15 interesting facts about Kiev

Kiev has seen a lot for its long history. It has lived through bad events as well as good ones. Each of these events left its trace not only in the history of the city, but also on its streets. We suggest that you get familiar with Kiev more closely and learn interesting and surprising facts about this city.

1. The main street of Kiev, Khreschatykis about 1300 meters long and 75 meters wide from one side to the other. This makes it at the same time the shortest and widest street in the capital in Europe. Another interesting fact is that Khreshchatyk had 7 different names throughout the history.
2. The deepest metro station in Kiev is Arsenalna; it is more than 105 meters deep. Also, the “Golden Gate” station is rated among the twenty most charming metro stations of the whole world according to the “Teapedgar” rating. There are mosaics with images of princes of KievanRus from the 11th to the 13th century and the churches of the city on its walls.
   
3. The only and unusual monument in the world dedicated to garbage trucks located in Kiev. It was installed in 2004 to the 35th anniversary of Kyivspetztrans. The team of this company believes that people who work there also deserve their own monument. During this time, local residents believe that if you drop a penny nearby the monument, your home will also be clean and neat.
4. Kiev is one of the greenest cities in all Europe. If to count,there are about 20 square meters of greenery for each citizen in the city. There are approximately 70 parks and 200 public gardens, which occupy a territory of 56 thousand hectares of greenery. It’s no wonder that the symbol of Kiev is chestnut!
5. The "Motherland Monument" is the 4th highest statue of the world. It is102 meters high and was installed in 1981. This Kiev monument is higher than the Statue of Liberty (which is 93 meters high), higher the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, which is only 38 meters high.
   
6. The Parkovyy Bridge is considered to be the longest pedestrian bridge in Europe. It connects the center of Kiev with Trukhaniv Island. The pedestrian bridge is 400 meters long and 7 meters wide.
7. The oldest monument in Kiev is a monument to the Magdeburg rights. This monument was erected in honor of the return of Magdeburg rights to Kiev. You can also find other names, for instance: “Monument to the baptism of Rus” or “The lower monument to St. Vladimir"It was built in 1808 and is placed near the embankment highway.
   
8. You can find the famous museum of miniatures in Kiev. Visitors can see a shod flea, a tiny violin, a rose in human hair, etc. A very interesting exhibit in the museum is the smallest book in the world - "Kobzar" by Taras Shevchenko. It has 12 pages of poetry and the size of this miniature book is only 0.6 mm. It is sewn with cobwebs, and the cover is made of immortelle petals.
9. St. Andrew’s Cathedral differs from all Orthodox churches in the world by one interesting feature - there are no bells in it. The fact is that, according to the legend, the sound of the bells can wake the water that went underground, and it may completely flood Kiev.
   
10. Australian artist Guido Van Helten created one of the biggest graffiti in Kiev in Europe. The building is located at Lesi Ukrainki Boulevard, 36-A and it is 53 meters high. It took place in October 2015 and the figure shows a Ukrainian girl, hugging her embroidered shirt.
11. The first computer in continental Europe was invented in Kiev in the late 1940s of the 20th century. Its name is MESM (Small Electronic Calculating Machine) and it is considered the second programmable computer.
12. The first skyscraper in the history of Ukraine is the Ginzburg House. It was built in 1912. At that time in the Russian Empire this house was the highest. An interesting fact is that believers from other countries who came to visit the Kiev-PecherskLavra often confused the House of Ginsburg with the temple and were mistakenly baptized near it. This is the 12 floor building and 60 meters high.
    
13. The largest fire station in Europe was founded in 1970 and is located in the Obolon district in Kiev. An interesting fact is that since January 2004 the Museum of Firefighting has been operating instead of the fire station. There visitors can see different firefighting equipment from the very first fire engines to modern ones.
14. There is a very famous National Library of Ukraine named after V. I. Vernadsky in the capital of Ukraine.
    
15. The Vernadsky Library is one of the twenty largest national libraries in the world. It holds about 15 million books.
16. The largest painted flag of Ukraine is in the capital. It was painted by locals in 2014. This giant pattern is 100 meters long and it adorns the ObolonEmbankment. People worked hard to create this masterpiece. First, they cleaned the slabs of grass, and then covered all the gaps and after they painted the flag itself. About half a ton of paint was used to paint the flag. And in July 2015, the largest flag of the Crimean Tatars was placed nearby;it is 90 meters long and 18 wide.

In fact, Kiev is a very amazing and beautiful city. It conceals many secrets and unexplored secrets. People living in Kiev are kind and helpful. I want to come back to this city again and again, I want to live in this city! It’s a pity that our nature cannot be changed, and everyone who takes power thinks first how to steal more, and only then do something to improve the capital and Ukraine as a whole. Anyway, Kiev, we love you!