Kyiv

For other uses, see Kyiv (disambiguation).

Kyiv Київ Kyiv
A monument to archangel Michael, the patron of Kiev, with Independence Square in the background A monument to archangel Michael, the patron of Kiev, with Independence Square in the background
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Kiev City Municipality
Raion	Municipality
Government
• Mayor	Leonid Chernovetskyi
Elevation	179 m (587 ft)
Population  (2006)
• Total	4,450,968
• Density	3,299/km2 (8,540/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	01xxx-04xxx
Area code	+380 44
License plate	AA (before 2004: КА,КВ,КЕ,КН,КІ,KT)
Sister cities	Ankara, Athens, Belgrade, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Chişinău, Edinburgh, Florence, Helsinki, Kraków, Kyoto, Leipzig, Minsk, Munich, Odense, Paris, Pretoria, Riga, Rome, Santiago de Chile, Sofia, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tampere, Tbilisi, Toronto, Toulouse, Warsaw, Wuhan, Vienna, Vilnius, Yerevan
Website	http://www.kmr.gov.ua

Kyiv, also Kiev (Ukrainian: , Kyyiv, IPA: [ˈkɪjiw]; Russian: , Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names), is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper river. In 2005 Kiev had 2,660,401 inhabitants, and this figure continues to grow.

Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech industries, higher education institutions and world-famous historical landmarks. The city has an extensive infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport, including the Kiev Metro.

The name of Kyiv comes from the name of Kyi, one of four legendary founders of the city (brothers Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and sister Lybid'). During its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. The city is believed to have been founded in the 5th century as a trading post in the land of Early East Slavs. It gradually acquired eminence as the center of the East Slavic civilization, becoming in the tenth to twelfth centuries a political and cultural capital of Rus', a medieval East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a provincial capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbors: first the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire. The city prospered again during the Russian industrial revolution in the late 19th century. After the turbulent period following the Russian Revolution of 1917, from 1921 onwards Kyiv was an important city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and, since 1934, its capital. During World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years remaining the third largest city of USSR.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian independence of 1991, Kyiv remained the capital of Ukraine.

Environment

Geography

Landsat 7 image of Kiev and the Dnieper River

Kyiv is located on both sides of the Dnieper River, which flows south through the city towards the Black Sea. Its geographic coordinates are 50°27′00″N 30°31′24″E. Geographically, Kyiv belongs to the Polesia ecological zone (a part of the European mixed woods). However, the city's unique landscape distinguishes it from the surrounding region. The older right-bank (western) part of Kyiv is represented by numerous woody hills, ravines and small rivers. It is a part of the larger Prydniprovska (near-Dnieper) upland adjoining the western bank of the Dnieper. The city expanded to the Dnieper's left-bank (to the east) only in the 20th century. Significant areas of the Dnieper valley were artificially sand-deposited, and are protected by dams.

The Dnieper River forms a branching system of tributaries, isles, and harbors within the city limits. The city is adjoined by the mouth of the Desna River and the Kyiv Reservoir in the north, and the Kaniv Reservoir in the south. Both the Dnieper and Desna rivers are navigable at Kyiv, although regulated by the reservoir shipping locks and limited by winter freeze-over.

Climate

Kyiv has a continental humid climate, although it has changed significantly during recent decades. The warmest months are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of 13.8 to 24.8°C (56.9 to 76.7°F). The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of −4.6 to -1.1°C (23.7 to 30.0°F). The highest ever temperature recorded in the city was 39.4°C (103.0°F) on 31 July 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was -32.2°C (-26.0°F) on 7 & 9 February 1929. Snow cover usually lies from mid-November to the end of March, with the frost-free period lasting 180 days on average, but surpassing 200 days in recent years.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Avg high °C (°F)	-3 (27)	-1 (30)	4 (40)	14 (57)	21 (69)	24 (74)	25 (76)	24 (75)	19 (66)	12 (54)	4 (40)	0 (32)	12 (53)
Avg low °C (°F)	-8 (17)	-7 (20)	-2 (28)	5 (41)	11 (51)	14 (57)	15 (59)	14 (58)	10 (50)	5 (41)	0 (32)	-5 (24)	4 (40)
Avg rainfall in mm (inches)	48 (1.9)	46 (1.8)	39 (1.5)	48 (1.9)	53 (2.1)	73 (2.9)	88 (3.5)	69 (2.7)	47 (1.8)	35 (1.4)	51 (2.0)	52 (2.0)	54 (2.1)
Source: World Weather Information Service

History

Main article: History of Kyiv

Kyiv is one of the oldest and most important cities of Eastern Europe with a pivotal role in the development of the medieval East Slavic civilization as well as in the modern Ukrainian nation.

