Why USSR made Kyiv look more like Buenos Aires than Prague - Expert breaks down

Key questions:

• What unique and little-known locations in central Kyiv might soon open to tourists?
• Why could there have been no monument to Princess Olha at Mykhailivska Square?
• Why it's unlikely the Church of the Tithes can be restored
• Why the house of the famous aircraft designer Sikorsky hasn't been restored yet
• How were Troieshchyna and Borshchahivka designed so inconvenient for residents during the USSR?
• What are the most problematic locations in Kyiv, and how can they be changed?

Fifteen years ago, local historian and researcher Yehor Kravets from the public organization Ukraine Incognita began studying the history and architecture of Kyiv and Ukraine. At first, he simply photographed interesting places for the media. Over time, he noticed that he always wanted to learn more about these places, and it drew him in.

"I'm literally amazed every time. Even when I think there's nothing more to see, and that I've seen it a thousand times already, there's always something interesting and new," says Yehor.

Together with the researcher, RBC-Ukraine took a walk through part of the city center and learned what stories the courtyards of buildings hide, how the capital's neighborhoods developed, and why Kyiv less resembles European cities but leans more toward Asia.

About St. Michael's Cathedral and the history of ancient Kyiv

– We're now in the center of Kyiv, near Mykhailivska Square. What historical events have these places witnessed?

– Kyiv is like a cake; it has many layers. And literally every spot is interesting. Every building has a story. We're now in the city of Iziaslav, Yaroslav the Wise. This is history, and modern life is interwoven with it. Near St. Michael's, we see the wall of remembrance for our fallen soldiers. Walking here, we can recall how during the Maidan, the bells of St. Michael's rang the alarm bell for the first time in 800 years.

Before that, the original cathedral was demolished by the Bolsheviks, later rebuilt, and Clinton spoke on this square. This was also the residence of the Greek Catholic bishop, and even earlier, the cathedral somehow survived the Tatar and Mongol invasions.

Modern events are tightly interwoven with the ancient history of Kyiv (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

Before that, it was built by the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, who fled to Europe, and whose son was crowned by the Pope. The Pope addressed him as "King of Rus." Remains of various estates were also found here, including that of an ancient Rus' artist. And all of this is practically in one place.

In the center of Kyiv, almost wherever you dig, you'll find remnants of the old Rus' city. For example, in the 1980s in Podil, while building the metro line where Kontraktova Square is now, wooden houses from the 10th-11th centuries were discovered. They were excavated and sent to the Pyrohiv Museum, but they were never restored, and the logs are still just lying there. They really should have been made into unique museum exhibits.

In the Soviet era, wooden houses from the 10th-11th centuries were discovered during metro construction in Podil (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

– What places, lesser-known to tourists, are on the territory of St. Michael's Cathedral?

– On the territory of St. Michael's, there is a refectory church with a wooden roof. This used to be standard in Kyiv. The building itself has survived since the Hetmanate era. It's an early 18th-century Baroque. In the 1990s, only the wooden shingle domes were restored. If you ignore the dome, you can easily imagine how wealthy Kyivan residents during the times of Khmelnytskyi, Mazepa, and later the Rozumovskyis lived in houses of similar architecture.

Nearby, there's also an old cellar with corridors stretching about a hundred meters. In the past, the monastery brethren stored various utensils and food there. Interestingly, even today, monks still store potatoes down there.

Currently, the Ancient Kyiv reserve wants to organize excursions here. When our colleague Roman Malenkov became its head, we started studying the documents in more detail and got access to various previously closed places, which he plans to open to the public.

The only building from the Hetmanate era that has survived on the territory of St. Michael's. The homes of wealthy Kyivan residents of that time looked approximately like this (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

You can also see a dome near the cathedral, under which the remains of the monastery's gate church from the late 12th century are. It's the only place in Kyiv where the ancient walls made of plinth are exposed up to 80 centimeters high. Archaeologists are currently working inside the pavilion, but soon it will also be a museum.

