The Monument to the Founders of Kyiv ( uk, Пам'ятний знак на честь заснування міста Києва, translit=Pamiatnyi znak na chest zasnuvannia mista Kyieva) is a statue located on the banks of the river

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

in ,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It was designed by sculptor Vasyl Borodai, and created to commemorate the

1500th anniversary of Kyiv The 1500th anniversary of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, was commemorated in 1982. Although archaeologists have found evidence that Kyiv was founded in either the 6th or 7th century, and the settlement may have been mentioned in documents more t ...

. The monument was constructed with

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

and covered in copper leaf. Completed in 1982, it partially collapsed in 2010, but was restored within a few months. The monument is considered a symbol of Kyiv.

Description

The monument depicts siblings Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv, and Lybid, the legendary founders of Kyiv. The four figures stand in a boat, with sister Lybid at the bow with her arms outstretched, while the three brothers are crowded together near the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

holding their weapons, two long thin spears and a bow. The boat rests atop a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

pedestal representing three waves, which itself lies on a platform of red granite. A

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

is located next to the monument, featuring coloured lights and jets of water up to high. Borodai based the face of Lybid on that of his daughter, , who died at the age of 31.

History

To commemorate the

, a number of construction projects were undertaken, including the building of

Ukrainian House The International Convention Center "Ukrainian House" ( uk, Український дім. Міжнародний конгрес-центр) is the largest international exhibition and convention center in Kyiv, Ukraine. Popularly referred to a ...

, the restoration of the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...

, and the raising of this monument to the city's founders. The monument was constructed with

and covered in copper leaf because the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee direct ...

ordered that nonferrous metals not be used due to financial considerations after the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. The statue received a favourable reception from Kyivans when it was inaugurated on . The monument collapsed partially in 2010, but was restored later that year. It was selected as the logo to represent the city during the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

football tournament, for which Kyiv was one of the hosts. In 2021, Navodnytskyi Park was renovated, and

Vitali Klitschko Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of Kyiv Mayor of Kyiv The Head of Kyiv City ( uk, Київський міський голова, translit=Kyivskyi miskyi holova), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv ( uk, Мер Києва, translit=Mer Kyieva), is a city official elected by popular ...

, opened a fountain next to the monument. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, it was amongst the city's monuments that were protected with sandbags or plywood.

Restoration

During the evening of , it was reported that the rear of the monument, including two of the figures, had collapsed. The weather had taken its toll on the sculpture, and the metal frame had completely rotted. The

Kyiv City State Administration Kyiv City State Administration ( uk, Київська міська державна адміністрація, translit=Kyivska miska derzhavna administratsiia), is the national-level branch of the Government of Ukraine that administers Kyiv, t ...

stated its intention to restore the monument, and at one point, an official of the administration reported that the monument would be replaced by a bronze copy of the original. Three months and five days after the collapse, on the afternoon of , Mayor

Leonid Chernovetskyi Leonid Mykhaylovych Chernovetskyi ( uk, Леонід Михайлович Черновецький; born November 25, 1951 in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) is a former Mayor of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, from 2006 until the summer of 2012. He w ...

inaugurated the restored monument in a solemn ceremony, in time for

Kyiv Day Kyiv Day, or officially the Day of Kyiv ( uk, День Києва), is a holiday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper Rive ...

. The middle of the monument had been reconstructed with waterproof concrete, and a drainage system was added. The restoration work had cost 400 million UAH, and the monument was then predicted to last for at least a century.

Monument in Maidan Nezalezhnosti

On , a different monument to the founders of Kyiv was inaugurated at

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti ( uk, Майдан Незалежності , literally "Independence Square") is the central square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchen ...

. Designed by sculptor , the monument in Maidan Nezalezhnosti also features Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv, and Lybid, but has a completely different composition.

Gallery

Notes

References

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Пам’ятник засновникам Києва тимчасово обшили металом для захисту (фото)
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''Kyiv Post'' Retrieved 30 November 2022

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Черновецкий открыл отремонтированный памятник «Хориву и их сестре Ще… Кию»
Obkom. (in Ukrainian) 1 August 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2022 {{Cite web , title = Пам'ятний знак на честь заснyвання міста Києва {{! Звід Історїї Памяток Києва , trans-title = , author = , work = pamyatky.kiev.ua , date = , access-date = 12 December 2022 , url = https://archive.today/20221127231304/https://pamyatky.kiev.ua/streets/nevodnitskiy-park/pamyatniy-znak-na-chest-zasnuvannya-mista-kiyeva , language = ru , quote = {{Cite web , title = Пам'ятник засновникам Києва {{! Звід Історїї Памяток Києва , trans-title = , author = , work = pamyatky.kiev.ua , date = , access-date = 12 December 2022 , url = https://archive.today/20221128043801/https://pamyatky.kiev.ua/streets/maydan-nezalezhnosti/pamyatnik-zasnovnikam-kiyeva , language = ru , quote = {{Cite web , title = Від пам’ятника засновникам Києва відвалилися Щек і Хорив. Фото , author = , work = Українська правда - Київ , date = , access-date = 12 December 2022 , url = https://archive.today/20120715153905/http://kiev.pravda.com.ua/news/4b84ec129a3d6/ , language = , quote = {{Cite web , title = Чиї обличчя зображені на столичних пам’ятниках? , trans-title = , author = , work = „Свобода“ , date = 27 July 2016 , access-date = 12 December 2022 , url = https://archive.today/20221127231258/http://svoboda-news.com/svwp/чиї-обличчя-зображені-на-столичних-п/ , language = uk , quote = 1500th anniversary of Kyiv 1982 establishments in Ukraine 1982 sculptures Concrete sculptures in Ukraine Monuments and memorials in Kyiv Outdoor sculptures in Ukraine Pecherskyi District Sculptures of men in Ukraine Sculptures of women in Ukraine Symbols of Kyiv uk:Пам'ятний знак на честь заснування міста Києва