Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, and herself converted hundreds of people to Christianity. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her.

The Museum, containing works by Ukrainian artists from abroad, was opened on the 29th of May, 1999, in the restored 18th-century mansion on Moskovska Street. The exposition is devoted to life stories and creative work of composers, poets, choir masters, writers, choreographers and singers who were born in Kyiv and then forced to leave for abroad. In the museum you can get acquainted with unique paintings of such well-known Ukrainian painters as L. Morosowa (USA), O. Bulavitsky (USA), M. Krychevsky (France), T. Messak and V. Savchak (Australia), V. Krychevsky and K. Krychevska-Rosandich (USA). In the museum one may learn about the life and creativity of such writers and poets as D. Humanna (USA), O. Hay-Holowko (Canada), H. Cherin (USA), B. Olexandriv (Canada), B. Kowalenko (Australia). The world-famous ballet-master and dancer S. Lifar and the pianist-virtuoso V. Horovits were also born in the great city of Kiev.

Theodosius of Kiev is a saint who brought Cenobitic Monasticism to Kievan Rus' and, together with St Anthony of Kiev, founded the Kiev Caves Lavra (Monastery of the Caves). A hagiography of Theodosius was written in the twelfth century.

Here you will see a unique collection of items that originate from theater, cinema and music, which have been collected over the years. You are able to see how each began and how they have progressed over time to what they are today. Today the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema is the only one of its kind featuring displays and collections of this sort.
The collections seen here at the State Museum began in 1923, making some of the exhibits over eighty years old. The collection was started originally for the purpose of research and documentation in an attempt to record the cultural history of the country. The Museum has also been used often for teaching purposes; an apt place to lecture students on theater and cinema and its history in Ukraine. Often the conference rooms here are used for scientific presentations and conferences, so there is always something happening.

By the Divine Providence, at the time of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Venerable Anthony, the founder of Russian monkhood, settled in a small cave in the hill not far from Kiev. In 1051 he came back from the Holy Mount Athos, where he became a monk. He chose a small cave not far from the village of Berestovo, as the place for his ascetic labors. Earlier Metropolitan Illarion isolated here. The cave, after Anthony settled there, began to attract the citizens and Kiev aristocracy, who came for spiritual advice and blessing to him, wise in God monastic elder. Those, who strove for monastic life, asked him to let them stay with him. The monks, who settled in the cave, dug for themselves new cells, joined them with underground corridors and at the same place they created an underground church. The Pechersk dwelling place was created in such a way that it deserved special attention of the Heavenly Mother, Our Lady, Theotokos, and which was also famous for monks' ascetic labors and sanctity of life.

Soon the cave became too overcrowded for Venerable Anthony, seeking for isolation.
Appointed Venerable Barlaam as Farther Superior for the brethren, he went to the neighbouring hill, where he dug a new cell, making the beginning of the new complex of the Caves, called later the Near Caves.
The primary Caves were called the Far Caves.

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, from the beginning of its foundation, serves as the burial place of the spiritual personalities. The burial places of the metropolitans Arseniy (Moskvin), Filofey (Uspensky), Ioannikiy (Rudnev), Theognost (Lebedev) and Flavian (Gorodetsky) are located there.

By the Divine Providence, at the time of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Venerable Anthony, the founder of Russian monkhood, settled in a small cave in the hill not far from Kiev. In 1051 he came back from the Holy Mount Athos, where he became a monk. He chose a small cave not far from the village of Berestovo, as the place for his ascetic labors. Earlier Metropolitan Illarion isolated here. The cave, after Anthony settled there, began to attract the citizens and Kiev aristocracy, who came for spiritual advice and blessing to him, wise in God monastic elder. Those, who strove for monastic life, asked him to let them stay with him. The monks, who settled in the cave, dug for themselves new cells, joined them with underground corridors and at the same place they created an underground church. The Pechersk dwelling place was created in such a way that it deserved special attention of the Heavenly Mother, Our Lady, Theotokos, and which was also famous for monks' ascetic labors and sanctity of life.

Soon the cave became too overcrowded for Venerable Anthony, seeking for isolation.
Appointed Venerable Barlaam as Farther Superior for the brethren, he went to the neighbouring hill, where he dug a new cell, making the beginning of the new complex of the Caves, called later the Near Caves.
The primary Caves were called the Far Caves.

It is considered to be the highest bell tower in Ukraine. Its height makes up 96 m. It was built by Iohann Shedel in 1745. On top of the belltower there is a chiming clock, which has been working since 1903 in Lavra.

The Gate Church of the Trinity was built in 1106-1108, as part of the Pechersk Lavra fortification, atop the main entrance to the monastery. The church was founded by the grandson of the Prince of Chernigov Sviatoslav II, who renounced his princely status and became a Pechersk monk on November 17, 1106 under the name of Mykola Sviatosha.[1] Mykola spent 36 years as a monk, and founded the Monastery Hospital of the Trinity within the Lavra.

