Fomin Botanical Gardens

Kyiv

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Lying behind the Universytet metro station building, the landscaped gardens are best visited in spring when just about everything there is blooming.

A short walk to the left from the entrance, you'll find a leaning apron-clad bronze figure wielding something that looks like a bow. This strange-looking monument is dedicated to the professors and students who died defending Kyiv in WWII. Students cynically call it 'monument to the deceased botanist' – 'botanist' being the Russian slang word for nerd.

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