Central Kiev is full of hotels, as well as numerous small shops, cafes, wine bars and more.

Immediately after getting off the bus relax in one of our specially-priced Kiev hotels.

Kiev Sights

Saint Sophia Cathedral
St. Andrew’s Church
Hidropark
Central Botanical Garden
A. V. Fomin Botanical Gardens
Vydubychi Monastery
Trukhaniv Island
Kiev Fortress

Saint Sophia Cathedral

The belltower of the Saint Sophia seen from the Bohdan Khmelnytsky square Saint Sophia Cathedral is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first Ukrainian patrimony to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The cathedral's name comes from the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople. According to a less popular theory, its model was the 13-domed oaken Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, which Yaroslav I the Wise determined to imitate in stone as a sign of gratitude to the citizens of Novgorod who had helped him secure the Kievan throne in 1019.

The first foundations were laid in 1037 but the cathedral took two decades to complete. The structure has 5 naves, 5 apses, and (quite surprisingly for Byzantine architecture) 13 cupolas. It is surrounded by two-tier galleries from three sides. Measuring 37 by 55 meters, the exterior used to be faced with plinths. On the inside, it retains mosaics and frescos from the eleventh century, including a dilapidated representation of Yaroslav's family.

Originally the cathedral was a burial place of the Kievan rulers including Vladimir Monomakh, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and of course the cathedral's founder Yaroslav I the Wise, although only the latter's grave survived to our days (see picture).

After the Mongolian Tatars pillaged Kiev in 1240 the cathedral fell into disrepair and was even occupied by the uniats until the Kievan metropolitan Petro Mohyla reclaimed it in 1633. Immediately repair work began and the upper part of the ancient building was thoroughly rebuilt in Ukrainian Baroque style (as modelled by the Italian architect Octaviano Manchini). The work was completed in 1740 retaining its present form ever since.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and during the Soviet antireligious campaign of the 1920's, the government plan called for the cathedral's destruction and transformation of the grounds into a park "Heroes of Perekop" (after a Red Army victory in the Russian Civil War in Crimea). The cathedral was saved from destruction primarily with the effort of many scientists and historians. Nevertheless, in 1934, Soviet authorities confiscated the structure, including the surrounding seventeenth–eighteenth century architectural ensemble and designated it as an architectural and historical museum.

Since the late 1980s Soviet, and later Ukrainian, politicians promised to return the building to the Orthodox Church. Due to various schisms and factions within the Church the return was postponed as all Orthodox and the Greco-Catholic Churches lay claim to it. Although all of the Orthodox churches have been allowed to conduct services at different dates, other times they are denied access. Most memorable was the funeral of Patriarch Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy, when riot police were forced to prevent the burial on the premises of the museum and a bloody clash took place. After events such as those no religious body has yet been given the rights for regular services. The complex now remains a museum of Ukraine's Christianity, with most of its visitors being tourists.

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