It's hard to imagine that the Soviet authorities dared to demolish the majestic Golden-Domed Cathedral, as well as its neighbor, the 900-year-old Church of the Three Saints. They began building Stalin's government center in their place with a colossal monument to Lenin at the center. Luckily, they only managed to build what is now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

About the Bolsheviks, the monument to Princess Olha, and the Church of the Tithes

– How did the face of Kyiv change overall after the Bolsheviks came to power here?

– Ukrainian culture got in their way, and they destroyed it. Documented evidence shows that more than 60 churches were destroyed in Kyiv. But these are minimal estimates. And nobody knows how many wooden Cossack churches in the outer areas were demolished during the Russian Empire.

I'm currently filling the site "Ukrainian Baroque." I've discovered that there weren't just dozens of buildings in this style - there were hundreds of them. And many were destroyed even during the Romanov tsars' reign. In particular, after they issued, in the early 19th century, a decree that banned the construction of churches in the "Little Russian" style. Only fragments of the wooden Baroque heritage have survived. A whole layer has been lost.

The Bolsheviks planned to fill the city center with monumental government buildings, but only one, currently housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was built (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

The first monument to Princess Olha on Mykhailivska Square was installed in 1911. Sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze made it from concrete. But this monument might not have been installed. Initially, the Ukrainian community proposed placing the city's first monument to Taras Shevchenko here.

But Russian figures in Kyiv opposed it. So our famous princess became a sort of "anti-Shevchenko." And to make it more convincing, they added not only Olha, but also Apostle Andrew and the creators of the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius. A group of legendary figures from quite different historical periods. Still, it's good that in 1996 the entire group was restored, now in marble.

The monuments to Princess Olha, Apostle Andrew, and Cyril and Methodius were restored in 1996 (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

If you turn off Mykhailivska Square into the courtyard behind the Diplomatic Academy, near the "Kniazhyi Hrad" restaurant, you'll enter the city of Volodymyr, the birthplace of Kyiv. This was essentially the government center of the city under the subsequent princes, descendants of the Baptizer. Some of them ruled for a short period before being overthrown by rival brothers.

Those who held power for at least a decade usually had time to build several iconic buildings. For example, the great-grandson of Volodymyr the Great built the Fedorivskyi Monastery here. His name was Prince Mstyslav, but he was baptized as Fedir, hence the monastery's name. The oldest church in Kyiv was the Church of the Tithes, and this one is about a hundred years younger.

In the courtyard around the corner from the "Kniazhyi Hrad" restaurant, there is the Fedorivskyi Monastery, one of the oldest in Kyiv (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

In the summer of 1651, during the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Bohdan Khmelnytskyi's Cossacks, Lithuanian troops under Janusz Radziwiłł temporarily entered Kyiv. His court painter, Dutchman Abraham van Westerfeld, was with him. It's believed he saw the ruins of the Fedorivskyi Cathedral and painted them as they were.

Now the foundation of this church lies beneath us. In my personal opinion, this is the only ancient Rus' monument that should be rebuilt after the war. The cathedral wouldn't affect the overall architectural environment and would be an attractive tourist and educational site in the courtyard. Here, you could recreate the atmosphere of an ancient Rus' estate because there's currently no place in Kyiv where one can truly imagine the princely era.

If we exit the courtyard in the other direction, we will reach Volodymyrska Street. There is the building of the former Land Bank, now more commonly known as the Central Telegraph. It was built in 1903, designed by architect Oleksandr Kobeliev. This is original modernist architecture with elements of Russian Revival style.

The building's architecture combines original elements of modernist and Russian Revival style (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

The upper part has decorative elements that resemble the ornaments of Kyivan Rus'. There are Russian-style features, like a kokoshnik over the window, but the presence of deep historical Ukrainian markers gives the building a strong Kyivan spirit.

Further along Volodymyrska Street, at number 7, toward Andriivskyi Descent, there's a building where Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi once lived. Unfortunately, there's not even a plaque to tell people about it.

