- Home
- Places
Kyiv guide
Places to see in Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi district
Walks around the capital, hidden corners, architectural gems, museums and parks — with history, legends, old photos and practical tips on getting there.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
