Khreshchatyk

Khreshchatyk
Хрещатик

Khreshchatyk in 2017
Former name(s)	Wacław Worowski Street (1923–1937), Eichhornstraße (1941–1943)
Length	1.2 km (0.75 mi)
Location	Kyiv, Ukraine
Nearest metro station	Maidan Nezalezhnosti / Khreschchatyk ( / ) European Square
Major junctions	Maidan Nezalezhnosti
To	Bessarabska Square
Other
Status	pedestrianised during weekends and public holidays

Khreshchatyk (

Khreshchatyk was deliberately destroyed during World War II by retreating Red Army troops. Among the notable buildings that were dynamited were the Kyiv City Duma, the Kyiv Stock Exchange, the National Hotel [uk], and the Ginsburg Skyscraper. The street was rebuilt in a Stalinist neo-classical style after the end of the war, and has been renovated since Ukraine's independence.

History

Origins

The area of

In 1770, the doctor and diarist John Lerche described the landscape: "At the end of the Pechersk suburb, there is a narrow road (Khreshchatytskaya) due to a deep gulley or valley; but it cannot be avoided, because it connects all three cities."^[3]

In Kievan Rus' times, the fortifications of the Upper Town existed across Old Kyiv Hill [uk] above the ravine. These had been reduced to ruins by the early 19th century, when they were removed, leaving a square at the foot the hill at the modern Maidan Nezalezhnosti.^[4] Construction of the street started at the end of the 18th century, when the ravine began to be filled in. The first houses, built in 1797, were wooden, with the earliest recorded building being the late 18th-century mansion of a landowner called Golovinsky.^[1][5]

19th century - World War I

In 1804–1806, the first theatre in Kyiv was built at one end of the street. It was a wooden structure that was later demolished and replaced by the three-storey European Hotel [uk].^[1]

Khreshchatyk began to be developed in the 1830s and 1840s, beginning from the European Square end. Its current design emerged in 1837 when it was planned as Kyiv's principal street by architects that included the city architect, Ludvik Stanzani [uk].^[6] From 1868 banks started to be located on Khreshchatyk. The Kyiv Stock Exchange was built in 1869. The thoroughfare became one of the most famous in the Russian Empire.^[7] The new City Hall [uk] was built on the street in 1874–1876. Other notable buildings constructed during this period were the Merchants' Hall, the concert hall, the Central Post Office, and the Club for Polish Noblemen. During the 1880s, its wooden-built restaurants and taverns were being replaced by stone-built multi-storey houses and shops. The street, with its departmental stores and hotels, was called "the only real street in Kiev," and, along with the city’s larger churches, became its central modern attraction for visitors.^[5]

The Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius met at the apartment of 19th-century Ukrainian historian Mykola Kostomarov on Khreshchatyk.^[5]

The street was

Revolutionary rallies and demonstrations took place on the street in 1901, 1902, 1905, and in June 1917.^[8]

Pre-World War II Soviet Ukraine

During the period of chaos after the

After the establishment of the Soviet authorities, Khreshchatyk became a place where celebrations, labour demonstrations, and military parades took place.[8]

Between the wars, Khreshchatyk underwent major development and reconstruction.

During World War II, almost every building on Khreshchatyk was laid with explosives by the retreating Red Army troops. On 24 September 1941, five days after German troops had occupied the city,^[12] radio-controlled explosions were set off from over 400 kilometres (250 mi) away. The demolition of Khreshchatyk became the first operation in history where the long-distance radio-controlled explosions were used for military purposes. This unprecedented method of warfare caused panic and brought heavy casualties among both the occupiers and city's remaining civilian population.^{[citation needed]}

Under German occupation, the street was renamed Eichhornstrasse, after

In 1944, the Soviet authorities planned to enlarge Khreschatyk when it was rebuilt. After the end of the war, 30 damaged buildings that could have been restored were demolished.^[14] The thoroughfare was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s. It was widened to become 75–100 metres (246–328 ft) wide, and new buildings were erected in the Neoclassical Stalinist architectural style.^[8] Important buildings of the new ensemble include the headquarters of Kyiv City Council (Kyivrada), the Central Post Office (Poshtamt) and Trade Unions Building (Budynok Profspilok).^{[citation needed]} The picturesque quality of Khreshchatyk was enhanced by the street being replanted with chestnut trees.^[8]

The street was used for demonstrations and parades in honour of 1 May (until 1969), Victory Day (9 May) and the October Revolution.

