For history lovers or people, who just enjoy a nice walk in beautiful surroundings, the Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life gives just that.
Old villages, windmills and churches lay scattered around a beautiful landscape. At the very least it is a setting that makes for a good walk before the winter kicks in. The thoroughly named National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine offers just that at a very low price.
At the museum, which is more a complex of old buildings, curators have gathered 300 significant buildings and monuments from all regions of Ukraine, the oldest of which dates back to a village house from 1587. Since the park was opened in 1976, there is of course also a Soviet house for people to see, though it might be a bit too polished to reflect real life in the villages under the Soviet Union.
If walking around the historical landscape is not your thing, it is possible to rent bikes at the entrance. There is a good walking or biking path around the entire are, so for people with trouble walking, the area is relatively accessible.
No guidance
There is one problem, however. While Pyrohovo lives up to the museum responsibility of preserving history and culture, it is rather hard to get a lot of information from the area itself without a guide.
Except for signs telling where and when buildings are from, not a lot of information is given on the historical significance of them. In that way, Pyrohovo fails a bit for a museum, however the walk itself is worth the trip 12 kilometres south of Kyiv.
It took Ukraine Nu around two hours to walk around seeing most of the area. In addition to that, Pyrohovo is easily combined with a visit to VDNH, the expo-centre of Ukraine, which is located north of Pyrohovo on the other side of the Holosiivskyi National Park. It’s approximately two kilometres of walking away.
Prices and getting there
The easiest way to get to Pyrohovo is by far taking a taxi through a service like Uber or Uklon, but it is also reachable by public transportation. The metro stops Teremky and Ipodrom are relatively close by and buses can be taken from there to Pyrohovo.
Entrance fees should not punch too big holes in any pockets. The price of admission is 80 UAH for adults, 20 for children from 6-9 and 40 for children between 10 and 17. Students and pensioners also pay 40 UAH.
Prices for guided tours vary. At the site they offer tours in Ukrainian for 350 UAH for adults, but online a multitude of service providers offer tours in a wide price range often combined with other sites.
What else to do?
If walking in Pyrohovo doesn’t sound interesting to you, Kyiv offers plenty of other options. We are at the end of the Summer, and it will soon be the last chance to comfortably play chess in Shevchenko Park, which is an informal cultural institution that has lasted for decades.
The former president Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted by the 2014 Maidan Revolution, left behind an enormous palace. Today, the palace is called The Museum of Corruption, and is open for visitors. Expect to spend an entire day there.
In central Kyiv, there is a also another palace to visit. Mariinsky Palace is open for visitors again. The palace is located close to the Parliament of Ukraine within walking distance of the two metro stops Arsenalna and Kreshatyk.
If the weather is good, there is a good walk to be had in the Marinsky Park, down to the Parkovy Expo Center and from there through the forest to Friendship of Nations Arch. Go across the bridge, enjoy the view of Podil and the left bank of the Dniper, and venture through the park to Sct. Andrews Church and Andrivskiy Descent, where you can either dine at Kanapa, one of Kyiv’s most famous restaurants, or go down the road to Kontraktova Plosha.
