The Mezhyhirya Residence ( uk, Межигір'я, Mezhyhiria, , russian: Межигорье, Mezhigor'ye) is an estate in

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 ...

where

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

lived when he was

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and then

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

and is now a museum displaying Yanukovych's luxurious lifestyle.Ukraine: Former President Viktor Yanukovych's Palatial Residence in Mezhyhirya Opens as Museum
International Business Times (November 17, 2014)Янукович заявляет, что он – законный владелец резиденции «Межгорье» ''Yanukovych said that he – the rightful owner of the residence Mezhyhirya''

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(7 August 2009) Yanukovych lived in the estate from 2002, when he first became Prime Minister, to 21 February 2014, when he fled the country during the

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

.Leshchenko, S.
Life of the state elite: freebie apartment for Viktor Yanukovych
'.

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

. December 29, 2009 The estate was founded as a monastery that functioned off-and-on until closed in 1923 by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

following the establishment of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. From 1935 Mezhyhirya was a state government residence, first under the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and then under an independent Ukraine, until 2007 when it was privatized in the final weeks of Yanukovych’s leadership as Prime Minister. This privatization has been alleged as having been illegal, with no money being reported as being paid to the state for its sale. In 2012, the State Administration of Affairs rented a space from Tantalit for ₴99,691 per year, arranging it for official receptions.Leshchenko, S.
Viktor Yanukovych: We building new country. Within Mezhyhirya
'.

. April 7, 2010. Accessed February 15, 2014 In 2014, it returned to state ownership. The estate is over and is situated on the banks of the

Dnieper river } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

(

Kyiv Reservoir The Kyiv Cistern ( uk, Київське водосховище, translit=Kyyivs’ke vodoskhovyshche), locally the Kyiv Sea, is a large water reservoir located on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. Named after the city of Kyiv, which lies to the sou ...

)Ukraine elections marked by curses, threats and brutality

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

(26 October 2012) in the village of Novi Petrivtsi,

Vyshhorod Raion Vyshhorod Raion () is a raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Vyshhorod. It has a population of On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast ...

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast ( uk, Ки́ївська о́бласть, translit=Kyïvska oblast), also called Kyivshchyna ( uk, Ки́ївщина), is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, w ...

. There is a yacht pier, an equestrian club, a shooting range, a tennis court and other recreational facilities as well as hunting grounds. The estate also has an automobile museum displaying some of Yanukovych’s former exotic cars, a golf course, an ostrich farm, a dog kennel, numerous fountains and man-made lakes, a helicopter pad, and a small church. The entire complex is enclosed by a five-meter tall fence along the perimeter. During Yanukovych’s presidency, the estate became a controversial symbol of the increasingly authoritarian nature of his rule, as well as a symbol of the excess and corruption that defined his government and Ukrainian bureaucracy. Throughout his presidency, independently-aligned Ukrainian media, such as the Internet newspaper ''

,'' frequently detailed the excess reported at the complex, resulting in unspoken competition amongst journalists to detail the residence’s excess. ''Ukrayinska Pravda'' would spent over three years investigating reports of excess and misappropriation of public funds at the complex, with the newspaper publishing a number of documents that confirmed a link between organizations-tenants acting on behalf of Yanukovych, family members of Yanukovych and his entourage. Details of the residence’s excesses, such as the cost of its chandeliers, shocked and angered Ukrainians during Yanukovych’s presidency, with many rumours about the complex circulating throughout Ukraine in the early 2010s. During Euromaidan in 2013-2014, protesters descended on the complex, especially in December 2013, to protest against Yanukovych’s government. Protests at Mezhyhirya were also motivated by the belief held by the protestors that the complex was funded “improperly”, and also by an attack on 25 December 2013 on the journalist

Tetiana Chornovol Tetiana Mykolayivna Chornovol ( uk, Тетя́на Микола́ївна Чорново́л; born 4 June 1979 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian journalist and civic activist, and one of the leaders in the Euromaidan protest ...

, who had been investigating the financing of the Mezhyhirya residence, and was attacked after unknown men in a jeep crashed into her car. The social movement Automaidan would organise many of the protests at Mezhyhirya, which would result in many of the movement’s vehicles being recorded by the police on a list. Many cars from the list would be burned, and owners of others would lose their driver’s licenses. The controversial nature of the complex has persisted since Yanukovych’s ousting, with some Ukrainians refusing to visit it because it is connected to the former president of Ukraine and provokes negative emotions, though others have used it for their wedding photoshoots. In 2010, Yanukovych claimed the lease of in Mezhyhirya cost ₴314 per month (2010) which was about $39.57 according to the exchange rate at the time. Another luxurious residence was under construction near Cape Aya in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

at the time Yanukovych was ousted from office. The residence was popularly known as “Mezhyhirya 2”.

History

Until April 10, 1786, the space now occupied by the modern residence was inhabited by the Savior-Transfiguration Monastery, the establishment of which is attributed prior to the period of princely epoch in

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

, which was liquidated by the Russian Imperial edict of Catherine the Great. A year later, the monastery was set on fire, supposedly on the order of the same Catherine the Great. Ukrainian poet

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...

wrote about the incident: "As tsaritsa with Nechesa walked around Kyiv and the Mezhyhirya Savior she set on fire at night". At the end of the 19th century the monastery was restored as a female monastery called "Intercession of the Saints", but in 1923 was once again closed by the

. During 1923–1931 the monastery building was used by as a college for ceramic production. Former cells of the monastery became occupied by a commune of artists- monumentalists. In 1931 the college was moved to

. At the same year the iconostasis of the Savior-Transfiguration Monastery was destroyed. Mezhyhirya is also the former summer house of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's leaders since 1935. During the occupation by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, it was a residence of the Reich Commissar Erich Koch in a palace of the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exis ...

commander

Iona Yakir Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (russian: Ио́на Эммануи́лович Яки́р; 3 August 1896 – 12 June 1937) was a Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II. He was an ear ...