The street was one of the first parts of the city to be serviced by the Kyiv Metro, when the Khreshchatyk station was opened in 1960, and became the system's first transfer station upon the opening of a second line in 1976.

A few days after the

In 1989, part of the Kyiv Central Post Office building collapsed [uk] during heavy rain, killing a dozen people and injuring others.^[15]

Post-independence

On 24 July 1990, the first ceremonial raising of the Ukrainian national flag took place on Khreshchatyk, at the Kyiv City Council building.^[16] In 2010, Khreshchatyk was listed as one of Europe's most expensive streets for renting commercial space.^[17] The Kyiv Independence Day Parades, passing through Khreshchatyk, have been held since 1994.^[18]

In 2000/2001, Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti became the centre of the mass protest campaign Ukraine without Kuchma. To keep the protesters out, the city mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko ordered the area to be fenced off as a construction site.^[19] In the winter of 2004, Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti became the centre of the main public protests of the Orange Revolution. The protesters' main tent encampment was situated in the street. At its peak, over a million people from all around Ukraine attended the rally.^[20][21] In late 2013, Khreshchatyk became one of the centres of the Revolution of Dignity.^[22]

Following the

Kyiv City Council, Kyiv City State Administration, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the State Committee for Television and Radio-broadcasting, and a number of cinemas and hotels, are all located on the street.^[25]

Attractions

Khreshchatyk is a popular attraction for visitors to the city and residents. During weekends, the street is

Four of the stations of the Kyiv Metro, the city's rapid transit system, serve the street. Passengers are able to transfer by foot from Maidan Nezalezhnosti to Khreshchatyk, as well as from Teatralna to Zoloti Vorota.^[28][29]

References

Sources

• Demes, Pavol; Forbrig, Joerg (2006). "Pora - 'It's Time' for Democracy in Ukraine". In Åslund, Anders; McFaul, Michael (eds.). Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine's Democratic Breakthrough. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
  ISBN 978-08700-3-221-9
  .
• Dobrovolsky, Anatoliy, ed. (1981). Київ. Енциклопедичний довідник [Kyiv: An Encyclopedic Guide] (in Ukrainian).
• Hamm, Michael F. (1993). Kiev: A Portrait, 1800–1917. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  ISBN 978-14008-5-151-5
  .
• Hansen, Arve (2021). Urban Protest: A Spatial Perspective on Kyiv, Minsk, and Moscow.
  ISBN 978-38382-1-495-5
  .
• Krutikov, Mikhail (2019). Der Nister's Soviet Years: Yiddish Writer as Witness to the People.
  ISBN 978-02530-4-188-3
  .
• Oliynyk, Olena (2018). "National originality of the architecture of Khreshchatyk as a unique ensemble of the period of totalitarianism" (PDF). E3S Web of Conferences (33).
• Semenova, P. P., ed. (1897) [1752]. Живописная Россия: Отечество наше в его земельном, историческом, племенном, экономическом и бытовом значении [Picturesque Russia: Our Fatherland in its land, historical, tribal, economic and everyday meaning] (in Russian). Vol. 5. St. Petersburg. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

• Chueva, Oksana (10 April 2006). "Kyiv and Kreshchatyk: The Paradox of War". Ukrainian Observer. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
• Zakrevskiĭ, Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich (1858). Лътопись И Описдніе Города Кіева [A Description of the City of Kyiv]. Moscow: University Printing House. pp. 148–150.
  OCLC 1048330730
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khreshchatyk.

• The concept of Khreshchatyk architecture after World War II (in Ukrainian and Russian)
• Petrova, Olga. Khreshchatyk, the history of the main street in
  Zerkalo Nedeli
  , 13–19 September 1997
• Хрещатик вулиця (Khreschatyk Street} from Kyiv Heritage Guide (detailed information about individual buildings and their occupants on Khreschatyk) (in Ukrainian)

50°26′50″N 30°31′19″E / 50.44722°N 30.52194°E / 50.44722; 30.52194