People have lived on the site of Kyiv since before the existence of any historic records. The settlement at the site of the modern city may have been founded as early as the fifth or the sixth century AD. With the exact time of city foundation being hard to determine, May 1982 was chosen to celebrate the city's 1,500th anniversary.

During the eighth and ninth centuries, Kyiv was an outpost of the Khazar empire. Starting from some point during the late ninth century Kiev was ruled by the Varangian nobility and became the nucleus of the Rus' polity, which became known as Kievan Rus' during the Golden age of Kiev (eleventh to early twelfth centuries). In 1240 the Mongol invasion of Rus led by Batu Khan completely destroyed Kiev, an event that had a profound effect on the future of the city and the East Slavic civilization. At the time of the Mongol destruction, Kiev was reputed as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population exceeding one hundred thousand.

From 1362, the area, with a largely diminished city, was conquered by Gediminas for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From 1569 the city was controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a capital of Kijów Voivodeship, transferred by then to the Polish Crown. In the 17th century, was Kiev was transferred under rule of Russia. In the Russian Empire Kiev was a primary Christian center, the attraction of piligrims and the craddle of many of the empire's most important religious figures, but until the 19th century the city's commercial importance remained marginal.

Kiev, as seen during World War II.

Kiev prospered again during the industrial revolution in the late nineteenth century when it became the third most important city of the Russian Empire, the major center of commerce of the Empire's southwest. In the turbulent period following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kiev became the capital of several short-lived Ukrainian states and was caught in the middle of several conflicts: World War I, the Russian Civil War, and the Polish-Soviet War. From 1921 the city was a part of Ukrainian SSR, a founding republic of Soviet Union. In 1932-33 the city was affected by the devastating man-made famine known as Holodomor. While there was no famine for those who had ration cards distributed to workers, thousands of peasants from the rural areas were banned from the state food stores and were often dying on the streets.. Since 1934, Kiev became the capital of Soviet Ukraine. The city boomed again during the years of the Soviet industrialization as it population grew rapidly and many industrial giants were built that exist to this day.

In World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, becoming once again the third most important city of the Soviet Union. The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located only some 100 km to the north from the city affected the city, which had surpassed two million inhabitants, but to a lesser extent than it was feared as the northward wind blew the most substantial radioactive debris away from the city.

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was proclaimed in the city by the Ukrainian parliament on August 24, 1991. Kiev now remains the capital of independent Ukraine.

Government

Main article: Legal status and local government of Kiev

File:Kievsovet.jpg

The Kiev City Council building at the Khreshchatyk street.

The municipality of the city of Kiev has a unique legal status within Ukraine compared to the other administrative subdivisions of the country. The most significant difference is that the city is subordinated directly to the national-level branches of the Government of Ukraine, skipping the provincial level authorities of Kiev Oblast. Additionally, the leading governmental position is held by the locally elected, rather than appointed, figure, the Mayor of Kiev, and the municipal self-governance institutions have a higher than elsewhere in Ukraine latitude in the local affairs.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of Kiev

The ten Formal raions of Kiev.

Administratively, the city is divided into "raions" ("districts"), which have their local governments with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs. Presently, there are 10 raions.

Besides these, Kiev is informally divided into historical or territorial neighborhoods, each housing from about 5,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.

The natural first level of subdivision of the city is into the Right Bank and the Left Bank of the Dnieper. The Right Bank, located on the west side of the river, contains the older portions of the city.

