Secret Kyiv. Personal excursion.

On the pedestal you can see not only the Princess but also St. Andrew, the First-Called Apostle (who predicted that on these hills will be a great city), and Cyril and Methodius (they became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples. They received the title “Apostles to the Slavs”). Olga was the first ruler woman who took Christian tradition, she was baptized in Constantinople. The monument was opened in 1911, the sculptor was Ivan Kavaleridze, but eight years after the Olga’s statue was throw down and it was buried right there on the square. The monument itself should have been a part of a big project called “The Historical Path”. It should have been an alley of statues illustrating the centuries-old history of Kyiv. Olga returned to her pedestal only in 1996, but not the original one, only her copy made of white Carrara marble. Original Olga you can find on St. Andrew’s descent.

It is one of the secrets in the City. During the construction of the fence, the owner of the estate decided not to cut down the tree, but to cover it with bricks. There is no history of its occurrence. But such an unusual sight as a tree growing from a fence is very worthy to be looked at.

Sticking back to the history, the idea to construct the St. Andrew’s church came to Empress Elizabeth, who visited Kiev in 1744, and with her own hand she laid the first stone of the future church. Now the monogram of the sovereign is inscribed on the frontons of Saint Andrew’s Church. The chief-architect of the court was Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who was known for numerous constructions in the baroque style – grandiose palaces and churches in Saint Petersburg. But the Church of Saint Andrew with its modest proportions is perharps the most harmonious and picturesque work he left behind. Saint Andrew’s Church, an outstanding monument of the 18th century, was declared as a museum in 1968.

Sofia Square is the unique oldest architectural monument of Kyiv, its landmark. According to legend, Yaroslav the Wise defeated the Pechenegs in 1036 on the site of Sophia Square, it was a field near the city walls, after the battle he built the Saint Sophia Cathedral on this site, and named the square in front of it Sophia Square. The bell tower of St. Sophia Cathedral and the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytskyi are located in Sofia Square.

This sculptural composition is dedicated to main characters of a popular movie Za Dvoma Zaitsiamy (meaning “killing two birds with one stone”), screened in 1961. The enamoured daughter of the well-off parents dreamed to ascend the magnificent staircase leading to the Saint Andrew’s Church so that to marry there with her suitor Svyryd Golokhvastov who, in fact, loved another girl that was poor; but he intended to marry a fortune. Starring in this film were the outstanding actors, Margarita Krynytsia and Oleg Borisov. They are depicted in the funny statues created by sculptors V.Shchur and V.Sivko (1999).