The All-Saints Church was built above the Ekonomichna Brama — Economic Gate of the Lavra Monastery in 1696–1698. The money endowed by Ivan Mazepa made it possible to design and decorate the church in a highly impressive manner. The church bore Mazepa’s coat of arms on the facade of the church.

The Refectory Church is a refectory and an adjoining church of Saint Anthony and Theodosius of the medieval cave monastery of Kiev Pechersk Lavra in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. In the refectory, the Lavra monks had their meals. The building was constructed in 1893-1895 at a time when more than a thousand monks were living within the monastery.

Museum of Miniature of author Nikolay Siadristy is located at the territory of Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. Just one author’s works are presented in the museum collection – no wonder, only a few have the talent to shoe a flea. Feature of Nikolay Siadristy creative work is that everything is made by hand, by a special technology for each kind of works. Only in Museum of Miniature in Kiev one can see the unique creations, amazing with talent of the creator, accuracy of fulfillment and sizes, certainly.

Bolesław Leśmian was a Polish poet, artist and member of the Polish Academy of Literature. He was one of the most influential poets of the early 20th century in Poland, one of the best poets of 20th century and cousin of another notable poet of the epoch - Jan Brzechwa and a nephew of famous poet and writer of Young Poland - Antoni Lange.

The library of the old Kyiv Mohyla Academy contained a notable collection of the books. However, the archive was plundered in 1920s when the academy was closed. The university administration focuses on creating a research library equipped to modern standards. In addition to the central undergraduate library there is a number of the departmental libraries as well as reading halls for research and periodicals. Further, several international cultural organizations such as the Goethe-Institut(e), British Council and American Library are located on campus premises and are open to the public.

Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy is a multi-functional stadium in Kiev, Ukraine that is modified for football use only.

The stadium holds 16,873 people, and was built in 1934 as Vsevolod Balitsky Dynamo Stadium by the project of Vasyl Osmak. The stadium current name was given in honour of the former Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national football team coachValeriy Lobanovskyi in 2002, who died on 13 May that year, at age 63.

Polish tragic actress. Started the stage in St. Petersburg in 1895.
1901-1911 - worked in Krakov theatre.
1911-1920 - lived in Kiev, where created the National Polish Theatre- studio.

This is a house where a famous architect, participant of Polish rebellion in 1863 Valerian Kulikovskii lived.

Leonard Yankovski commissioned the construction of St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Joachim Bartoshevich - a Polish writer, the main editor of “Dziennik kijowski” newspaper.

Prof. Vladimir Vysokovich (1854–1912), the Head of the Department of Pathologic Anatomy at Medical Faculty of St. Volodymyr Kyiv University, one of the founders of the Society of Struggle with Infectious Diseases and Kyiv Bacteriological Institute.

Established in the summer of 1867 by Ferdinand Berger. Berger succeeded in inviting many talented singers, musicians, and conductors, and the city council (duma) had offered the newly created trouppe to use the City Theatre (constructed in 1856, architect I. Shtrom) for their performances. Officially, the theatre was named the City Theatre but was most commonly referred to as the Russian Opera. The day of the first performance, November 8 (October 27 old style), 1867 was made a city holiday. The performance of the opera Askold's Tomb by Alexey Verstovsky was the troupe's debut. The initial success is attributed to the vocal talents of that time of O. Satagano-Gorchakova, F. L'vov, M. Agramov but also to the captivating plot taken from some principal pages of the ancient history of the city.

During the intermission of a performance on September 1, 1911, Dmitry Bogrov killed Prime Minister Peter Stolypin.

The memorial sign in the honour of Polish rebellion participatnts in 1863.

There is a monument to Polish soldiers, who died in times of WWII. The memorial was established in 1954.

nitially the building had 2 storeys, at the beginning of the XX centure 2 more storeys were constructed. The house was maintained by Francis Golombek.

The Contracts House is a trade building in the Podil neighborhood of Kiev (Kyiv), the capital of Ukraine. The Contracts House received its name because the city's contracts were signed there. It is located on the Kontraktova Square, once one of the Podil's main trading centers. The building is considered as one of the important Classical architecture constructions of the city.
After a large fire destroyed part of the Podil in 1811, the first Contracts House in the neighborhood burnt down. A new replacement building was constructed in 1815-1817 in the Classical style according to a plan made by English architect V. Geste, supervised by architect Andrey Melensky.

In 1930s there used to be a Polish club with a theatre school, later - a cinema, currently - the Theatre of Youth.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv is today a classic university with a distinct research profile, and the leading contemporary academic and educational hub of Ukraine. With the independent Ukrainian nation arising, the university is facing new challenges and responsibilities. The academic experts of the future can be identified by a thorough professional knowledge and the ability to think creatively, with an understanding of the massive responsibility to be taken when working at the leading-edge of academic thought. Only a university with a long tradition of achievement and success both in teaching and in research could cope with such a mission.

