Archive · then and now

Photo memories

Kyiv in photographs — from the Chain Bridge and horse trams to Euromaidan and the city that held out in 2022. For many of them we found a modern photo taken from the same spot: drag the slider to compare.

Then and now

Drag the divider to compare the old and new photo.

  • Bessarabka in the NEP years — Today Bessarabka in the NEP years — mid-1920s mid-1920sToday
    2 Bessarabska SquareBessarabka in the NEP yearsCrowds outside the Bessarabskyi covered market in the mid-1920s: "Bazaar" signs and street trading, as private commerce briefly revived under the New Economic Policy. N. Shevchenko's photograph was published in Sovetskoe Foto magazine in 1927. The market is still open today.Archival photo: М. Шевченко, 1925–1927, ліцензія не вказана · pastvu.com
    Modern photo: Olga Loboda 0806, 2018, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Khreshchatyk in Man with a Movie Camera — 19281928 Khreshchatyk in Man with a Movie Camera — TodayToday
    Khreshchatyk / Tarasa Shevchenka BoulevardKhreshchatyk in Man with a Movie CameraA tram crosses Khreshchatyk from Shevchenko Boulevard, a frame from Dziga Vertov's celebrated film Man with a Movie Camera, largely shot in Kyiv at the VUFKU studio. The view from above shows the pre-war Khreshchatyk that no longer exists. On the right, Khreshchatyk from above in 2021: most of the street was blown up and burned in autumn 1941, and after the war it was rebuilt much wider.Archival photo: Михайло Кауфман, 1928, Public domain · pastvu.com
    Modern photo: Київська міська рада, 2021, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Brodsky Synagogue as a craftsmen's club — Today Brodsky Synagogue as a craftsmen's club — 1929 1929Today
    13 Shota Rustaveli StreetBrodsky Synagogue as a craftsmen's clubThe choral synagogue built in 1898 with funds from sugar magnate Lazar Brodsky, seen in 1929 with a sign reading "Central Craftsmen's Club": the community had lost the building in 1926. It later housed a puppet theatre and was returned to the Jewish community in 1997.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1929, ліцензія не вказана · pastvu.com
    Modern photo: Kiyanka, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Zhovten cinema before opening — Today Zhovten cinema before opening — 1929–1931 1929–1931Today
    26 Kostiantynivska Street, PodilZhovten cinema before openingThe constructivist building of the Zhovten cinema in Podil shortly before its opening, in a photograph from the cinema's own archive. One of Kyiv's oldest cinemas, it survived an arson attack in 2014, was restored and is still running.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1929–1931, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
    Modern photo: Albert Bergonzo, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

From the archive

  • Parade on Khreshchatyk, 1920 1920
    KhreshchatykParade on KhreshchatykA military parade on Khreshchatyk on 9 May 1920, during the Polish–Soviet War, with columns marching past the street's pre-revolutionary buildings.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1920, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
  • Petliura by the St Sophia belfry, 1920 1920
    Sofiiska SquarePetliura by the St Sophia belfrySymon Petliura, Supreme Otaman of the UNR army, with officers by the bell tower of St Sophia's Cathedral in May 1920, when Ukrainian and Polish troops briefly retook Kyiv. A month later the Red Army occupied the city again.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1920, ліцензія не вказана · pastvu.com
  • The funeral of Heorhii Narbut, 1920 1920
    Maidan NezalezhnostiThe funeral of Heorhii NarbutOn 25 May 1920 the funeral procession of artist Heorhii Narbut, designer of the first Ukrainian stamps, banknotes and the UNR coat of arms, passes Duma Square (now Maidan Nezalezhnosti). Narbut died of typhus aged 34.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1920, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
  • Freight tram by the Opera, c. 1920 c. 1920
    Volodymyrska Street by the National OperaFreight tram by the OperaA freight tram with people riding on its platform by the City (Opera) Theatre. In the hard years of the civil war, trams often carried firewood, food and passengers on open wagons.Archival photo: невідомий автор, бл. 1920, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
  • Pioneers on parade, 1924 1924
    Central KyivPioneers on paradeA column of Young Pioneers at a demonstration marking the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, summer 1924. Early Soviet Kyiv was full of rallies and marches; the capital of Soviet Ukraine was then Kharkiv, and Kyiv regained that status only in 1934.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1924, ліцензія не вказана · pastvu.com
  • Lyre players and street musicians, 1926 1926
    KyivLyre players and street musiciansPerformers at an "Ethnographic Concert" held in Kyiv on 9 November 1926: street singers and musicians with hurdy-gurdies, banduras, fiddles and a tambourine. Wandering lirnyky and kobzars were a living tradition that the Soviet authorities all but destroyed in the 1930s.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1926, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
  • Motor tram to Darnytsia, 1926 1926
    DarnytsiaMotor tram to DarnytsiaA motor tram for the Darnytsia line, turned out by the Main Tram Workshops on 1 May 1926. These petrol-engined cars carried passengers to the left bank, where the overhead power lines had not yet reached.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1926, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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