If you find your way to Kyiv, Ukrainenu highly recommends that you visit the former residence of Viktor Yanukovych, who was the President of Ukraine until the Maidan Revolution in 2014.
If you aren’t blown away by the enormous garden or its golden fence, the actual residence of former President Viktor Yanukovych is sure to do the trick. It is built like a palace in secrecy by billions of hryvnias stolen from the country’s treasury. Inside, you will find a one-million-dollar chandelier, hidden passages, and a 2.5 million dollar piano.
The place was Viktor Yanukovych’s estate from 2002 to 2014, while he served as firstly Prime Minister and later as the President of Ukraine. However, it was first after he fled Ukraine in 2014 during the Maidan Revolution that the scale of his corruption became visible, and people could see the Mezhyhirya Residence.
The area is today a museum, and it is open to the public. It spans over 350 acres or 150 ha and is in the outskirts of Kyiv, easily to visit by car or bus. At the place, you will be able to see Yanukovych’s yacht pier, shooting range, car collection, and walk around his enormous park, which can take a whole day. Yanukovych also had his zoo (or ostrich farm) and golf course.
Around 800 to 1,000 people worked here maintaining everything, and it is definitely worth a visit. Mezhyhirya Residence offers you the opportunity to learn more about the past of Ukraine and probably also what people will do if they have way too much money.
You can see some pictures of the place below. It costs around 150 hryvnias for entrance to the park and another 500 hryvnias to get inside his palace. You can read more here.
a museum. Foto: Stefan Weichert
