Museum sights in Kyiv
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Museum of the Great Patriotic War
There's not much to say about Rodina Mat (literally 'Nation's Mother', but formally called the Defence of the Motherland Monument). However, from certain parts of Kyiv it's highly visible and so requires a fittingly high-profile explanation. Especially when you're journeying in from the left (or east) bank, this 62m-tall statue of a female warrior is liable to loom up on the horizon and make you wonder, 'What the hell is that?'
What the hell, indeed. It's the icing on top of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. The statue has been nicknamed 'the Iron Lady' and 'Tin Tits'. Even if you don't like such Soviet pomposity, don't say too much; you'd be taking on a titanium wom…
reviewed
-
Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architecture
Ukraine is dotted with ‘open-air’ museums like this, full of life-size models of different rustic buildings. However, the Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architecture is one of the most fun and best maintained.
reviewed
-
B
Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts
Kyiv’s most impressive collection of European art is at the sumptuous Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts. Bosch, Velazquez and Rubens are among the many masters represented, but they are only part of the attraction. The house, with its frescoed ceilings and intricately carved woodwork, alone is worth the price of admission. All the better that it’s packed with priceless antique furniture, ancient Greek sculptures, porcelain ceramics and dazzling paintings, such as a version of Hieronymus Bosch’s Temptation of St Anthony. The museum’s climax is on the top floor: four rare religious icons from the 6th and 7th centuries. Even if icons aren’t your thing, it’s ha…
reviewed
-
C
Museum of Microminiature
The Museum of Microminiature provides something even for atheists within this holiest of holies – and, boy, is it popular! The world’s smallest book (with some verses of Shevchenko), a balalaika with strings one-fourtieth the width of a human hair and a flea fitted with golden horseshoes are just some of his works of whimsy. Each is so small that microscopes are needed to view them, but you can occupy yourself with the brief English explanations while you wait. The museum also bears one of Kyiv’s great Everything is Illuminated –style creative English translations: ‘At the time of atmospheric precipitates exhibit is not function’.
reviewed
-
D
Chornobyl Museum
It’s hard to convey the full horror of the world’s worst nuclear accident, but the Chornobyl Museum makes a valiant attempt. Displaying the identity cards and photos of those killed in the aftermath of the explosion of Chornobyl power plant reactor No 4, on 26 April 1986, it’s a shrine to their heroism. The photos of the area afterward and graphs of radiation contamination stand as a terrible reminder and stark warning: ‘Never again’.
reviewed
-
E
Museum of One Street
There are diversions galore along Andriyivsky uzviz, including a few wonderful cafés, restaurants, galleries, craft shops and museums. At the foot of the uzviz, the individual histories of the descent’s buildings are laid out in the Museum of One Street. The sheer jumble-sale eclecticism of the collection – showcasing the lives of dressmakers, soldiers, a rabbi and more – exudes bags of charm.
reviewed
-
F
Historical Treasures Museum
The Historical Treasures Museum, behind the Dormition Cathedral, has an astounding collection of precious stones and metal found or made in Ukraine. The highlight is the fabulous hoard of gold jewellery worked for the Scythians by Greek Black Sea colonists. Much of the treasures come from two 4th-century BC burial mounds: the Tolstaya grave in the Dnipropetrovsk region and the Gaimana grave in the Zaporizhzhya region.
reviewed
-
G
Monastery Museum
St Michael's Gold-Domed Monastery's fascinating history is explained in great detail (in Ukrainian and English placards) in a museum located in the monastery's bell tower. The museum also explains the sad history of the neighbouring Tryokhsvyatytelska Church, destroyed by the Soviets in 1934. They then added insult to injury by building the gargantuan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (pl Mykhaylivska 1) on the site.
reviewed
-
H
Bulgakov Museum
The early home of the much-loved author of The Master and Margarita has become the memorable Bulgakov Museum. Mikhail Bulgakov lived here long before writing it, between 1906 and 1919 but this building was the model for the Turbin family home in The White Guard, his first full-length novel. You may want to take a guide to explain who’s who in the family photos.
reviewed
-
I
National Museum of Ukrainian History
The huge Stalinist building with a wonderful view of Podil and Kyiv’s northern suburbs, is the National Museum of Ukrainian History. It has exhibits of archaeological and recent historical interest, including books and currencies.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
J
National Art Museum
The National Art Museum displays early Ukrainian icons, and paintings from the 14th to the 19th centuries, including some by polymath national poet Taras Shevchenko.
reviewed
-
K
Russian Art Museum
The Russian Art Museum has 2000 paintings that comprise the largest collection of Russian artwork outside Moscow and St Petersburg.
reviewed
-
L
Museum of Ukrainian Folk and Decorative Arts
Just south of the Assumption Cathedral is the mildly interesting Museum of Ukrainian Folk and Decorative Arts.
reviewed