See also: Category:Neighborhoods and raions of Kiev

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1939	846,724	—
N/A	1940	—
930,000	+9.8%	—
1943	180,000	—
-80.6%	1959	—
1,104,334	+513.5%	—
1961	1,174,000	—
+6.3%	1979	—
2,144,000	+82.6%	—
1989	2,587,945	—
+20.7%	2001	—
2,611,327	+0.9%	—
2005	2,660,401	—
+1.8%		—

As of the All-Ukrainian Census conducted in 2001, the population of Kiev is 2,611,300. Please consult the table to the right for Kiev's historical populations. According to the census, the number of men accounted for 1,219,000 persons, or 46.7%, and that of women – 1,393,000 persons, or 53.3%. The comparison with the results of the previous census (1989) shows the trend of population aging which, while common for the country overall, is partly offset in Kiev by the inflow of the migrants of the working age.

According to the census data, more than 130 nationalities and ethnic groups reside within the territory of Kiev. Ukrainians constitute the largest ethnic group in Kiev, and they account for 2,110,800 people, or 82.2% of the population. Russians comprise 337,300 (13.1%), Jews - 17,900 (0.7%), Belarusians - 16,500 (0.6%), Poles - 6,900 (0.3%), Armenians - 4,900 (0.2%), Azerbaijanis - 2,600 (0.1%), Tatars - 2,500 (0.1%), Georgians - 2,400 (0.1%), Moldovans - 1,900 (0.1%).

Both Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken in the city, with Russian being more widely used despite the fact that Ukrainian is claimed as their native tongue by almost three times as many residents as those who claim Russian. According to a 2006 survey, Ukrainian is used at home by 23% of Kievans, as 52% use Russian and 24% switch between both.

1,069,700 people have higher and complete secondary education, a significant increase 21.7% since 1989.

Modern Kiev

File:Kiev night view.jpg

Bird's-eye view of the Kiev center at night.

View of the October Palace from the Instytutska street.

Modern Kiev is a mix of the old and the new, seen in everything from the architecture to the stores and to the people themselves. Experiencing fast population growth between the 1970s and the mid-'90s, the city has continued its consistent growth after the turn of the millennium. As a result, Kiev's "downtown" is a dotted picture of new, modern buildings amongst the pale yellows, blues and grays of the older apartments. Urban sprawl has been gradually reducing, while population densities of suburbs started increasing. The most expensive properties are located in the Pechersk, and Khreschatyk area. It is also prestigious to own a property in newly constructed buildings in Kharkivskyi Raion or Obolon along the Dnieper, as well as in some other better-established areas.

With the Ukrainian independence on the turn of the millennium, other changes came. Western-style residential complexes, hip nightclubs, classy restaurants and prestigious hotels opened in the center. Music from Europe and North America started rising on Ukrainian music charts. And most importantly, with the easing of the visa rules in 2005, Ukraine is positioning itself as a prime tourist attraction, with Kiev, among the other large cities, looking to profit from the new opportunities. The center of Kiev has been cleaned up and buildings have been restored and redecorated, especially the Khreschatyk street and the Independence Square. Many historic areas of Kiev, such as Andriyivskyy Descent, have become popular street vendor locations, where one can find traditional Ukrainian art, religious items, books, game sets (most commonly chess) as well as jewelry for sale.

• Pictures of Kiev

Culture

An important part of Kiev's culture is the many theatres in the city, which include: Kiev Opera House, Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama, the Kiev Puppet Theater, October Palace, National Philharmonic of Ukraine and many others.

Other cultural items include the Olexandr Dovzhenko Film Studios, and the Kiev Circus. The most important of the city's many museums are the Kiev State Historical Museum, Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the National Art Museum, the Museum of Western and Oriental Art and the National Museum of Russian art.

In 2005 Kiev hosted the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest as a result of Ruslana's Wild Dances being victorious in 2004.

See also: Category:Kiev culture

Sports

Football (soccer) is the most popular spectator sport in Kiev, followed by basketball and ice hockey. Kiev has many professional and amateur soccer clubs, including the Arsenal and Dynamo, which both play in the top division of the Ukrainian Premier League. Other less prominent sport clubs in the city include: the FC Obolon Kyiv soccer club, the HC Sokil Kyiv hockey club and BC Kyiv basketball club.

File:Kiev stadium 1980.jpg

The Olympic Stadium in 1980 following the reconstruction for the 1980 Summer Olympics

During the 1980 Summer Olympics held in the Soviet Union, Kiev held the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament at its Olympic Stadium, reconstructed for the event. The stadium is the largest of Ukrainian stadiums, as well as among Kiev's 15 stadiums/sport complexes. Initially constructed for audience of 100,000, following the installation of individual seats it can now accommodate 83,053 spectators. Other notable sport stadiums/sport complexes in Kiev include the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, the Palace of Sports, among many others.

