Attractions of Kyiv region

The Tetiiv People's History and Lore History Museum was founded in 1967. Since 1989, it has been located in the premises of a former bank from the beginning of the 20th century, opposite the Central City Park of Tetiiv.

Today, the museum's funds include more than 4,000 exhibits, which are exhibited in seven rooms. The exposition tells about the distant past of Tetiiv region, the events of the Ukrainian Revolution, the Holodomor of 1932-1933, the Second World War and post-war reconstruction.

The stand "Tetiiv at the Crossroads of the Ages" full of materials about the history of the city's development attracts attention. The "Euromaidan" and "Undeclared War" exhibitions are constantly replenished with exhibits.

The Kyiv Museum of Toilet History is a unique exposition that tells about the sanitary history of mankind and the development of toilet culture.

It is located in Pechersk, in Tower G5 of the Kyiv Fortress. The collection was collected by businessman Mykola Bohdanenko.

The museum presents various modifications of the water closet of different eras: from night pots to a toilet with touch control. All exhibits of the museum are divided into several sectors in chronological order.

The exhibition of the "Toilet History Museum" covers almost all periods of the development of civilization. There is a collection of souvenir toilets, which has more than 550 copies and is certified by the Guinness Book of Records.

The precious chronicle of Ukraine in jewelry made of precious metals and precious stones from the Bronze Age and Antiquity to modern times is offered for viewing by the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv.

This is a museum of Ukrainian historical jewels, which is a branch of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. It is located in the Kovnir building of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra - an architectural monument of the Ukrainian Baroque era, built in the middle of the 17th century according to the project of the Kyiv architect Stepan Kovnir.

The treasury was founded in 1963 as the Golden Chamber of the State Historical Museum. The basis of the exhibition was a collection of gold jewelry found by archaeologist Oleksiy Terenozhkin in 1954 during the excavation of a Scythian mound of the IV century BC in Melitopol. About 1,500 exhibits from different eras came from the collection of Kyiv patron Bohdan Khanenko.

The work of Ukrainian, Russian, and Western European goldsmiths is introduced through jewelry, tableware, and church items made by talented craftsmen in the styles of Baroque, Rococo, and Classicism. A unique collection of Jewish ceremonial silver is also presented.

Now the museum's funds include more than 56,000 objects of archeology and applied art made of gold, silver and precious stones. The exposition in nine halls is built according to the historical-chronological principle.

The pride of the museum is the largest collection of Scythian gold, in particular the famous gold pectoral of the 4th century BC from the excavations of the mound of Tovsta Mohyla. sights of jewelry art of the early Middle Ages, Ancient Rus, Ukrainian jewelry art of the 16th - the first quarter of the 20th century are also presented.

In addition to a sightseeing tour of the exposition, visitors to the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine are also offered a theatrical tour of the "Secrets of the Steppe Mounds."

Park in Kaharlyk was founded at the end of the 18th century by the Ukrainian nobleman Dmytro Troshchynskyi, a statesman and patron of Ukrainian culture, a descendant of Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

He received the estate in Kaharlyk after 1796 as a gift from Emperor Paul I. The park had a palace, outbuildings, and farm buildings. Copies of Greek and Roman statues were placed in the alleys and lawns.

The gazebo-rotunda on the "Mashuk" hill and the "Sazhalka" pond, which is fed by underground springs, have been preserved.

On an area of 35.5 hectares, there are 113 types of trees imported from the Crimea, the Caucasus and European countries.

Trukhaniv Island is one of the most favorite vacation spots of Kyiv residents.

According to legend, the island was named after the Polovtsian khan Tuhorkhan, because at the end of the 11th century it was the residence of his daughter - the wife of the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk.

For a long time this land was uninhabited, from the 19th century it began to gain popularity as a recreation area with the Central Beach. In the 1950s, Trukhaniv Island was connected to the Right Bank of the Dnipro by a suspended pedestrian bridge, which vibrates noticeably underfoot when there is a large crowd of people.

The Trypillia Ethno-Historical Complex is located in a picturesque place above the Dnieper Bay in the village of Trypillia in the Kyiv region, opposite Divych Hill. This is a private museum and entertainment institution of a modern format, which in an interactive form introduces the history and culture of Ukraine from the earliest times.

Back in 2006, the famous collector Oleksandr Polishchuk together with the architect Volodymyr Lazorenko, the artist Anatoliy Haydamaka and the historian-fiction writer Yuriy Shylov opened the private historical and archaeological museum "Ancient Aratta-Ukraine" at this place. The basis of his exposition was Polishchuk's personal collection of household items of Trypillya culture.

