Kiev Favorites

Favorite thing: Hi all,

Ignore the heading above. This is not a reference to my favourite thing about Kiev. It is merely some info that some people may find useful.

If you are looking to use a local telephone box to make an international phone call then the place to go is the main post office ('poshta' in local language if you are asking for directions to get there) on the corner of Independence Square and Khreshchatik Boulevard.

As well as all the services that you would expect from a main post office there is a telephone office accessed from the doorway on Khreshchatik. It is open from 08:00 - 22:00. Handover cash to the person at the counter and she will telll you which number of phone booth to use. At the end if you go back to the counter you will be repayed any unused credit that you have left over.

To dial internationally from this telephone office the international access code is 810. Therefore:-

To ring UK - 810 44...
To ring Australia - 810 61...
To ring USA - 810 1...

etc depending on the target country that you are ringing.

There are 2 places in this block where you can access the internet. 1 is accessed from the post office main door on Independence Square right beside the corner with Khreshchatik. The second is accessed from the next door along on Independence square and according to the sign appears to be 24 hour.

You can also access the internet from an internet joint in Metrograd underground shopping centre. Metrograd is underneath Khreshchatik Boulevard at the Arena City end of Khreshchatik. Right beside the internet place there is a big food court where ths is around a dozen stalls selling different varieties of bargain priced food.

Keep well,
Stevie

1 more image

Favorite thing: Kyiv or Kiev, city, north central Ukraine, capital of Ukraine, and of Kyiv Oblast, on the Dnieper River. The largest city of Ukraine, it is a major industrial, transportation, and cultural center. Among its leading manufactures are machinery, machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, processed food, textiles, clothing, forest products, and printed materials. The city also serves as the market for an agricultural region producing grain, fruit, sugar beets, and other commodities. A beautiful city with many parks and historical structures, Kyiv is built mostly on hills overlooking the Dnieper. The old section of the city, on the right bank of the river, includes hills surmounted by churches and the ruins of ancient castles and fortifications.

Fondest memory: I will say at first I loved it and will return, I met some very nice people that spoke english, and acompany me on my train ride to kharkiv.

Favorite thing:
The mosaics were made of smalto — an alloy of glass, salts and oxidized metals: pieces of natural stone were also used. Glass was pressed in wet plaster. Specialists presume that eight unknown master executed the works.

The mosaics in the cathedral are remarkable for their rich and pure tones. The mosaic palette numbers 177 hues and shades. The gold background covers some one third of the mosaic space, and the principle colors of the compositions are blue, off-white and crimson.

Every color has a number of shades: red -19, dark-blue - 21: green – 34, and gold - 25. The combination of large patches of color (e.g., the blue array of the Virgin Orans upon a background of gold) is characteristic of the St. Sophia mosaics.

St. Sophia Cathedral mosaics

Favorite thing:
In XVII century, the missing portions of the St. Sophia walls were filled with sizecolor paintings. At the turn of the XVIII century, the cathedral walls were plastered and whitewashed.

Throughout the XVIII century, new paintings were done in oils upon the plaster cover.

In the XIX century, the fresco paintings were cleaned and later re-painted in oils, the ancient drawings being preserved for the most part. The missing fragments of the frescoes were replaced with plaster and painting.

After the Cathedral was proclaimed a museum, the frescos of the XI century were restored where it was possible. Along with them images of later works were restored as well preserving in a such way images of XI, XVII and XVIII centuries.

St.Sophia Cathedral Paintings Layout


Picture used is from Christianity in art

Favorite thing:
Most value of St. Sophia is in its mosaics (the image which consists of small glass pieces of different color) and frescos (pictures painted by water painting on wet plaster). In St. Sophia there are about 260 sq.m. of mosaics and 3,000 sq. m. of frescos. This is only one third that left from XI century.

Favorite thing:
Many events in the political and social life of Kyivan Rus were closely associated with the St. Sophia. It was here that the ceremony of anointing and crowning the prince was per-formed; here, he mounted the Grand Throne of Kyiv to receive foreign ambassadors and to conclude trade agreements or peace treaties with other principalities. The first mention of the library collected by Yaroslav the Wise (the first in Old Rus so far as we know) is also associated with the St. Sophia Monastery. Kyiv's veche (people's assembly) was held in the Sophia's courtyard. During the centuries that followed, the cathedral retained its role as the city's center. It was here that in January 1654, Kyivites approved the historical decisions of the Pereyaslav Rada on the reunification of the Ukraine with Russia.

Favorite thing:
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.

Favorite thing:
St. Sophia Cathedral was built in XI century. The model of those times Cathedral you will see at entrance to the cathedral. The reconstruction work carried out in the XVII — XVIII centuries drastically altered the original appearance of the monument. The architectural Baroque modifications made in the later periods conceal the XI century architectural elements and structures. The essential interior dimensions of the structure (37 x 55 metres; the ceiling is 29 metres high) remain unchanged.

More information about St. Sophia Cathedral