Kiev does not only host field games and indoor sports, but also aquatic sports, which take place on the Kiev Reservoir at Vyshhorod, and on Trukhaniv Island in the Dnieper river, opposite the city center, where there are many fine beaches and recreational facilities. In addition to that, cross country bicycling is another favorite sport, also taking place on the Trukhaniv Island.

Together with a few other cities of Poland and Ukraine, Kiev will house the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. Three group matches, a quarter final and the final are scheduled to be played at Kiev NSK Olimpiyskyi stadium.

See also: Category:Sports in Kiev

Architecture

Probably, Kiev's most famous historical architecture complexes are St. Sophia Cathedral and Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Noteworthy historical architectural landmarks also include the Mariyinsky Palace (designed and constructed from 1745 to 1752, then reconstructed in 1870), several Orthodox churches such as St. Michael's Cathedral, St. Andrew's, St. Vladimir's, the reconstructed Golden Gate, and others.

The cylindrical Salut hotel, located across from Glory Square and an eternal flame at the World War Two memorial Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The giant highly visible from the Dnieper hills Mother Motherland statue standing at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War is one of Kiev's well recognized modern landmarks.

Among Kiev's best-known monuments are Mikeshin's statue of Bohdan Khmelnytsky astride his horse located near St. Sophia Cathedral, the venerated Vladimir the Great (St. Vladimir), the baptizer of Rus', overlooking the river above Podil, the monument to Kyi, Schek and Khoryv and Lybid, the legendary founders of the city located at the Dnieper embankment. Finally, two elevated on the tall columns modern monuments to the city protectors are located at the Independence Square in the city center: the historic protector of Kiev Michael Archangel and a modern invention, the goddess-protector Berehynia.

See also: Category:Buildings and structures in Kiev

Architectural monuments

• 
  The St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, 1998 reconstruction.
• 
  The Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, post-1991 reconstruction.
• 
  The St.Andrew's Church.
• 
  The St. Sophia Cathedral.
• 
  The St Volodymyr's Cathedral.
• 
  The Church of Bogoroditsa Pirogoscha in the Podil raion, 1998 reconstruction
• 
  Monument to Princess Olga
• 
  The Zoloti Vorota, 1982 reconstruction.
• The Verkhovna Rada building, the Ukrainian parliament.
  The Verkhovna Rada building, the Ukrainian parliament.
• 
  The National Opera of Ukraine.
• 
  National Bank of Ukraine.
• 
  "The House With Chimaeras"
• 
  Pechersk Lavra
• 
  Pechersk Lavra

Transportation

Local transportation

File:Dnepr4.jpg

Dnipro station of the Kiev Metro

Public transportation in Kiev includes metro (subway), buses, trolleybuses and trams. The publicly owned and operated Kiev Metro system is the fastest, the most convenient and affordable network that covers most, but not all, of the city. The metro is regularly expanding towards the city limits to cover the growing demand, while the other kinds of public transport are not that well maintained. In particular, the public bus service fails to maintain its schedule. Public electric trolleybus and tram lines are more reliable, but are also technically obsolete and underfunded. The historic tram system, which once were a maintained and densely-developed method of transport, are now gradually being phased out in favor of buses and trolleys.

One unusual mode of public transportation Kiev has is a funicular, that climbs on the steep right bank of the Dnieper River. It provides transport to 10,000-15,000 passengers daily.

All public road transport in Kiev is operated by the united Kyivpastrans municipal company. It is heavily subsidized by the city as large groups of passengers (pensioners, etc.) are granted free service on its lines.

Trolleybuses in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral.

A simple distance-regardless tariffs system exists in Kiev public transport: the tickets for ground transportation are bought for each entrance into the vehicle. Discount passes are available for scholars and students. Pensioners use public transportation free. Monthly passes, which are sold at the price of 60 rides, are also available in all combinations of public transportation: metro, bus, trolley, tram.