After a long break, the museum reopened in 2023 in a new format. The exposition on three floors introduces the archaeological findings on the territory of Kyiv region and the intangible cultural heritage of the region.

On the first floor of the museum, you can visit the Ukrainian room and the handmade hall, where ancient looms, spindles, as well as a large collection of ancient embroidered shirts, towels, and carpets are presented. Fossils of the first living organisms and animals that were found on the territory of Ukraine are exhibited in the hall of the Ediacaran period. The exhibition of Cucuteni-Trypillya culture presents ceramics of the Trypillya type (mostly passportless and unattributed). The exhibition hall is currently exhibiting the Motanka dolls of the craftswoman Yuliya Petrenko.

The Residence-Museum of Saint Nicholas opens in a separate building in winter. There is a cafe with a fireplace in the Ukrainian style, where children's master classes, tea ceremonies, themed events are held, lunches are offered to the order of tourist groups. In addition to regular excursions, the museum conducts quests. The souvenir shop sells handmade products.

The Pereyaslav Museum of Trypillian Culture is one of the youngest museums in the National Historical and Ethnographic Reserve "Pereyaslav". It was opened in 2003 in the house where the brother of Ukrainian composer Pavlo Senitsa once lived.

The exposition presents materials from about 40 settlements of Trypillya agricultural culture (V-III millennium BC) from different regions of Ukraine: Dnipro region, Pobuzhzhya, Podnistrovya. They tell about the Trypillya system of land cultivation, the first cultivated cereals, the construction of Trypillya dwellings, the mythology and rituals of the ancient inhabitants of the region. Among the exhibits: ceramic ware, jewelry, clay figurines, tools.

In the same room is the Museum of Cossack Glory, which presents the works of a talented artist and wood carver, Ukrainian poet-singer Vasyl Zavhorodny. In the three halls of the museum there are more than 200 works by the artist, addressed to the theme of the Ukrainian Cossacks: images of Cossacks, princes, hetmans and educators, including Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Petro Sahaidachnyi, Taras Shevchenko, Mykola Hohol.

The building of the two-class school in Hermanivka was built in 1883 according to the project of the prominent Kyiv architect Volodymyr Nikolayev, the author of the building of the National Philharmonic.

Now it is Hermanivka gymnasium.

The first monument in Ukraine to hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi, who was deposed from the hetmanship during the Black Council (Chorna Rada) held in Hermanivka in 1659, was installed on the territory.

The history of Ukrainian literature from the 11th century to the present day is represented by the National Museum of Literature of Ukraine.

The museum opened in 1986 in the historic building of the Pavlo Galagan College, which housed one of the best private schools in pre-revolutionary Kyiv. The building in the style of late classicism was erected in 1871 by architect Oleksandr Schille at the request of public figure and philanthropist Hryhoriy Galagan, who lost his only son Pavlo early.

The interior of the two-story mahogany library by Italian masters, which has survived almost to this day, was particularly refined. Today, the library has an exhibition on the history of the school, which was called the "school of academics." In particular, the outstanding Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko, who in May 1886 married Olha Khoruzhynska in the house church of Saint Paul at the college, worked here.

The 11 stylized halls of the National Museum of Literature correspond to the historical eras of Ukrainian literature and introduce visitors to the literary process in Ukrainian lands from ancient times to the present day. More than 5,000 valuable exhibits are presented, including unique old prints, manuscripts, lifetime editions of works by Ivan Kotlyarevskyi, Taras Shevchenko, Panteleymon Kulish, Mykola Kostomarov, Ivan Franko, Mykhaylo Drahomanov, manuscripts of Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhaylo Starytskyi, Pavlo Tychyna, Maksym Rylskyi, Vasyl Simonenko, personal belongings of Panas Myrny, Ivan Nechuy-Levytskyi, Marko Vovchok, Oles Honchar, Ulas Samchuk, magazines and almanacs of the 19th-20th centuries, works of famous artists, documentary materials.

Visitors to the Literature Museum are certainly intrigued by the Sokyryntsi Nativity Scene from the Hryhoriy Galagan Palace - a box with a mobile puppet theater.

One of the largest art museums of Ukraine and a treasury of Ukrainian cultural heritage is the Ukraine National Decorative Art Museum  in Kyiv (used to be called the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art).

It is located on the territory of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" in the premises of the former metropolitan chambers and the Annunciation Church adjacent to them, which are architectural monuments of the 18th - early 20th centuries.

The museum collection was founded in 1899 as one of the components of the collection of the newly created City Museum of Antiquities and Arts, renamed in 1904 to the Kyiv Art, Industrial and Scientific Museum.

