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Kyiv guide
Places to see in Kyiv
Walks around the capital, hidden corners, architectural gems, museums and parks — with history, legends, old photos and practical tips on getting there.
Kyiv-Pechersk LavraA monastery founded in 1051 in caves above the Dnipro: the Dormition Cathedral, the Trinity Gate Church, the Great Bell Tower and underground passages with saints' relics.
Richard the Lionheart's CastleA Gothic Revival "castle" of towers and battlements halfway up Andriivskyi Uzviz: a 1902–1904 apartment house wrapped in legends about stolen drawings, howling walls and a knight-king from Viktor Nekrasov's childhood games.
Andriivskyi Descent: A Walk Through Kyiv's Historic StreetWalk Kyiv's Andriivskyi Descent from Podil to the Upper Town: Bulgakov's house, Richard's Castle, St. Andrew's Church and the stories behind its old buildings.
Golden Gate in Kyiv: History of the Ancient City EntranceKyiv's Golden Gate, a mighty 11th-century defensive tower crowned by the Church of the Annunciation: its ruins, rediscovery, 1982 reconstruction and museum.
National Opera of UkraineUkraine's leading opera stage, housed in Viktor Schröter's building of 1901 — a theatre that has survived a fire, the shooting of Stolypin, the First Universal and two world wars.
House with ChimerasVladyslav Horodetskyi's own house on a cliff above Franko Square, with elephants, frogs, rhinos and sea monsters on the façade, now a residence of the President of Ukraine.
House with CatsA green Gothic Revival apartment house on Hoholivska Street, built in 1909 by engineer Volodymyr Bezsmertnyi, with cats by the window, owls, masks and a devil under the roof.
Baron's CastlePidhorskyi's house on Yaroslaviv Val, a red neo-Gothic 'castle' with a spired tower and winged figures over the gate, built in 1896–1898 by engineer Mykola Dobachevskyi.
St Nicholas Roman Catholic ChurchHorodecki's Gothic Revival church with twin 60-metre spires: a church, a warehouse, an archive, an organ hall — and a church again, awaiting rescue after the 2021 fire.
Feofaniia ParkA former bishop’s retreat and monastic skete in southern Kyiv: a cascade of ponds, springs, the pink-and-white St Panteleimon Cathedral and the birthplace of continental Europe’s first computer.
Fomin Botanical GardenKyiv’s oldest botanical garden (1839), right behind the university’s Red Building: terraces and alleys, the spring Magnolia Garden and glasshouses with century-old palms.
Central Post OfficeA post-war “palace of the post” with a colonnaded portico at the corner of Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti: Ukraine’s main post office and a witness to the 1989 tragedy and every Kyiv revolution.
Pyrohiv Open-Air MuseumUkraine’s largest open-air museum: some 300 authentic cottages, wooden churches, windmills and watermills from every region, spread over 133 hectares of hills and oak woods in southern Kyiv.
Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain)A hill above the Lybid river with tales of witches and a very real history: a Kyiv Fortress stronghold, an early-20th-century execution site, army depots — and now a wild steppe park.
National Chornobyl MuseumA museum of the 1986 disaster housed in an old Podil fire station — from declassified files and liquidators' belongings to its partial destruction by a Russian missile in 2026.
Kyiv Planetarium: History and What to SeeOne of Europe's largest planetariums, the Kyiv Planetarium has shown the stars to visitors since 1952. Discover its history, its giant dome and what to see.
Hedgehog in the Fog Monument in KyivA wooden Hedgehog in the Fog studded with 5,000 screws sits near the Golden Gate in Kyiv. Learn the story of this beloved monument and why its sign says Horse.
Kyiv Fortress Museum: History of the Pechersk FortificationsThe Kyiv Fortress grew from a 17th-century stronghold in Pechersk into a vast system of forts and casemates. Explore its history and the National Kyiv Fortress Museum.
Water Museum in Kyiv: Water Information CenterKyiv's Water Museum fills a 19th-century waterworks with aquariums, a giant toilet and an indoor thunderstorm. Learn about its history and its seven exhibition zones.
Museum of the Hetmanate in Kyiv: The Mazepa House in PodilHoused in a late 17th-century building known as Mazepa's house in Podil, Kyiv's Museum of the Hetmanate preserves relics of the Cossack era and Ukraine's hetmans.
Museum of the Main Astronomical Observatory in KyivFounded in 1944 in Holosiiv, Ukraine's Main Astronomical Observatory has a museum of astronomy, expedition finds and a demonstration telescope for stargazing visitors.
Museum of Kyiv History: From Podil to Bohdana Khmelnytskoho StreetThe Museum of Kyiv History tells the city's story from Kyivan Rus to modern times. Learn how the museum was founded, moved several times and what its collection holds.
Kyiv Museums: Toilet History MuseumOne of the first and largest museums devoted to the most important piece of plumbing in anyone's life, the toilet. It began by chance: in 1995 friends of Mykola Bohdanenko jokingly gave him a souvenir toilet when he opened his plumbing shop. Nobody expected that one toilet would spark such an interest, and by November 2010 his collection had entered the National Register of Records of Ukraine as…
Kyiv Metro Museum: The Story of the City's SubwayDiscover the Kyiv Metro Museum: three halls of photos, documents, train models, rare tickets and a working depot model that tell the story of the city's subway.