Recently, privately owned minibuses, marshrutkas, occupied Kiev's streets. They provide good coverage of smaller residential streets and have routes that are convenient for the residents. Minibuses take fewer passengers, run faster, stop on demand and are more available, although with an increased frequency of accidents. Ticket price and itinerary of private minibuses are regulated by city government, and the cost of one ride, while higher than on public buses, is still far lower than the Western European standard.

The taxi market in Kiev is intensive but not adequately regulated. In particular, the taxi fare per kilometer is not regulated. There is a strong competition between private taxi companies. Many allow scheduling a pick-up by phone. Also, it is quite common for a local with a car (or even people from other parts of Ukraine) to provide taxi service unofficially. Traffic jams and lack of parking space are the growing problems for taxi service in Kiev. Current regulations allow for parking on pavements, which pedestrians may find inconvenient.

Trams in Kiev's Kontraktova Square. The St. Andrew Church is visible in the background

Suburban transportation

Suburban transportation is provided by buses and short-range trains (elektrichkas). There are a few bus stations inside the city providing suburban transportations. Private minibuses (marshrutkas) provide faster and more frequent suburban service, currently winning the competition against large buses.

Elektrichkas are serviced by the publicly owned Ukrzaliznytsia company. The suburban train service is fast, and unbeatingly safe in terms of traffic accidents. But the trains are not reliable, as they may fail significantly behind schedule, may not be safe in terms of crime, and the elektrichka cars are poorly maintained and are overcrowded in rush hours.

There are 5 elektrichka directions from Kiev:

• Nizhyn (north-eastern)
• Hrebinka (south-eastern)
• Myronivka (southern)
• Fastiv (south-western)
• Korosten (western)

File:Road to Kiev Vokzal.jpeg

The avenue to the Kiev's Railway Terminal

More than a dozen of elektrichka stops are located within the city allowing residents of different neighborhoods to use the suburban trains.

Once existing suburban riverboats service is now extinct due to lack of profitability, limiting Kiev's water transport for cargo and tourism uses.

Railways

Railways are Kiev’s main kind of outer transport connection. The city has a developed railroad infrastructure including a long-distance passenger station, 6 cargo stations, depots, and repairing facilities. However, this system still fails to meet the demand for passenger service. Particularly, the Kiev Passenger Railway Station is city's only long-distance passenger terminal (vokzal). There is construction underway for a new Darnytsia Railway Station on the left-bank part of Kiev, which may easer the tension of the central station. Bridges over the Dnieper River are another problem restricting the development of city’s railway system. Presently, only one rail bridge out of two is available for intense train traffic. A new combined rail-auto bridge is under construction, as a part of Darnytsia project.

Air transport

File:Boryspil Terminal B inside.jpg

The expanded Terminal B within the Boryspil International Airport

Passenger air link to Kiev can be made through two of its airports: the Boryspil Airport, which is served by the many international airlines, and a smaller Zhulyany Airport, serving mostly domestic flights, and few flights to nearby countries. There is also Gostomel cargo airport in Kiev's north-western suburb of Hostomel. The international passenger terminal at Boryspil is quite small, yet modern. A new section of the international terminal was opened in 2006. There is a separate terminal for domestic flights within walking distance. Passengers traveling to other cities within Ukraine by air usually stop for a connection at Boryspil, as the other airports in Ukraine such as in Donetsk, Simferopol, Odessa, provide very limited international connections.

Kiev is one of the centers of world aviation industry, being a home for Antonov aircraft manufacturing company. National Avaition University is playing vital role in ukrainian aviation industry Currently, there are expansion plans for the city's international airport, with construction to begin within the coming years.

See also: Category:Transport in Kiev

Tourism

File:Kiev-BotanicalGarden-1280.jpg

Lilacs in the Central Botanical Garden, with Vydubychi Monastery and the Left Bank of Kiev in the background. Photo copyright R. Lezhoev

Attractions in Kiev

It is said that one can walk from one end of Kiev to the other in the summertime without leaving the shade of its many trees. Most characteristic are the horse-chestnuts ([каштани, kashtany] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)).

Kiev is known as a green city with two botanical gardens and numerous large and small parks. The green nature of the city is probably most notable by the overgrown and mostly untouched by urbanization hills on the right bank along the Dnieper river. There the World War II Museum is located, which offers both indoor and outdoor displays of military history and equipment surrounded by verdant hills overlooking the Dnieper river.