The cemetery was established in 1833. It has got its name from the nearby Baikovo estate. The oldest part of the cemetery is located south of the present vul. Baikova. The biggest part is located north of the street and was established in the 1880s. It is partly surrounded by a wall. Besides the Orthodox graves there are also Catholic and Lutheran sections.
In Soviet times the Baikove cemetery became the main necropolis of the Kiev's intelligentsia, middle and upper classes. Many of the headstones became pieces of monumental art. Also after the Ukrainian independence the cemetery has remained the most prestigious burial ground in the city.
An Orthodox Church (Ascension of the Lord) in Byzantine style was built at the cemetery in 1884–1889. It was built on the proceeds from the sale of burial places. During the Soviet times it was preserved as a memorial hall for funeral ceremonies. Today it is again used as a church. In 1975 a new crematorium in modern style was built in the western part of the cemetery.

The St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral is the second Roman Catholic cathedral built in Kiev. It was constructed in 1899–1909 and was built in a Gothic type construction, by Kiev architects V. Gorodetsky and E. Salya. Historically, it belonged to the Latin Rite Catholic community.

A competition was held in 1898 for the designs for a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Kiev, which was won by an architect S. Volovskiy. His entry into the competition included a Gothic type construction with two 60 m (197 ft) towers. The final revision and management of the project was assigned to the Kievan architect Vladislav Gorodetsky, and Emilio Sala added sculptural decoration in artificial stone to the construction. To increase the stability of the construction on the uneven Kiev ground, it was ensured by bore-and-stuffed piles, a newly introduced invention ofAnton Strauss. The construction work was carried out by exclusively from voluntary donations, and lasted for ten years (1899–1909).

This building was constructed by a famous Kiev architect Vladislav Gorodetskiy in 1903 — on the former bank of drained swamp. This place was prohibited for building up by Kiev house-building society. Many people at that time considered the construction of a house on the steep slope to be the madness. That’s why the house was primordially cloaked in legends: it is said that Gorodetskiy started building because of the bet with other architects who contended that it was impossible to build something in that place. Nevertheless the house was built in record time - in 2 years.

The House of the Weeping Widow is an architectural landmark of Kiev, located at 23 Lyuteranska Street.

Constructed in 1907 in the early Art Nouveau style by architect E. Bradtman, it was commissioned by Serhiy Arshavsky, a wealthy merchant from Poltava, who occupied it before the Bolshevik Revolution. The building kept its first owner's name long afterwards, and even today is sometimes referred to as the Serhiy Arshavskyi Building. Following the revolution it was occupied by the International Group Federation of the Central Committee of Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).

Currently it is one of the President of Ukraine's official residences,used to house state visitors, among them: U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, and the Presidents of Lithuania and Brazil.

The building earned its nickname because when it rains water pours over the woman's face on the facade, running down her cheeks like tears.

St. Alexander Cathedral is the oldest Catholic Church in Kyiv. It has a complex and dramatic history. 
In 1815, the governor of Kyiv's province, Potocki received permission from the Emperor, Alexander I, for the construction of a Roman Catholic Church, in Kiev. The Permission was signed on July 7, 1815, in the emperor's main Paris residence.
The construction of the Church began in 1817. 
On August 30, 1817, the foundation stone was laid and consecrated by the Auxiliary Bishop of Mogilev Metropolitan Primate of the Catholic Church in the Russian Empire. Due to financial difficulties, construction stopped soon after. It was only in 1835, that the construction resumed again. 
The construction of the cathedral was completed in 1842. 
The image you see on your screen was the first image of the cathedral, made in 1846. 
Unfortunately, in 1937, the Church was seized by the communist regime. Many Christians were repressed and killed. 
Father Sigismund Kwasniewski was the last Parish priest, to serve in the Parish before the communist regime closed down the Church. Father Sigismund Kwasniewski was arrested on June 3rd, 1937 and executed on September 25th, 1937. 
The Cathedral was returned to Catholic Church in 1991.

Moskovskaya street appeared three centuries ago and till the 19th century it was the main street of Kiev. There were a lot of events which took place here.

Initially the square was called Vladimirskaya. The current name it derrived in 1965. On the left there is a Salut Hotel, built in 1982. On the right there is A Park of Glory, where you can have a nice walk and enjoy a beautiful view of the city from the skydeck.

One of the main streets of Kiev. Here you can find a lot of admitistartive buildings such as The House of Parliament, the House of Ministers. Nearby on Bankova street there is The President's Administration.

