Ukraine’s capital chooses its seven wonders

The nationwide competition, “The Seven Wonders of Ukraine,” is underway in Ukraine. The seven choices will be announced on the eve of Independence Day, but for now the seven wonders of Kyiv have been announced.

According to the head of the Kyiv Organizational Committee, Oleksandr Bryhinets, the following monuments in our nation’s capital have been selected: the refined, Baroque-style St. Andrew’s Church designed by Rastrelli, which was built in 1749-54; the Motherland sculpture, a choice that Kyiv’s residents will hardly agree with. The sculpture is made of stainless steel in separate blocks weighing 450 tons, soldered together.

The other wonders of Kyiv are the “House with Chimeras,” an embodiment of the fantasies of architect Vladyslav Horodetsky, which was built in 1901-02; the Golden Gates, Kyiv’s oldest monument, the construction of which is mentioned in a chronicle for the year 1037; the Kyivan Cave Monastery, a unique Orthodox relic founded in 1051; St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, the legendary temple built in 1108-13 by the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Sviatopolk Iziaslavych of Kyiv; and, finally, St. Sophia’s Cathedral, the world’s oldest Orthodox church and world-famous 11th-century monument of architecture and monumental painting, founded by Yaroslav the Wise in 1017 or 1037.

The members of the Organizational Committee also noted that St. Sophia’s Cathedral, the Kyivan Cave Monastery, and the “House with Chimeras” will be submitted to the All-Ukrainian Competition, “The Seven Wonders of Ukraine.”