresh graves. The hill was deemed a favorite gathering for witches and sorcerers on Walpurgis Night on May 1 and the Ivana Kupala pagan holiday on July 6.
Things have not changed much. Drop by this hill on any important pagan date and you’ll spot modern pagans sacrificing bread and milk to please the forces of nature.
After this gravesite, head to St. Andrew’s Descent following another flight of steps on the other side of the hill that will take you down to 13, 13 A and 13 B Andriyevsky Uzviz – how’s that for Satan’s address?
Devils aside, iconic writer Mikhail Bulgakov, best known for his mystical “Master and Margarita,” lived in house number 13 before moving to Moscow in 1921.
Now at his address you’ll find a monument to the author, a charming old-fashioned museum and a lovely tea room.
A bit more mystery surrounds an abandoned gothic looking house called Castle of Richard the Lionheart up the street.
As much as we want to believe that the British knight camped here in the 12th century, the house was actually named after its one-time resident Richard, who entertained Russian novelist Viktor Nekrasov with illustrious stories about his home. Who owns the house now is not clear.
Neglected, it attracts various stories, among which is a strange howling at night.
Apparently, residents never lived in it for too long, because they thought the house was haunted.
To counteract the legend, some say noise comes from the bits of ceramics that builders left in the chimneys to avenge the owners who hadn’t paid them well for the job.
At 17 Andriyevsky Uzviz stands another house with a mysterious story. At the turn of the 20th century, doctor Feofil Yanovsky was visited by a young lady who asked him to help her sick mother.
When Yanovsky came to examine the old lady, he learned that the girl who visited him had been long dead.
To recover from the ghostly visit, the doctor took a couple of days off.
No one lives at Richard the Lionhearted’s house at St. Andrew’s Church, but strange noises are sometimes reportedly heard. (Alexey Furman)
Alley of Lovers – another St. Andrew’s landmark – stretches from souvenir stalls at the top of the hill, past the Teeth Church and the History of Ukraine Museum.
There’s nothing really mystical about it, apart from the absence of street lamps, but the hill itself has a few stories to offer.
Allegedly, Kyiv began from this very mount, which now bears the name of one of its founders, Kyi.
He and his two brothers Shchek and Khoryv hailed Kyiv into existence around the 5th century. The two brothers also have mountains named after them in the capital – Shchekavytsya and Khoryvytsya.
But nobody follows the same linguistic principle with Kyi, because Kyievytsya in Old Slavonic means “witch.”
The mystical element of the hill is strengthened by the remnants of the Teeth Church ruined in the 13th century by the Mongols and Kyiv’s oldest tree with a sprawling magnificent trunk of more than 300 years old.
At 5 Volodymyrska St., stop by the foundation of Fedorivsky monastery, discovered in unusual circumstances.
Archeologists have been fruitlessly screening the area around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for years; so one day Soviet authorities decided to build a sports field there.
On the night when the first tractor arrived to develop the site, historians unearthed the 12th-century holy ruins.
Proceeding to 8A Velyka Zhytomyrska St., stop by the house with a gargoyle, hanging from the roof on the left corner of the building. The city legend says that the house owner was a mystic and asked for the creature to be molded to scare the evil spirits away.
Following the same street all the way down, you will find yourself in the heart of the city, on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
At the site of the monumental post office behind the blue globe used to be an apartment house. Before it was destroyed in the World War II, it left its mark in history with flying furniture. Frightened residents called priests to hold a service in their home but that didn’t seem to calm the wardrobes.
Walking past more than a 300-year old linden tree near St. Andrew’s, remember that you may not be the only one admiring its grandeur at any point of time. (Andrey Kravchenko)
And so they called the police who apparently couldn’t help either apart from documenting the incident as a poltergeist phenomenon and moving the residents out of the haunted place.
To spot another ghost, spend the night at 16 Lyuteranska St. where old Kyivans claimed to have seen a woman in a white robe roaming the house when owners were away.
Learning about these 13 mysterious places in Kyiv, we weren’t frightened to death – rather pleasantly lulled to sleep that night with our own fairy tales about majestic Kyiv.
Map of spooky Kyiv
(Click the map to enlarge)
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected]
