Kyiv. First settlements appeared on the territory of the city
about 20,000 years ago. Archaeologists found the sites of our ancestors almost
in all corners of Kyiv. The most famous is the Kyrylivs'ka Site in the Podil
district. In remote ages people lived also in Protasiv Ravine, Solomianka,
Obolon', Priorka, on Lysa Mount, in Pyrohiv, Sovky and Korchuvate.
Legend tells that about the 5th c. brothers Kyi, Schek and Khoryv and their
sister Lybid' reached by the Dnipro high hills rising above the river down the
Lybid' entry and founded a city there. In honour of the founders were named
Kyevytsia (now Zamkova), Schekavytsia and Horevytsia Hills, the Lybid' River and
the city itself.
Kyiv was first mentioned in chronicles under the year of 862 when the city was
governed by Princes Askold and Dir. In 882 the Novgorodian Prince Oleh killed
Askold and Dir and captured the city. A picturesque locale in Kyiv where Prince
Askold was supposedly buried is still called Askold's Grave. During the reign of
Princes Oleh and Ihor, Princess Olha and Prince Sviatoslav Ihorevych the Kyivan
state reached its heyday. In 988 Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych introduced
Christianity in Rus. The stone Church of Our Lady or the Tithe Church (989-996)
became the first sanctuary of the new religion. Around it arose stone palaces of
princes protected by earthen ramparts with moats and several city gates.
Prince Yaroslav the Wise expanded boundaries of the city. During his reign the
monumental St. Sophia Cathedral was built. In 1051, monks Anthony and Theodosius
founded a cave monastery near the village of Berestove, which later became the
famous Kyiv-Pechers'k Lavra. In the latter half of the 11th c. Prince Vsevolod
Yaroslavych built his summer residence – the Red Court – in Vydubychi, a
picturesque area over the Dnipro, and later the Vydubytskyi Monastery.
In 1108 in honour of the Archangel Michael Kyivan Prince Sviatopolk Iziaslavych
founded St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes, an outstanding monument of
architecture. After Kyivan Rus' disintegration into several principalities, the
Olhovychi Princes of Chernihiv founded on the high hill called Dorohozhychi the
patrimonial Monastery of St. Cyril of which St. Cyril's Church (12th c.) has
survived. In 1136, during the reign of Kyivan Prince
Mstyslav, the Church of the Dormition of Our Lady (Pyrogoscha) in Podil was
built. The devastating invasion of the hordes of Batu Khan in 1240 led to the
decline of Kyiv and Kyivan Rus for almost two centuries.
In the latter half of the 16th - first half of the 17th c. Kyiv again became the
centre of Ukrainian culture. By efforts of the Kyiv Brotherhood (Hetman Petro
Sahaidachnyi entered it with the entire Zaporozhain Cossack army) the
Brotherhood Monastery of the Epiphany (17th c.) was founded. The school at the
monastery became the first institution of higher learning in Ukraine.
The development of education and culture had an effect on the city architecture.
Instead of wooden structures there appeared new brick bell towers, refectories,
cells, residences for monastery superiors, fortification walls with towers and
gates. At that time new brick churches were erected: of St. Elijah (1692), of
All Saints (1698) and of St. Theodosius of Pechersk (1700).
Along with cult architecture, civil and military construction was going on. As
far back as 1679, the Cossacks of Hetman I. Samoilovych began to construct an
earthen fortress around the Kyiv-Pechers'k Lavra to fortify Kyiv and avert the
constant menace of the Turkish attack. On Hetman I. Mazepa's donations new stone
walls with five towers were constructed around the Upper Lavra. Olden houses of
confectioners Balabukha belong to that time, as well as the so-called house of
Peter the Great in Podil, and some palaces in the Lypky area. The opening in
1834 of Kyiv University, whose first rector was an outstanding scientist M.
Maksymovych, became a notable event for the development of science and culture.