Lesia Ukrainka Museum in Kyiv: The Kosach Family HomeVisit the Lesia Ukrainka Museum in Kyiv, the Kosach family home where the great Ukrainian poet lived, with her study, manuscripts, rare books and family heirlooms.
Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine in KyivFounded in 1923, the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra holds over 226,000 items, from 1816 playbills to folk instruments.
Sholem Aleichem Museum in Kyiv: Life of a Yiddish ClassicThe Sholem Aleichem Museum in Kyiv tells the story of the great Yiddish writer, his Kyiv years and Jewish culture, in the building where he once lived.
Experimentanium Kyiv: Hands-On Science Museum for All AgesExperimentanium in Kyiv is a hands-on science museum with over 250 interactive exhibits, Tesla and chemistry shows, laser mazes and a tornado machine for kids.
Kovalevsky Mansion in Kyiv: The Castle of LypkyThe Kovalevsky Mansion in Kyiv's Lypky is a castle-like 1914 landmark by Pavlo Aloshyn, with a railway-car room, Arabic motifs and a cat with the architect's mustache.
Kytaieve: A Walk Through Kyiv's Wild ValleyKytaieve is one of Kyiv's most peaceful corners: wild woods, ponds, an ancient hillfort, cave monastery and the 18th-century Holy Trinity Church by Kovnir.
Taras Shevchenko Park in Kyiv: History of a Beloved ParkShevchenko Park in central Kyiv began as the University Park in 1890. Learn its story, from an emperor's visit to the famous Shevchenko monument of 1939.
Brodsky Choral Synagogue in Kyiv: History and ArchitectureThe Brodsky Choral Synagogue on Shota Rustaveli Street opened in 1898. Discover how it was built through a clever trick, lost in Soviet times and reborn.
House with a Star, Khreshchatyk 25: History of Kyiv's Postwar TowerThe House with a Star at Khreshchatyk 25 was Kyiv's tallest building from 1954 to 1981. Discover its history, design, early sketches and the Druzhba cinema.
Castle Hill (Zamkova Hora) in Kyiv: History and LegendsCastle Hill in Kyiv: a Lithuanian castle, an old cemetery and a Soviet jamming station. The history and mystique of one of the city's most enigmatic hills.
Mariinskyi Park in Kyiv: History and What to SeeMariinskyi Park, laid out in 1874, is one of Kyiv's favorite places to stroll, with Mariinskyi Palace, Dnipro views from the overlook and the Park Bridge nearby.
Landscape Alley in Kyiv: How It Came to BeLandscape Alley in Kyiv was laid out in the 1980s along the line of 10th-13th century fortifications, offering sweeping views of Podil and the Left Bank.
Prorizna Street in Kyiv: History of Its Names and MonumentsHow Kyiv's Prorizna Street appeared in the mid-19th century, cut through the old Yaroslav-era rampart, plus its former names, lost buildings and monuments.
Kyiv TV Tower: Interesting FactsKyiv's 385-meter TV Tower is a freestanding steel lattice giant taller than the Eiffel Tower yet three times lighter. Key facts about its design and construction.
Taras Shevchenko Memorial House Museum in KyivVisit the 1835 house in central Kyiv where Taras Shevchenko lived in 1846-47: the first Shevchenko museum, with his recreated room, studio and cherry orchard.
Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv: History and ArchitectureMariinskyi Palace in Kyiv, a baroque masterpiece designed by Rastrelli in the 1750s: its history, fires, reconstructions, interiors and ceremonial role.
Kyoto Park in Kyiv: The City's Longest Sakura AlleyKyoto Park in Kyiv's Left Bank is a Japanese-style garden with a stone garden, a granite pagoda and a sakura alley of 360 cherry trees that blooms each spring.
Trukhaniv Island: Old Kyiv's Favorite Summer RetreatHow Kyiv families once rowed across the Dnipro to Trukhaniv Island for picnics, crayfish and beer, and how one ambitious restaurateur's empire there collapsed.
Samson Fountain in Podil: Kyiv's Legendary Sacred SpringThe Samson Fountain in Kyiv's Podil: legends of a sacred spring, the city's first water supply, its demolition in 1934 and its recreation in 1982.
Kontraktova SquarePodil's main square: a market since princely times and home to the great Contract fairs of the 19th century, still framed by Hostynyi Dvir, the Mohyla Academy and Pyrohoshcha church.
Kyiv FunicularA cable railway of 1905 that lifts you from Poshtova Square to Volodymyrska Hill in three minutes: part of the city transport network and the quickest way from Podil to the Upper Town.
VozdvyzhenkaThe old potters' and tanners' hollow below Zamkova Hora: a Soviet-era wasteland turned colourful 2000s quarter, with the church where Bulgakov was baptised.