Among the numerous islands, Venetsianskyi (or Hidropark) is the most habitable. It's accessible by metro or by car, and includes an amusement park, swimming beaches, boat rentals, and night clubs. The Victory Park (Park Peremohy) located near Darnytsia subway station is a popular destination for strollers, joggers, and cyclists.

Boating, fishing, and water sports are popular pastimes in Kiev. Since the lakes and rivers freeze over in the winter, ice fishermen are frequently seen, as are children with their ice skates. However, the peak of summer is when masses of people can be seen on the shores, swimming or sunbathing, with daytime high temperatures sometimes reaching 30 to 34 °C.

The center of Kiev (Independence Square and Khreschatyk Street) becomes a large outdoor party place at night during summer months, with thousands of people having a good time in nearby restaurants, clubs and outdoor cafes. The central streets are closed for auto traffic on weekends and holidays.

Wide varieties of farming products are available in many of Kiev's farmer markets with the Besarabsky Market located in the very center of the city being the most famous one. Each residential region has its own market, or rynok. Here one will find table after table of individuals hawking everything imaginable: vegetables, fresh and smoked meats, fish, cheese, honey, dairy products such as milk and home-made smetana (sour cream), caviar, cut flowers, housewares, tools and hardware, and clothing. Each of the markets has its own unique mix of products. There is also a popular book market by the Petrivka metro station.

At the city's southern outskirts, near the historic Pyrohiv village, there is an outdoor museum, officially called the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine It has an area of 1.5 square kilometres. On this terrain, multiple "mini-villages" that represent the traditional countryside architecture of various regions of Ukraine are built.

Kiev also has numerous game attractions like bowling, carts, paintball, billiards and even shooting from real weapons.

See also: Category:Visitor attractions in Kiev

Views of Kiev

• General view of the Andriyivskyy Descent.
  General view of the Andriyivskyy Descent.
• 
  The Kontraktova Square of the Podil raion.
• 
  Khreschatyk, the best known street in Kiev.
• Orange Revolution protesters gather at Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
  Orange Revolution protesters gather at Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
• 
  The Refectory of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
• 
  The Museum of History.
• The founders of Kiev, Kyi, Schek and Khoriv.
  The founders of Kiev, Kyi, Schek and Khoriv.
• 
  The new Terminal to the Kiev Passenger Railway Station.

Economy

Kiev, as the capital of Ukraine, has major administrative functions, with considerable status in the offices of the ministries responsible for the economy of Ukraine. Factories in Kiev are found in all parts of the city, with locations of major concentrations of industrial organizations located to the west of the city center and on the left bank of the Dnieper River.

See also: Economy of Kiev, Economy of Ukraine

Industrial organizations

The Kiev engineering plants, create their equipment based on metal from the iron and steel areas of Dnipropetrovshchyna and the Donbas coalfield. These plants in Kiev make equipment for chemical works, such as conveyor lines for vulcanized rubber, linoleum, fertilizer factories, and also metal-cutting machines. Other engineering products of Kiev area include aircraft (see: Antonov), hydraulic elevators, electrical instruments, armatures, river-and-sea crafts, motorcycles, and cinematography apparatuses.

Another important sector is the chemical industry, which produces resin products, fertilizers, plastics, and chemical fibers, made at the Darnytsky Raion viscose plant on the left bank of Kiev. Lumber milling and the production of bricks and reinforced concrete items are another well developed industry. Consumer manufactured goods include cameras (see: Kiev-Arsenal (photo camera), thermos flasks, knitwear, footwear, a range of foodstuffs, and hand watches. Kiev is also a large publishing centre.

Power production

Kiev is supplied by electricity primary from the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Station, completed in 1968, just upstream of the city at Vyshhorod, on the Kiev Reservoir, and from Trypillia thermal electric station. Nowadays, all but a few regions of Ukraine are interconnected by the Ukrainian electric power grid. Following the Chernobyl accident the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located 100 km north of Kiev has been closed. Kiev also receives its power supply in the form of natural gas, piped from Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline.

Education

The National Taras Shevchenko University.