– Now we're heading toward the site where the oldest church in Kyiv once stood, the Church of the Tithes. People say it's impossible to restore it because we don't know what exactly it looked like.

– That's mostly true. The Church of the Tithes was built between 988-996 by the order of Prince Volodymyr the Great. It was the first stone church not only in Kyiv but in all Kyivan Rus. It got its name because a tenth of the prince's income was allocated for its maintenance. The church was destroyed more than 200 years later by the forces of Khan Batu during the siege of Kyiv. Many human remains were found near its foundations during multiple archaeological excavations.

The grand cathedral lay in ruins for nearly two centuries. Only after the 1630s did Metropolitan Petro Mohyla build a small church named after Saint Nicholas over its remnants. We have images of that building. But as for the Church of the Tithes, we can only roughly guess and make assumptions about the appearance of the original.

The Church of the Tithes was built between 988 and 996 by order of Prince Volodymyr the Great (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

What Kyiv looked like a hundred years ago, and what makes the Golden Gate unique

– What did this area, the Kyiv Detynets, look like a century ago? At the end of the 19th century, people began to build tenement buildings in the upper city. But what else was here?

– Until the early 20th century - just over 100 years ago - there were still homesteads here with vegetable gardens. People kept goats and cows, completely unaware of the layers of history beneath their feet.

Interestingly, at the start of the 20th century, archaeologist Vikentii Khvoika discovered a unique artifact among the ruins of the Church of the Tithes. It was a brick, plinth, stamped with Volodymyr the Great's insignia, a trident. This find confirms that the trident was used as a princely and state symbol as far back as the 10th century. There used to be a kiln for making such bricks here. I think it would be wonderful to recreate something like that and make souvenir bricks. People would find that fascinating.

– Now we're heading toward the Golden Gate area, which has become very popular lately. What makes it interesting?

– This area was home to many significant Ukrainian figures over the years. For example, Lesia Ukrainka first lived independently in a cozy house at 15 Striletska Street, along with her sister. Today, that building houses the Norwegian Embassy.

Famous Ukrainian cultural figures and scholars once lived in the Golden Gate area (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

Across the street, in a grand tenement building, architect and artist Vasyl Krychevskyi lived and had his studio between the First and Second World Wars. He was one of the founders of the Ukrainian architectural modernist style and designed the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Kaniv in the 1930s. He also created the design for the large and small coats of arms of the Ukrainian People's Republic, as well as the current version of the trident that we all use today, like the one on my T-shirt.

Vasyl Krychevskyi emigrated to the US after World War II. His younger brother Fedir, a renowned painter, tried to escape but was caught by Soviet authorities and died, likely from hunger or exhaustion, in obscurity and poverty in 1947.

The Golden Gate district became a trendy hotspot less than 20 years ago. Despite its unique architecture, there was hardly anything here before. Maybe, just the Vesuvio pizzeria on Reitarska Street. That was pretty much it. Then the area slowly came back to life.

The now-famous courtyard with ravens existed back then, too, of course, but tourists didn't go there. Now the area is vibrant, with a bohemian atmosphere. New iconic spots have opened, and artists and other creative professionals work here.

Previously, the area around the Golden Gate was full of kiosks and chaotic vendors (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

Ravens in the courtyard on Reitarska Street (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

One of Kyiv's oldest cafés, Yaroslava, is still in this district. It opened as a canteen back in 1947 and became an informal meeting place for Kyiv's intelligentsia during the 1960s-1980s.

I have a photo from 2012, right at the Golden Gate. Back then, the area was filled with kiosks that popped up everywhere like mushrooms. Now this is no longer the case, and the place has become much more comfortable. Bookstores and community spaces are opening. It's great.

What's happening with the Sikorsky House

– What's the status of the Sikorsky House near the Golden Gate? It's been abandoned for years and is only getting worse.

– The Sikorsky House at 15-B Yaroslaviv Val Street is a monument of Kyiv's brick style, dating from the late 19th to early 20th century.

