World War II Memorial, Kiev

this is not my favourite place in KIiev, and definitely not my favourite statue. As most of the Kievites, I do not like it. But in any case, it is very popular place amoung tourists. First of all it is one of the most famous monuments of the Soviet times, and secondly, it is museum of weeapons and old militery technics. But the place itself is quite beautiful - viewe of the lefy bank, parks, etc. If the weeather is good, you weeill definitely enjoy staying there.

Just southeast of the Kyiv-Pechery Monastery is a large park devoted to the heroes of World War II . Although the statues and sculptures in this park are very propagandistic, I found some of them quite moving nonetheless. I especially liked this sculpture depicting the weak and old (those needing protection) on the left, and those who leaped to defend them on the right. Among those that leaped to defend them were the handicapped, as represeted by the young man walking with a crutch (shown in more detail in my next photo).

The memorial to the dead soldiers of the Soviet Union during WWII. Consists of an eternal flame, Pillar and a large statue known as "Mother Russian", she is 700 feet
tall, with a fantastic view over the city of Kiev. She stands atop a huge underground museum about WWII.

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The Museum of the Great Patriotic War is also known as the Museum of World War II. It was opened on 9 May, 1981. The complex includes 18 galleries, aircrafts, canons and other military equipment, an eternal flame (which was not lit during my visit though!), plaques honouring heroic Soviet cities and of course the giant iron statue of Mother Ukraina.

I post a link to the museum further down. You can choose from English, Ukrainan and Russian versions.

Admission fee: 10 Hryvnia for adults, 3 Hryvnia for students.

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This gigantic lady, the Mother Ukraine, stands on top of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. It was unveiled by Leonid Brezhnev in 1981.
The statue in itself is 68m tall and weighs 530 tons. It stands on a pedestal which is 40m. Only the sword which she holds in her hand weighs 12 tons.
You can take the lift up to a viewing platform in her head, 91m over the surface. This costs 200 Hryvnia.

Here is a close-up of the face of the young handicapped man from the sculpture from my last photo. These very beautiful faces seem to be a feature of Soviet propagandistic sculpture.