Now the museum collection consists of more than 78,000 works of traditional folk and professional decorative art of Ukraine from the 15th century to the present day. The main rarities of the museum: a wooden carved cross in a silver frame of 1576, clay tiles of the XV-XVII centuries, items of church sewing of the XVIII century, products of the leading porcelain and earthenware enterprises of Ukraine of the XVII-XIX centuries.

The pride and decoration of the collection are complexes of Ukrainian folk costumes of the 19th and early 20th centuries from all regions of Ukraine, where the art of cutting, weaving, embroidery, appliqué, punching, weaving, leather and metal processing are combined in a single artistic ensemble. Traditional women's jewelry attracts attention: dukachi, coral, Venetian necklace, beadwork.

Also, the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art has the largest collection of paintings by prominent Ukrainian folk artists Kateryna Bilokur and Mariya Prymachenko.

The Ukrainian Costume and Easter Egg Museum was opened in 2007 in one of the buildings of the Nemishaieve Agricultural Technical College on the initiative of teacher Tamara Uhnivenko. The institution operates on the basis of the Scientific and Methodological Center of Higher and Vocational Pre-Higher Education.

The exposition presents 50 men's and women's national costumes of the mid-19th - early 20th centuries from all regions of Ukraine, as well as household and wedding towels with traditional ornaments.

A significant place in the exposition is occupied by a collection of 3,000 Easter eggs of 27 types. Pottery and carving, weaving, and embroidery products are also presented. The exhibition of charms is of particular interest.

Thematic excursions and master classes on pysankari are held.

The Ukrainian Gram Records Museum opened in 2023 on the territory of the "Singing Field" cultural and artistic complex. The original exhibition was created by the Kyiv City Center of Folk Art at the initiative of Ukrainian musician Ivan Moskalenko (DJ Derbastler), one of the pioneers of the Ukrainian electronic scene.

The museum's collection contains treasures of Ukrainian music on various soundcarriers. More than 400 exhibits tell about the history of gramophone records and various aspects of the musical culture of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Sixtiers Dissident Movement Museum in Kyiv opened in 2012 in the building that houses the party "People's Movement of Ukraine".

The Art Nouveau mansion with a lion sculpture on the facade was built in 1907-1908 by architect Ihnatiy Ledokhovsky. Before the Bolshevik coup of 1917, housed the surgical hospital of Dr. Ihnatiy Makovsky. In 1911, the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, Petro Stolypin, died in the Makovsky clinic, mortally wounded by a terrorist during a performance at the Opera House.

Since 1999, the central office of the People's Movement of Ukraine, one of the oldest political parties in Ukraine, whose founders were the famous Ukrainian sixties Vyacheslav Chornovil, Ivan Drach, Mykhaylo Horyn and others, moved to the building. Their political and human rights activities began during the "Khrushchev thaw" in the USSR in the 1960s, but later some of the sixties were repressed.

The Sixtiers Museum was opened on the basis of the collection collected by the activists of the sixties public organization. The exposition includes about 20,000 exhibits.

The Ukrainian Sixtiers Dissident Movement Museum is a branch of the Kyiv History Museum.

The Museum of Useless Things in the area of the Livoberezhna metro station in Kyiv is called the "Museum of Antiques" or the "Museum of Recycled Materials".

It was opened in 2007 on the territory of the "Kyivmiskvtorresurs" plant, which is engaged in the procurement and processing of secondary raw materials. Back in the middle of the 20th century, interesting things began to be systematically selected from the garbage here, and later, having learned that the factory accepts antique items, people began to bring them here.

Among the unique rarities are the very first vacuum cleaner in the Russian Empire, an ancient set of hairdressing tools, a set of torture tools for the tsarist gendarmerie, a sledge, a hemp processing machine.

An entire stand is dedicated to the Soviet theme, with about 40 different figures of the leader of the revolution, and the famous 7-meter statue of Lenin, brought from Crimea, is installed in the yard of the plant.

The large exhibition is located on the street under a canopy, and the small one is in a wooden old-fashioned house.

The Museum of Valor and Tragedy of Ukraine operates in the premises of the Volodarka Interschool Educational and Production Complex. It was created in 2018 by Oleksandr Ushynsky, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, with the support of the Association of War Veterans, ATO participants, family members of the deceased and disabled war veterans headed by him.

The museum exposition has three sections dedicated to the Holodomor-genocide of the Ukrainian people, the Revolution of Dignity and the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, as well as the Russian-Ukrainian war. The founder of the museum traveled to many de-occupied cities and villages of Ukraine, where he collected many war artifacts that testify to the crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine. Here you can see fragments of Russian weapons and ammunition, military uniforms, household appliances stolen by the Russians, etc.