Private Guided Cultural Tour of Soviet Kiev

National Complex “Expocenter of Ukraine” is one of the largest in the world. It was built in 1952-1958 for the exhibition of the national economic achievements (ENEA). This is the only architectural ensemble in Europe where traditional, including rare, styles of architecture are represented. The complex occupies 286 hectares with180 different buildings. Particularly noteworthy is the main palace pavilion with columns, crowned with a gilded spire rotunda. The rotunda has 24 columns, each of which has the symbols of the Ukrainian SSR. Over the years, Ho Chi Minh, De Gaulle, Margaret Thatcher have been here. The exhibition center to this day is of great interest to tourists around the world.

Hotel “Salute” was built in 1982-1984. to the order of the State Planning Commission according to the project of the architect A. Miletsky (11 Mazepa St.). Initially, the round building of the hotel was planned to be erected several floors higher, but the party leadership would reduce the number of stories so as not to distort the historical panorama of Kyiv. Ultimately, thanks to an unusual architectural solution, the futuristic building became one of the brightest examples of Soviet modernism.

The Motherland was opened in 1981. Section production took place at a factory in Kyiv with the participation of the Institute of Paton. A 10-meter copy of the sculpture was tested for stability in the largest turbine of the USSR, located in Moscow. The cost of construction amounted to 2 million rubles. In style, the sculpture is eclectic and is an example of socialist realism.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an extravagant building erected in 1938 (Mykhailivska Square). In 1934, when the capital was moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv, it became necessary to create a government quarter. It was planned to build two monumental buildings, to divide the area for parades between them, to erect a 75-meter monument to Lenin, and instead of the funicular to build a staircase to the embankment. To implement the idea, the Mykhailivsky Cathedral (XVII-XVIII centuries) was demolished. We also managed to build one building before 1941, where the party committees and Komsomol institutions operated already in the 1940s. After the war, it again housed the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been located here since the 1990s.

Verkhovna Rada was built in 1939. The building is a model of Ukrainian architectural classics. Before the entrance to the building there are sculptures, symbolizing different layers of the population – workers, peasants, scientists, intellectuals. Nowadays here are conducted the sessions of the parliament.

The crematorium was built in 1975 on the territory of the Baykove cemetery. The building located on the top of the hill consists of two rounded farewell halls on the podium, under which the crematorium itself is hidden. Nearby, there was supposed to be the Memory Park with a pond and a wall with a grandiose bas-relief depicting life and death. Ukrainian masters have been working on the Wall of Memory for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, in 1982, the unique panel was flooded with concrete.