Pedestrian and Cycle BridgeThe 2019 glass footbridge over Volodymyrskyi Uzviz that links Volodymyrska Hill with Khreshchatyi Park and the Arch of Freedom, and survived a missile strike on 10 October 2022.
St Sophia CathedralThe principal church of Kyivan Rus, built in the first half of the 11th century, with thirteen domes, the largest surviving set of mosaics and frescoes of its age and a Baroque bell tower over Sofiiska Square.
St Michael's Golden-Domed MonasteryA 12th-century monastery destroyed by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s and rebuilt in the late 1990s, now the main cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, its wall lined with the faces of fallen defenders.
St Andrew's ChurchBartolomeo Rastrelli's Baroque church on steep St Andrew's Hill above Podil, with five green domes, a gilded iconostasis and a terrace commanding one of Kyiv's finest views.
St Volodymyr's CathedralA yellow, seven-domed cathedral on Shevchenko Boulevard, built for the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus, with murals by Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov, Pavel Svedomsky and Mikhail Vrubel.
KhreshchatykKyiv's main street: from a filled-in ravine and 19th-century banks to the ruins of 1941 and a post-war Stalinist neoclassical ensemble lined with chestnut trees.
Maidan NezalezhnostiKyiv's central square: from Duma Square to the Independence Monument, scene of three revolutions in 1990, 2004 and 2013–2014, and since 2022 a field of flags for the fallen.
Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian PeopleThe former People's Friendship Arch of 1982 above the Dnipro: its Soviet sculptures were removed in 2022–2024, leaving an empty arc that marks the break with Russia.
PinchukArtCentreA private contemporary art centre at Besarabka, opened in 2006: shows by international and Ukrainian artists, the Future Generation Art Prize, and free admission.
HydroparkAn island park between the Dnipro and the Rusanivska channel, laid out in the 1960s on the site of a burned-down suburb: beaches, the Venetian Bridge, the Metro Bridge and the Kachalka gym.
VDNH (Expocenter of Ukraine)A 1958 exhibition complex on the edge of Holosiiv Forest: the spired Main Pavilion, Stalinist and modernist pavilions, a large park and a busy festival calendar.
Kyiv ZooOne of Ukraine's oldest zoos: an enthusiasts' menagerie in the Botanical Garden, at Shuliavka since 1913. Home to Horace the elephant and Animal Island; its staff stayed with the animals through the war.
Motherland MonumentA 102-metre steel statue above the Dnipro, with the trident on her shield, and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War at her feet.
Holodomor Genocide MuseumUkraine's national memorial to the victims of the 1932–1933 Holodomor on the slopes by the Lavra: the 30-metre Candle of Memory, the girl with ears of wheat and the Alley of Black Boards.
Mystetskyi ArsenalA late-18th-century fortress arsenal built on the site of Mazepa's mother's convent, now Ukraine's flagship exhibition venue and home of the Book Arsenal festival.
National Art Museum of UkraineKyiv's first public museum, in Horodetskyi's Neoclassical building with lions by the steps, and the fullest collection of Ukrainian art, from 12th-century icons to the avant-garde.
St Cyril's ChurchA 12th-century church at Dorohozhychi, burial place of the Olhovych princes, with Baroque façades by Hryhorovych-Barskyi, medieval frescoes and murals and icons by Mikhail Vrubel.
Vydubychi MonasteryA monastery founded by Prince Vsevolod above the Dnipro in 1070, with the 11th-century St Michael's, the Baroque St George's Cathedral and the Botanical Garden's lilacs next door.
Askold's GraveA park on the Dnipro slopes where, the chronicle says, Prince Askold was buried: Andrii Melenskyi's Empire rotunda, a lost cemetery and the graves of today's fallen soldiers.
Babyn YarThe ravine where the Nazis shot tens of thousands of people in 1941–1943, above all the Jews of Kyiv. Today a memorial preserve with the Menorah, the Symbolic Synagogue and dozens of memorials.
State Toy Museum in Kyiv: A Trip Back to ChildhoodThe State Toy Museum in Kyiv holds some 15,000 toys, from a 19th-century doll to a vintage steam engine model, tracing a century of Ukrainian toymaking.
Kyiv's Deviation Tower: The Mysterious Tower in the DniproA strange tower rises from the middle of the Dnipro in Kyiv. Locals once called it a secret tunnel entrance, but it really helps ships calibrate their compasses.
Monument to Hetman Ivan Mazepa (Eternal Kyiv)Unveiled in 2009, Frank Meisler's Eternal Kyiv sculpture honors Hetman Ivan Mazepa with a rotating dove above the churches he built. Discover its story and symbols.
Stone labyrinth “Journey into Yourself”Anyone who likes to "go inside themselves" and reflect on what matters will be glad to know that Kyiv now has a special place for it: the stone labyrinth "Journey into Yourself". It is a stone path that lets you visit every corner of your inner world and find the answer to whatever question is troubling you at the moment. Which question? That is for you to decide.
Kyiv Firefighting Museum: Vintage Fire Engines in ObolonThe Firefighting Museum in Kyiv's Obolon shows horse-drawn water carts, steam pumps and rare vintage fire engines, all restored and ready to prove they still work.
