In a city as old as Kyiv, with such a turbulent history, you would expect the place to have more than its fair share of myths and legends, and you would be right. Throughout the city there are a number of historic buildings with freaky stories attached to them, some magical, some ghostly, and a few that are just plain weird. This week, What’s On takes a look at some of these stories which may make you look at some well-known landmarks in a different light, or avoid some altogether!

Biblical Links
The first legend about Kyiv dates way back to 51 A.D. when the Apostle St. Andrew was spreading the good word throughout Europe. It is said that in this year he came to the place where Kyiv now stands and stood atop the hill overlooking the Dnipro. As he looked out over the river and the vast expanse of land across from it he went into a trance and had a vision of the future of the place upon which he stood, declaring: “A great city will stand here, and the Christian faith will shine in this place.” He no doubt was seeing the many gilted cathedral domes that pepper the area which certainly shine brightly on a sunny day.

Legend of the Sinking Lavra
Keeping with religion, one of the best stories about Kyiv landmarks is the one about the Lavra Monastery. Many of the buildings here were built in the 17th and 18th Centuries but there is one church that was constructed way back in the 1100s which has remained largely untouched since then, and with good reason as it was built, so the story goes, with the help of God. This fantastic legend tells that when the first level was completed it sunk down into the ground, and then the second level was built on top which in turn sank into the earth, and so on until the roof was completed and then the whole thing shot back out of the hill fully completed negating the need for scaffolding, hence saving a large number of workers from dying by plummeting earthwards from a great height, a very real danger in those days we are told.

 Haven for Witches
Moving forward a couple of hundred years, we come to the next and rather horrific legend of the Lysaya Gora (bald hill). During the Mongol invasion in the 13th century the people of the city hid in the caves of the hill which stands next to Andreyevski Uzviz in the hope of escaping slaughter, but they were betrayed and the invading army walled up the entrance to the caves leaving them to suffer a terrible death from starvation. The hill is now feared as a cursed place full of negative energy and is renowned for being the most popular place in Kyiv for people to commit suicide. It is also said that it is a favourite haunt of witches who gather there to perform rituals during pagan festivals. It is not known if these rituals include human sacrifice but we would recommend readers to steer clear of the place, especially during All Hallows’ Eve.

Ghost Town
Stories of haunted buildings are ten a penny in Kyiv, but one of the best is the architectural wonder, the Chimera building on Bankova vul designed by the renowned Polish architect Horodetsky. His daughter drowned in a tragic accident prior to the construction of the building, and so the heart-broken Horodetsky built it as a monument to her, and it is now said to be haunted by her spirit. Many people working there alone late at night have reported seeing the ghostly apparition of a very wet young lady, water oozing from her skin, wandering the corridors and moaning forlornly. On a slightly brighter note, apparently there is a crocodile hidden somewhere amongst all the magnificent sculptures adorning the outside of the building (see right) which can only be seen from a certain angle and even then can be very hard to spot. It is said that if you take the time to find it you can make a wish. This mini-myth doesn’t say anything about your wish being granted, but it you happen to be passing with a spare five minutes it can’t hurt to give it a go.

Painting the Town Red
Finally we come to my favourite myth of all, the one about the building that I now refer to as ‘the scary red university’. Everyone, even a passing visitor, will know the main building of the Shevchenko University and its garish red exterior, which is not the lingering symbol of communism many people might think it to be. In fact throughout its existence the building has, apparently, been painted in other colours, but after a little while the red starts to seep through and within a few months it has returned, all by itself, to the hue we all know and love. There have been attempts to rationalise this strange phenomenon scientifically, such as saying that it is the result of the specific chemical compound of the red paint, but all such attempts fall far short of explaining this happening with any conviction. As for supernatural explanations, we were unable to find any but if any readers can enlighten us we would be very glad to hear from you.

 Neil Campbell