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.

  • Bridge to Trukhaniv Island — Today Bridge to Trukhaniv Island — 1958 1958Today
    Park Pedestrian Bridge, seen from the Dnipro hillsBridge to Trukhaniv IslandThe pedestrian bridge to Trukhaniv Island in 1958, shortly after it opened, with a pleasure boat on the Dnipro. Today it is called the Park Bridge, and the island's beaches still draw city residents.Archival photo: Юрій Шакурин, 1958, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
    Modern photo: Prymasal, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Ruins of the Dormition Cathedral — 19581958 Ruins of the Dormition Cathedral — TodayToday
    Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Upper LavraRuins of the Dormition CathedralA 1958 colour slide of the ruins of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, blown up on 3 November 1941; the Refectory Church is on the right. The cathedral was rebuilt in 1998–2000; on 15 June 2026 it was damaged by fire after a massive Russian attack on Kyiv. The "now" photo, from August 2026, shows the rebuilt cathedral with its gilded domes.Archival photo: Томас Тейлор Гаммонд, 1958, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
    Modern photo: Волтарс, 2026, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • At St Volodymyr's Cathedral — Today At St Volodymyr's Cathedral — 1958 1958Today
    20 Taras Shevchenko BoulevardAt St Volodymyr's CathedralParishioners at the main entrance of St Volodymyr's Cathedral, one of the few Kyiv churches that stayed open in Soviet times. The façade was grey then; today the cathedral is ochre-yellow again, as its builders intended.Archival photo: Томас Тейлор Гаммонд, 1958, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
    Modern photo: Posterrr, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Glory Obelisk — c. 1959c. 1959 Glory Obelisk — TodayToday
    Park of Eternal Glory, PecherskGlory ObeliskAt the 27-metre obelisk over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Park of Eternal Glory, unveiled in 1957. The eternal flame burns here, and the National Holodomor Museum was later built nearby. The "now" photo shows the obelisk above the Dnipro slopes in May 2026.Archival photo: Юрій Шакурин, бл. 1959, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
    Modern photo: Качуровська, 2026, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

From the archive

  • The new radio and TV centre, 1951 1951
    26 KhreshchatykThe new radio and TV centreThe newly built radio and television centre at 26 Khreshchatyk, with an antenna on the roof. Kyiv’s first television broadcast went on air from here in November 1951; today the building is the House of Radio.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1951, суспільне надбання · Wikimedia Commons
  • Children's Railway, 1954 1954
    Syrets ParkChildren's RailwayA steam locomotive at Pionerska station of the Kyiv Children’s Railway, 8 May 1954. The line, where schoolchildren run the trains, opened in Syrets Park in 1953 and still operates.Archival photo: В. Жабунев, 1954, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Steinberg on Sofiiska Square, 1956 1956
    Sofiiska SquareSteinberg on Sofiiska SquareFrom the papers of American cartoonist Saul Steinberg, who toured the USSR in 1956: the man on snow-covered Sofiiska Square is probably Steinberg himself. Behind him are the Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument and the fire watchtower on Volodymyrska Street.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1956, суспільне надбання · Wikimedia Commons
  • Filling in Babyn Yar, 1959 1959
    Oleha Olzhycha (Demiana Bednoho) StreetFilling in Babyn YarIn the late 1950s Babyn Yar, the site of the 1941–1943 mass shootings, was being filled with slurry from brickworks while apartment blocks rose nearby on Demiana Bednoho (now Olzhycha) Street. On 13 March 1961 the dam burst and the slurry flooded Kurenivka.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1959, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • Kinopanorama cinema, 1958 1958
    19 Shota Rustaveli StreetKinopanorama cinemaQueues outside the newly opened widescreen Kinopanorama cinema, installed in the rebuilt late-19th-century Merchants’ Synagogue.Archival photo: невідомий автор, 1958, суспільне надбання · Wikimedia Commons
  • Prozorivska Street, 1955 1955
    Esplanadna (Prozorivska) StreetProzorivska StreetHouses Nos. 24, 26 and 28 on Prozorivska (now Esplanadna) Street on 1 May 1955: the low-rise streetscape of old Pechersk, photographed by a news photographer on a holiday.Archival photo: Олександр Бормотов, 1955, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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