Claimed by some to be named after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, this is the oldest church in Kiev. Its construction began in 1037 to honor Prince Yaroslav's victory over the Pechenegs a year earlier. The Cathedral contains Byzantine mosaics and frescoes. Buried in St. Sophia's Cathedral are Princes Yaroslav the Wise, his son Vsevolod and Vsevolod's son Vladimir II Monomakh.
Taras Shevchenko was a poet, artist and Ukrainian nationalist. This museum memorializes his life. It has twenty-four rooms containing over 4,000 objects relating to Shevchenko's life, including original artworks, poetry handwritten by him, documents about his work and photographs of him and his family and friends.
The Caves Monastery, also called the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, was the first monastery founded in Rus in 1051. In the later part of that century, the monk Nestor compiled the earliest surviving history of Rus state at the Caves Monastery. Beneath the monastery are underground labyrinths filled with the bodies of mummified monks. It was the early monks who dug these labyrinths.
Historically this served as the main gateway into Kiev during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise. It was inspired by Constantinople's Golden Gate. Built between 1017 and 1024, the Gate itself is part of a two-tier construction with the Annunciation Church built on top. According to legend, when Yaroslav was about to go into battle, he prayed to the Virgin Mary for help and promised in return that he would build this church if he was victorious. The Golden Gate was largely destroyed in 1240 by Mongol raiders. The structure standing today is a reconstruction dating from 1982.
This outdoor museum occupies 150 acres and its cottages, mills and churches show the the types of wooden architecture that could be found in different areas of Ukraine from the 16th century onwards. The museum also contains over 70,000 ethnographic exhibits including folk costumes, embroidery, furniture, glassware and musical instruments.
