Kiev overview
Kiev - Euro 2012 city
Kiev (also spelled Kyiv) city is the capital of Ukraine located in Kiev oblast. Kiev is advantageously situated in the heart of Europe. The city is located along the Dnepr River just below its confluence with the Desna River and 591 miles (952 km) from its mouth in the Black Sea.
The average temperature in January are -6.1 degrees, and +19.2 degrees in July. Kiev has a wealth of greenery.
Kiev city population is about 2,794,000 (2010).
The phone code of the city is +380 44; the postal codes are 01000-06999.
Kiev facts
Situated within Kiev limits are:
Territorial regions of the nature preserve fund, in part, the Botanical Gardens named after Academician O.V.Fomin, the Central Botanical Gardens of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Syretsky Dendrological Park, a Zoo and 9 parks, monuments of landscape architecture;
Natural and man made forest parks and parks, in part, Pushcha-Vodytsya, Koncha-Zaspa, Svyatoshynsky Park, the Holosiyivsky National Preserve, Central Park (uniting 5 parks situated along the Dnepr river) and others.
The area of the green zone is 43,600 hectares making up 168 sq.m per one resident. As the capital of Ukraine, Kiev has major administrative functions, and its ministries employ a considerable number of workers. Kiev is also an important industrial centre, producing a wide range of goods.
Kiev is served by a good transportation network. Trunk railways and all-weather roads link Kiev to Moscow, Kharkiv and the Donets Basin, southern and western Ukraine, and Poland. Within Kiev city itself there is efficient subway, rail, and bus service. The Dnepr River is navigable about nine months of the year, and Kiev’s Boryspil airport operates flights to other Ukrainian cities and to cities in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Kiev streets
Kiev city, Ukraine street
Author: Dmitriy Tkachenko
Kiev city street view
Author: Lyera Sholokhova
Kiev city view
Author: Sergei Leshchinsky
Kiev history
Kiev was founded in the 8th century. By the late 9th century Kiev princes had established their suzerainty over several other East Slavic principalities and had founded the important state called Kievan Rus. Throughout the history of Kievan Rus, the city was engaged in ceaseless warfare against the Khazars, Pechenegs, and other nomadic peoples of the steppes.
In the late 12th century Kiev power declined in the face of constant nomad attacks and warfare with other Slavic princes. In 1240 Kiev city was completely destroyed by the Tatars of the Golden Horde under Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan. Thereafter Kiev passed to the control of Lithuania, of Poland, and then of the Cossacks.
In 1793 Kiev was incorporated into Russia. In 1917 the Ukrainian S.S.R. was formed, with Kiev becoming its capital in 1934. Large sections of Kiev’s central area were destroyed during World War II, but after the war Kiev city was repopulated and fully restored, regaining its position as a major industrial and cultural centre of Ukraine. Kiev remained the capital of Ukraine when the latter became independent in 1991.
Kiev city originally occupied the high and steep right (west) bank of the Dnepr River, but since World War II rapid growth has extended Kiev onto the wide, low, flat floodplain on the left bank.
Kiev economy
Kiev city industry is the concentration of over 350 large industrial enterprises mainly in machine-building, food processing and consumer goods industry. Kiev has also a powerful building (construction) industry.
Engineering industries - including the manufacturing of complex machinery, precision tools, and instruments - are of primary importance. The chemical, consumer-goods, food-processing, lumber-milling, and publishing industries are also significant.
The most important center for research and education in Ukraine, Kiev city is the home of a number of universities, colleges, and research institutions, notably the Kiev State University of T.G.Shevchenko (1834) and the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Kiev sceneries
Kiev city, Ukraine architecture
Author: Valeria Gavrilenko
Kiev city museum
Author: Florin Zamfir
Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada)
Author: Pavel Danko
Kiev attractions
The focus of the contemporary Kiev remains its ancient Upper Town, crowning the high bluff above the Dnepr River. Its central area, although for the most part of postwar construction, contains most of Kiev’s surviving historical and architectural monuments.
The 11th-century Cathedral of St. Sophia, one of the most beautiful examples of Russo-Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture, and the striking 18th-century Baroque Church of St. Andrew are both now state museums. Other surviving relics include the ruins of the 11th-century Golden Gate, the 18th-century Zaborovskyy Gate, and the 19th-century five-domed Desyatynna Church, built on the site of a church founded by St. Vladimir in the 10th century.
The axis of the center of Kiev is the tree-lined Kreshchatyk, the main shopping street. Many of the Kiev’s museums and theaters are located within and adjacent to the former Old Town. Russian and Ukrainian drama can be seen at the Shevchenko Theater of Opera and Ballet, the 12,000-seat Palace of Sport, and open-air theaters. Musical concerts are given regularly at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
To the north of the Old Town is the former Jewish and trading quarter, Podil, containing the river port, and to the Old Town’s south and along the top of the riverbank is the Percherskiy district. This area contains many administrative buildings. At the southern end of the district is the 11th-century Kyevo-Pecherska Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), where the monk Nestor wrote the earliest surviving Russian chronicle.
Beneath the monastery, a system of catacombs stores the mummified bodies of monks and saints, including that of Nestor. Surrounding these central districts and extending to the west bank of the Dnepr River are suburbs of factories and residential neighborhoods.
In the Kiev downtown there is a picturesque mountain skiing hill with 2 elevators. The hill works from November till April. You can always spend your spare time there. The upper part of the hill is very steep, but the lower part is sloping - the skier of any class will find what to do there.
Even if you never tried mountain skiing, but you want to have the additional fun while being in Kiev, the professional English-speaking coaches will teach you for a couple of lessons. Besides it will cost you much cheaper than on any ski resort of the world.
You are not supposed to have your own skiing equipment, you can have all the set for hire. Also you can try yourself in snowboard (also with a professional coach).
Having a little break you can spend time in a small restaurants were you could find the dishes of traditional Ukrainian cuisine and hot coffee. Or you can sit on the open place watching the “shashlik” being fried for you.