The main landmark of the square is the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. The original cathedral was demolished by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, but was reconstructed and opened in 1999 following Ukrainian independence. Anothe noticablesight of the square is The Monument to the Princess Olga, St. Andrew and Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The boulevard was built in the middle of the 19th century. Till nowadays it has changed a lot of names. The main feature of Taras Shevchenko boulevard is the alley of poplars, which runs from Khreschatik street till Pobedy Square and remains one of the most beautiful places in Kiev.

This monument is standing at the corner of Khreshchatic and Proreznaya streets.
He is well-known character from Ilf and Petrov’s novel “The Golden Calf”. The actor that played Panikovskiy in the movie is Z.Gerdt, and his portrait you can see in Panikovskiy’s face. The monument was opened in 1998, sculptors V.Shchur and V.Sivko, architect V.Skulskiy.

The Chocolate House was built in 1880 in the style of the Venetian Renaissance and was a property of Semen Mogilevtsev, a first guild merchant in Kiev (1846-1917). The architect of the house was Nikolaev - the main architect of Kiev at that times.
The architecture of the house itself is beautiful and harmonious. In addition, the building was unusually painted. The house is colored in monochrome chocolate color and because of it Kievans started calling the mansion The Chocolate House.

Trehsvjatitel'skaja street appeared in the XVII century. It derived its name from the church of Holy Trinity, which was located on the Michael's Square. The Church was destroyed in the 1934 and now on its place you can find the new hude building - The Miistry of Foreign affairs.

Natan Rakhlin was a Ukrainian conductor. Rakhlin was born January 10, 1906. He served as Artistic Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine from 1937 to 1962 and was the musical director on a number of Soviet films. In 1941 he succeed Alexander Gauk as director of the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR. Under his direction the orchestra premiered Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 on October 30, 1957.

As the community of ascetics gathered around St. Anthony grew, the physical limitations of the caves, even with expansions, could not keep up with growth. To solve this problem the idea came to them to build a church above ground. Circa 1062, St. Theodosius, as hegumen, found a convenient place not far from the cave, and, with St. Anthony’s blessing, he asked Prince Izyaslav for this land in order to build a new monastery. Soon a large wooden church of the Dormition of the Theotokos was built, along with cells and an enclosing wall. (One record has Varlaam, the hegumen prior to St. Theodosius responsible for building this church in 1058.) The brotherhood moved there in 1062, and the monastery quickly grew to something on the order of 100 ascetics.

The Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art Museum is one of the largest art museums in Ukraine. It is located on the grounds of the National Kyiv-Pechersk historico-cultural preserve and is housed in the former Metropolitan's residence and the adjacent Annunciation church (ХVІІІ – beginning of ХХ century).

Now the reserves and displays of the museum contain over 75,000 artifacts of Ukrainian traditional folk and professional decorative art dating from XV century to present days. Many of them are household and domestic articles varied in material, shape, decoration, and purpose which talented craftsmen had turned into highly artistic items inhering the wealth of regional specificities. Art works created by professional artisans demonstrate implementation of established folk traditions in their creative concepts.

The museum permanent exhibition which totals some 1,500 sq. m. represents all types of Ukrainian folk art: carpet weaving, weaving, print, embroidery, ceramics, wood carving and painting, artistic leatherwork, horn and metal work, glassware, porcelain, Easter egg painting ("pysankarstvo"), folk painting and iconography.

In this building lived such Jewish writers as Gofstein, Kvitko, Kipnim, Polianker, Fefer, Haikina etc.

Isaak Babel was a journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of My Dovecote, and Tales of Odessa, all of which are considered masterpieces of Russian literature. Babel has also been acclaimed as "the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry." Loyal to, but not uncritical of, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Isaak Babel fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge due to his longterm affair with the wife of NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov. Babel was arrested by the NKVD at Peredelkino on the night of May 15, 1939. After "confessing", under torture, to being a Trotskyist terrorist and foreign spy, Babel was shot on January 27, 1940. The arrest and execution of Isaak Babel has been labeled a catastrophe for world literature.

Ilya Ehrenburg was a writer, journalist, translator, and cultural figure.
Ehrenburg is among the most prolific and notable authors of the Soviet Union; he published around one hundred titles. He became known first and foremost as a novelist and a journalist - in particular, as a reporter in three wars (First World War, Spanish Civil War and the Second World War). His articles on the Second World War have provoked intense controversies in West Germany, especially during the sixties.
The novel The Thaw gave its name to an entire era of Soviet cultural politics, namely, the liberalization after the death of Joseph Stalin. Ehrenburg's travel writing also had great resonance, as did to an arguably greater extent his autobiography People, Years, Life, which may be his best known and most discussed work. The Black Book, edited by him and Vassily Grossman, has special historical significance; detailing the genocide on Soviet citizens of Jewish ancestry, it is the first great documentary work on the Holocaust.