Its architecture is a variation of Neo-Renaissance with an asymmetrical façade, which made it stand out among the buildings of its time. In addition to its architectural value, the building holds historical significance as the place where Igor Sikorsky, the creator of the world’s first helicopters and a world-class aircraft designer, lived and worked.

A mini-sculpture "Sikorsky helicopter" by the "Shukai" project (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

I've started to take an interest in Sikorsky again and realized that he truly was a genius. At the age of 19, he was already inventing incredible things, and his company, Sikorsky Aircraft, still exists in the US. Across from the Sikorsky House, there's a mini-sculpture dedicated to him from the "Shukai" ("search") project. The building remains abandoned, and no restoration work is currently being carried out. The Sikorsky House in Kyiv is in a state of disrepair, partially destroyed, and still not preserved.

In 2021, the court ordered the Ministry of Defense, which owns the property, to sign a protection agreement and carry out emergency repairs. However, the ministry filed an appeal, which was ultimately rejected in 2023. That same year, the Ministry of Culture finally approved the transfer of the building to the Kyiv community, but the transfer still had to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Sikorsky House continues to decay (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

– In your opinion, what was the worst time for Kyiv's architecture? The one that damaged the city's appearance the most?

– First, the Stalinist period, which brutally destroyed our heritage from the Kyivan Rus, Cossack, and Hetman eras.

Also, in my opinion, it is the late 1970s, the period of stagnation. This short period harmed Kyiv. Entire blocks of historic buildings disappeared, and connections between established neighborhoods were severed. The urban planning logic, which had at least somehow been maintained until then, was disrupted.

Vast areas of private housing were demolished, and people were relocated from Borshchahivka, which at that time was still a village. In particular, they were resettled into nine-story panel apartment buildings on the left bank. The chaotic development that came later, after 1991, is in part a consequence of the decisions that had been made much earlier.

How Troieshchyna and Borshchahivka districts were built

– How were Troieshchyna and Borshchahivka built, and what was there before them?

– Briefly put, during the 1970s and 1980s, the authorities started moving people out of communal apartments.

Villages, many of which dated back to the Middle Ages, that were in the territory of Borshchahivka, Pozniaky, and Sviatoshyn were turned into residential districts. Longtime residents were scattered across the city, and family and neighborly ties were severed.

Troieshchyna and Borshchahivka were built without basic social and cultural infrastructure. People were left in neighborhoods with no standard community centers. Even basic services were far away.

Elderly people who'd spent their lives until their retirements in homes with gardens suddenly found themselves confined within four walls on a high floor. Their children lived in a different part of the city, and the commute on overcrowded Tatra and Ikarus buses took 2-3 hours one way. There were no mobile phones. Not everyone even had a landline. People often lacked even basic means of communication. At the construction stage, the new neighborhoods did not meet people's essential needs.

Construction in the Troieshchyna area, 1980s (photo: facebook.com/kiev.klab)

In the area that has now grown into the housing estates known as Troieshchyna (although it's actually the former village of Vyhurivshchyna), there was already a princely residence during Kyivan Rus and, under Lithuanian rule, a princely castle in Miloslavichy. Later, the settlement was owned by the St. Michael's Monastery.

In the late 1950s, ancient Vygurivshchyna was merged with the neighbouring village of Troieshchyna (which still exists as a village today). The housing estate began to form after the 1974 opening of the Northern (then Moscow) Bridge. The former Vygurivshchyna was completely demolished, while neighbouring Troieshchyna was spared due to the late 1980s economic crisis. After the Chornobyl disaster, many affected people were resettled here. Today, approximately three hundred thousand people live in the Vygurivshchyna–Troieshchyna area.

Troieshchyna, Borshchahivka, Obolon, and the first Pozniaky are districts in what could be described as a recreational paradise because there are forests, lakes, and a river nearby. But during their construction, nobody even thought to create public leisure zones here.

The lakes in Troieshchyna along Shukhevych Avenue were just water‑filled pits. In the 1980s, no one thought to build nice parks. A typical resident of Balzaka Street had to walk two kilometres to get to Desnianskyi Park, even though the Dnipro River was right across the road. But that road was built like a Chinese wall, impossible to cross without effort. Now there is a nice park, and enormous progress has been made over the past ten years.

