Kyiv is a city with a rich history. It lived and flourished in the times of Kyivan Rus, was actively built up during tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, and flourished as a metropolis in the years of Ukraine’s independence. Here are just a few interesting stories that our capital is rich in.
Khreshchatyk
The name Khreshchatyk comes from the area of Khreshchata valley (or Khreshchatyi ravine). There were practically no buildings on the site of the modern Khreshchatyk till 1806. And only at the end of the XVIII century first houses began to appear here, and the street has become the center of Kyiv at the beginning of the XX century. There was an incredible number of entertaining establishments, hotels, offices, banks and residential buildings.
St Andrew’s Church
The history of the church is long and confusing. From the sixteenth century on the territory of today’s St. Andrew’s Church were: Krestovozdvyzhenska and Epiphany churches. And in 1749-54, under the orders of Empress Elizabeth, a cathedral was built. This is the creation of the architect Rastrelli – a unique monument which became a masterpiece of the architecture of the Baroque era. The St. Andrew’s Church building is listed by the world community in the catalog “1000 Wonders of the World. Masterpieces of humanity of the five continents”.
Bessarabskyi Market
Bessarabska Square was not mentioned among market areas of Kyiv until the nineteenth century. There were courtyards, later they began to arrange booths, circus pavilions, and others. It is also worth considering the history of Bessarabska Square from 1874. The Kyiv authorities, having built Khreshchatyk banks and shops, decided to form a market here. The building of the market was built only in 1912.
Vasylkivska Street
The street originated in the XIX century on the ancient Vasylkivskyi way and was part of Velyka Vasylkivska Street, which began on Bessarabska. During the 90’s of the XIX century at the present-day crossing of Fedorova and Vasylkivska streets was Konna Square, where equestrian fairs were held.
Nyzhniy і Verkhniy Val Street
Verkhniy Val, Nyzhniy Val today is a wide street, through which not one century passed the border, dividing Podil into 2 parts. The Southern part or Podolsk is called Verkhniy Val, the North or the Ploska –
Nyzhniy Val These names are preserved from those fortifications that once defended Podil from the north.
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Kyiv. Modern
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery was built in 1108.
The Cathedral has experienced a series of horrific events since the beginning of the twentieth century, which in the end ended in a true tragedy. In 1919 the church’s values of the St. Michael’s Monastery was looted and confiscated, and in 1934-35 the cathedral was destroyed by the Soviet authorities. In the late of the twentieth century St. Michael’s Cathedral and the monastery restored in the form that he had before the destruction.
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