Kiev hosts many universities, the major ones being Kiev National Taras Shevchenko University, the National Technical University "Kiev Polytechnic Institute", and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. The total number of institutions of higher education in Kiev approaches 200, allowing young people to pursue almost any line of study.

There are about 500 general secondary schools, evening schools for adults, and specialist technical schools. Scientific research is conducted in many of the institutes of the higher education and, additionally, in many research institutes affiliated with the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and several of Ukrainian industrial ministries. Kiev is also noted for its research in medicine and computer science.

There are many libraries in the city with the Vernadsky library affiliated with the Academy of Science being the largest and most important one.

See also: Category:Education in Kiev

City name evolution

A fragment of Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae map by Anthony Jenkinson (London 1562) published by Ortelius in 1570.

A fragment from a 1804 John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities" published in "Cary's new universal atlas", London, 1808.

Currently, Kiev is the traditional English name for the city, but the Ukrainianized version Kyiv is gaining usage.

As a prominent city with a long history, its English name was subject to gradual evolution. The early English spelling was derived from Old East Slavic form Kijevъ (spelled Кієвъ). According to the legendary account in the Primary Chronicle, the city is named after Kyi (Кий), who is said to have founded the city with his brothers Shchek and Khoryv, and their sister Lybid'.

In the middle ages the city was mentioned in published sources as Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, Kiovia. On one of the oldest English maps of the region Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae published by Ortelius (London, 1570) the city is spelled as Kiou. On the map by Guillaume de Beauplan (1650) the name of the city was given as Kiiow, and the region was named as Kÿowia. In English traveller Joseph Marshall's book Travels (London, 1772) the city is referred as Kiovia.

The name Kiev was used in print as early as in 1804 in the John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities" in "Cary's new universal atlas" published in London. The English travelogue titled New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev, by Mary Holderness was published in 1823. By 1883, the Oxford English Dictionary included Kiev in a quotation. This name was established on the basis of Russian orthography and pronunciation [ˈkijef], during a time when Kiev was a city in a governorate of the Russian Empire.

At the same time the spelling Kyiv, romanized version of the Ukrainian name for the city [ˈkɪjiw], has been used in English-language publications of the Ukrainian diaspora and in some academic publications concerning Ukraine during much of the twentieth century. Newly-independent Ukraine declared Ukrainian the only official language after 1991, and introduced a national Latin-alphabet standard for geographic names in 1995, establishing the use of the spelling Kyiv in all official documents issued by the governmental authorities since October 1995. The spelling is used by the United Nations, NATO, some foreign diplomatic missions and a number of media organizations, notably in Canada. On October 3, 2006, the United States federal government changed its official spelling of the city name to Kyiv. The alternate romanizations Kyyiv (BGN/PCGN transliteration) and Kyjiv (scholarly) are also in use alongside Kiev in English-language atlases. This, however, did not affect the usage of most major players in the English language news media market: CNN, BBC, Associated Press and most major live and print media continue to use Kiev to this day.

See also: Romanization of Ukrainian and Romanization of Russian

References

Bibliography:

• Marshall, Joseph. Travels Through Germany, Russia, and Poland in the Years 1769 and 1770. London: J. Almon, 1772; reprint, New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1971. ISBN 0-405-02763-X
• Holderness, Mary (1827). New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea, by way of Kiev; with some account of the colonization, and the manners and customs of the colonists of New Russia; to which are added notes relating to the Crim Tatars. London: Sherwood, Jones,. LCCN 49-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• "Kiev: the city, its residents, problems of today, wishes for tomorrow". Zerkalo Nedeli. April 29 – May 12, 2006.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link). Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian

External links

General

• Official Kiev city administration webportal
• Wikimapia - Satellite view of Kiev
• Kiev sites catalogue
• Kiev & Kiev From Above - additional views of the city center
• KievUA webportal
• Kiev in Old Postcards
• Template:Wikitravel

Kiev or Kyiv?

Official documents:

• Kiev or Kyiv? - Resolution of the Ukrainian commission for legal terminology
• U.S. Board of Geographic Names Decision to Change Official Spelling of Kiev to Kyiv

Non-official documents:

• Kiev or Kyiv? Turin or Torino? — CBC News article about use of city names
• Fred Weir, Kiev or Kyiv: language an issue in Ukraine, The Christian Science Monitor, June 28, 2000