A great role in the development of education in Kyiv was played by outstanding
scientist and talented surgeon N. Pirogov. In the 18th - 19th cc. world-famous
writers and poets lived and worked in Kyiv: H. Skovoroda, T. Shevchenko, Lesia
Ukrainka, Marko Vovchok, I. Nechui-Levyts'kyi. A. Pushkin, A. Griboedov, N.
Gogol, L. Tolstoy, A. Mickiewicz, Honore de Balzac and many other famous men
visited Kyiv at different times.
In the southern outskirts of Kyiv, in Pyrohiv settlement the Museum of Folk
Architecture and Life of Ukraine was opened in 1969. Its territory of 120 ha
houses more than 150 structures, monuments of Ukrainian folk architecture of the
16th - 20th cc., monuments of material and spiritual culture of different epochs
from all regions of Ukraine grouped according to historico-ethnographic and
geographical zones.
Baryshivka. Several burial mounds and a site of the Kyivan Rus times have
been found near the
settlement.
In chronicles of the 17th c. Baryshivka is mentioned as an important fortified
settlement. Its residents took part in peasant uprisings led by Taras Triasylo.
The well-known churchman, translator, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
A. Bratanovskyi-Romanenko (1761-1805) was born here. In 1843 T. Shevchenko was
in the settlement and visited the excavated burial mound of Kyivan Rus
times.
Bila Tserkva. The town stands on the picturesque banks of the Ros' River.
In 1032, Kyivan Prince Yaroslav the Wise built there the Yuriiv Fortress to
protect southern borders of the Kyivan state from the devastating incursions of
the Polovtsians. In 1050-1057 on Zamkova Hill a white-stone church (bila tserkva
in Ukr.) appeared and gave the name to the town.
During the Liberation War (1648-1657) Bohdan Khmel'nyts'kyi formed here his
detachments. In 1651 in the vicinity of the town his troops defeated the Polish
army. At the beginning of the 18th c. there was the residence of Semen Paliy,
the leader of the peasant movement. In the 19th c. Bila Tserkva became one of
the centres of the Decembrist movement.
Among the well-known architectural monuments of the town mention should be made
of St. Nicholas' Church (1702), the House of the Nobility Assembly (late 18th -
early 19th cc.), the row of stalls (1809-1814), the Roman Catholic Church of St.
John the Forerunner (1812), and the Transfiguration Cathedral (1834). The
Oleksandria dendropark, an outstanding monument of landscape architecture of the
18th c., evokes general admiration.
Bohuslav. The town was one of the centres of Old Rus culture. Near it the
remains of an Old Rus settlement of the 11th - 13th cc. were found. In 1240 the
town was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatar hordes.
For a long time these lands belonged to Polish magnates. Freedom-loving
residents of the town took an active part in the peasant-Cossack uprisings led
by K. Kosyns'kyi (1590-1593) and S. Nalyvaiko (1594-1596), in the Liberation War
of the Ukrainian people (1648-1657) under the guidance of Bohdan Khmel'nyts'kyi.
Bohuslav's history is associated with the names of popular heroes, leaders of
the Haidamaky movement Maksym Zalizniak and Mykyta Shvachka.
Here famous writer I. Nechui-Levyts'ky was born and later worked as a teacher,
well-known artist I. Soshenko also was born here. The town was visited by T.
Shevchenko, Marko Vovchok, and writer and teacher S. Vasyl'chenko.
Boryspil'. First mentions of the town in chronicles date to the 11th c.
In Boryspil' a silver coin of Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych was found and the
remains of the defensive rampart of the olden church – the Lets'ka Chapel built
by Prince Volodymyr Monomachus in 1117, have been preserved. In 1015, returning
from the campaign against the Pechenegs, Prince Borys, son of Volodymyr
Sviatoslavych, fell a victim to hired assassins.
Since that time the locality had got the name of Borys' field {pole in Ukr.),
hence the contemporary name of the town. The history of Boryspil' is closely
connected with the peasant-Cossack uprisings of the 16th - 17th cc.