Borshchahivka was once a settlement that belonged to monasteries from the late 15th century and appeared on maps at times as "Borshchivka." The current residential neighborhoods were built on the site of the ancient village and the surrounding meadows during the 1960s–1980s.

Mikhailivska Borshchahivka. Dominique Pierre de la Flise, 1854 (uk.wikipedia.org)

About Podil, Peizazhna Alley, and what Kyiv became after the USSR

– If you could improve or change something in Kyiv, what would it be?

– Khreshchatyk needs to be put in order, given new meaning, a new life, and turned into a proper public space. Kontraktova Square is the same story: it also needs to be put in order. The problem is that Kyiv still lacks cohesive tourist clusters with full pedestrian zones.

Sahaidachnoho Street, too. They started doing it, but the war stopped everything. It needs to be finished: pave it properly, make everything right to let people walk there comfortably.

Overall, most of Kyiv's key locations are poorly maintained.

Kyiv lacks integration between its outskirts and the city centre. You should be able to walk normally, not hop between highways. There should be simple things: sidewalks, interconnected bike lanes, like in any European city. Our bike lanes are patchy, not everywhere, and cars park on them.

The historic center of the city suffers particularly from additions built on top of historical structures (Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine).

– Which sites are the most problematic in Kyiv today?

– I believe it's the buildings owned by the state first of all. The government agencies responsible for them do nothing. Many unique historical buildings belong to the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and even the Ministry of Defence. They are often brought to an almost horrific condition. The ministry does not give it up, and in the meantime, nothing is done, and the building is deteriorating..

In my opinion, Kyiv needs a single consensus on the development and preservation of architectural heritage. Because today we are in a kind of paralysis: developers are trying to act too aggressively. There are obvious situations when the developer is wrong. Even when they create decent projects, some people already reject everything. And then you don't know whether they are genuine public activists or if someone hired them.

Peizazhna Alley is a unique public space that combines a panorama of the Old City with a fairytale art environment. In 2009, sculptor Kostiantyn Skrytutskyi decorated it with mosaic cats and rabbits. But even though there was reconstruction here in recent years, the coating of the sculptures is still falling off.

As for me, my pain is the peeling facades of old buildings. Rooftop additions on historical structures. And of course, many unfinished construction projects. Some were built under Yanukovych, then he fled, and the buildings were abandoned.

The sculptures on the Peizazhna Alley are in poor condition even after the recent reconstruction of the space (Vitaliy Nosach/RBC-Ukraine).

– How did the Soviet period influence Kyiv's architecture?

– I live in the area around Halytska Square. For example, on Zolotoustivska Street, above the circus building, there is practically no historic house left, but until the 1980s, the street looked like a little Prague. The areas where the Palace of Ukraine is now, including areas of Nova Zabudova and the Esplanade, were historic districts.

The Soviet authorities were weird. They even had a plan according to which not a single old house would remain in Podil. They proposed to replace everything with "boxes," as in the residential massifs. They believed that this old heritage was unnecessary and excessive. Because of Soviet urban planning, Kyiv did not follow Prague's example.

– And what was Kyiv's path after the USSR?

– Buenos Aires is somewhat similar. Or Istanbul. When I first visited Istanbul, I thought, "Oh, we're relatives." "Oh, here, we have the same kind of disorder, the same vibrancy." In short, for a thousand years, we have been borrowing from Byzantium. You can feel how close we are to Constantinople. Kyiv too is on slopes, with the wide Dnipro, with the same role as the Bosphorus. So, now our city, with its problems, is more Asian. Not as much as Kathmandu or Cairo, but we have a lot in common with Turkish cities.

– So Kyiv is kind of between Europe and Asia?

– Between the second and third world, as painful as that sounds. We are very close to European civilisation; we breathe it, we aspire to it. But at certain moments, we lack the drive to reach it.