Fastiv. The territory of the town was populated already in the
Palaeolithic age, which is evidenced by a late palaeolithic site. Fastiv is
first mentioned in historical documents in 1390. Its residents took an active
part in the Liberation War of the Ukrainian people (1648-1657). Since the
mid-1680s till 1702 Fastiv had been a regimental town. In 1702-1704 there was a
centre of S. Paliy's insurrection and during the Koliivschyna peasant uprising
(1768) the Haidamak detachments gathered in the town. In 1846 T. Shevchenko
visited Fastiv and took part in archaeological excavations in its vicinities.
The wooden Church of the Intercession (1779-1781) and the Roman Catholic Church
(1903-1911) have survived to the present day.
Pereiaslav-Khmel'nyts'kyi. The first chronicle mention of
Pereiaslav-Rus'kyi dates from 906. Kyivan Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych built a
citadel with the main gates facing Kyiv. Even nowadays you can see some outlines
of olden ramparts and streets radiating from the citadel. From those times the
foundations of the Church of Our Saviour (11th c.) have remained. The
excavations of St. Michael's Cathedral (1089) can be seen near to St. Michael's
Church built in 1646-1666.
There is a monument on the place where the Pereiaslav Council took place.
The architectural ensemble of the 18th c. is represented by the Ascension
Cathedral (1695-1700), a three-tier bell tower (1770-1776), and the building of
the Collegium (1735-1757) where the great Ukrainian enlightener, philosopher and
poet H. Skovoroda lectured for some time. In his honour the Literary-Memorial
Museum was opened in the town.
The contemporary town is an original open-air museum. There functions the
historico-cultural reserve. Its oldest establishment is the History Museum
located in the former house of doctor A. Kozachkovs'kyi. Museums of V.
Zabolotnyi, Sholom Aleikhem and M. Benardos also function in the town.
The Pereiaslav-Khmel'nyts'kyi Museum of Folk Architecture and Life opened in
1964 is one of Ukraine's first skansens. Its exhibitions tell about the
evolution of dwelling in the mid-Naddniprianschyna since olden times till the
late 19th c.
Vasyl'kiv. The town was founded in the late 10th c. under the name of
Vasyliv in honour of the son of Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych. The city history
is connected with the Decembrist movement in Ukraine. S. Muravyev-Apostol and M.
Bestuzhev-Riumin were the leaders of the Vasyl'kiv Board of the Southern Society
of the Decembrists. The members of the board gathered in the house where S.
Muravyev-Apostol lived. Under their guidance in December 1825 the Chernihiv
Regiment rose in rebellion. The monument standing in the town centre reminds of
those events. The Cathedral of Sts. Anthony and Theodosius (1758) and St.
Nicholas' Church of stone (1792) are the most interesting architectural
monuments.
Vyshhorod. The town territory has been populated since olden times. Here the
remains of a Neolithic settlement (4th - 3rd mil. BC) have been found, as well
as burial mounds of the Bronze Age (7th - 6th cc. BC) and Sarmatian times. The
remains of a large settlement of the 9th - 13th cc. have been well preserved.
Olden Vyshgorod was one of the most important towns of Kyivan Rus. It was first
mentioned in a chronicle in 946 as a residence of Princess Olha. The town was
well known throughout the entire Kyivan Rus and beyond its borders as well. For
three centuries it was one of the most picturesque cities of Kyivan Rus. Written
sources testify that Vyshgorod was a significant cultural, trade and handicraft
centre as well as a strong outpost which protected the southern approaches to
Kyiv. The Mongol-Tatar invasion and subsequent wars wiped off almost all olden
monuments from the face of Vyshgorod.
At present, the tourist can see the reconstructed Cathedral of Sts. Borys and
Hlib (12th c.), and the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Station and Kyiv Hydroelectric
Pumped Storage Power Plant, the first in Eastern Europe.
Oblast farmsteads