. Before its privatization by the

(at that time

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...

), the residence belonged to the State recreation complex Pushcha Vodytsia.

Transformation into private property

Stepping into the post of

in 2002,

received free of charge building #20 with an area in the residence from the Fund of State Property. On April 1, 2003 Viktor Yanukovych rented building #20 and of land through the mediation of Donetsk Charity Fund "Revival of Ukraine". By the agreement, the rental price was ₴3.14 per month for a period of 49 years for the purpose "implementation of measures for the promotion of national and international programs aimed at improving the socio-economic status". Stepping out of the post of

in 2005, Yanukovych received another building, #20-a. In 2009 Yanukovych claimed to have full ownership. He has not revealed the price he paid for the property, instead calling it a "very serious price".

Viktor Yanukovych chose it as his residence after he won the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election. This ownership was contested. Serhiy Leshchenko, of ''

'', has claimed Yanukovych owned more of the estate than he claimed, and that he managed to do so through a complex ownership structure via a network of international holding companies that ultimately comes back to a firm called Tantalit, run by a lawyer close to the Yanukovych family, Pavlo Lytovchenko. The estate's level of luxury and the reconstruction of a road to it spawned controversy within Ukraine.Yanukovych's smooth ride to Mezhyhirya mansion

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden. History American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...

(19 August 2010)

Transformation into museum

On 21 February 2014 Yanukovych fled Kyiv, and the police units that had guarded the residence during Euromaidan withdrew, with some guards reported to have escaped and protesters were able to enter it.Ukraine Leader Was Defeated Even Before He Was Ousted

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

(3 January 2015) Before protestors entered, little had previously been known about the president’s home as Yanukovych had been relatively successful in keeping his private life away from the Ukrainian media. Following that, thousands of Ukrainians went to visit the luxurious estate and park for free, with some nicknaming the complex "Yanukdisneyland" (a portmanteau of “Yanukovych” and “

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

”). Activists of Automaidan took care of the residence from the moment it was abandoned by security forces and turned it into a public park. Since then, an employee of Kyiv Zoo has been taking care of the animals and birds at the residence. Some protestors stated that the capture of Mezhyhirya was “the main symbol of our revolution uromaidan our

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

”. On 23 February 2014 the Ukrainian parliament, the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

, adopted a resolution to transfer Mezhyhirya as a recreational complex of

Pushcha-Vodytsia Pushcha-Vodytsia (also Pushcha-Voditsa, uk, Пуща-Водиця; russian: Пуща-Водица) is a historic neighbourhood, climate resort and an urban-type settlement (1981-2001) in the northwestern part of Kyiv ( Obolon Raion). Located wi ...

to state ownership, within ten days. However this did not happen because of conflicts over control of the complex that emerged amongst some protestors and pro-European businessmen, as well as the legal confusion surrounding ownership of the estate. Looters and vandals were kept away from the complex by the former businessman and now groundskeeper of the site Denys Tarachkotelyk and his supporters, a group of protestors from the Maidan. Tarachkotelyk arrived at Mezhyhirya on the morning after Yanukovych fled and managed to outmaneuver rival factions to gain control of the entire property. The property returned to state ownership via court action on 25 June 2014. Since mid-November 2014 Mezhyhirya has been a museum which the public can visit, though the number of visitors has fallen sharply since February of 2014, when hundreds of thousands visited. 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. ...

Mezhyhirya became a shelter for the residents of nearby villages.Two bombs have hit Mezhyhiria, where neighbouring village residents find refuge

(11 March 2022) According to Mezhyhirya groundskeeper Denys Tarakhkotelyk the complex was hit by Russian air strikes and bombardments. Mezhyhirya featured in the political satire ''

Servant of the People Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previousl ...

.'' In the series, the location was used for the inauguration of the President, who was played by

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

. In 2019 Ukrainian voters elected Zelensky as President of Ukraine.

Former owners (2009–2014)

* Tantalit, LLC (“TOB”) ( uk, "Танталіт",

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: “Танталит”) * Charitable Fund "Revival of Ukraine" ( uk, Благодійний фонд "Відродження України",

: Благотворительный фонд "Возрождение Украины")

Renters

Before the Revolution of Dignity, the State Administration of Affairs rented an office in the residence.

Security services

* Berkut,

State Security Administration The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...

(UDO) – security * State Auto Inspection – road blocks, traffic restrictions *

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They ...

(An anti-air mobile fire team of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was deployed on a breakwater in the

in December 2012.) In November 2011 "UkrAeroRukh" made Yanukovych's part of the Mezhyhirya residence a

no-fly zone A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's te ...

Featuring objects

Club house (Honka)

The main feature of the residence is the so-called "club house", also known as "object Honka" (after the Finnish log home manufacturer Honka).Leshchenko, S.
Secrets of Mezhyhirya. New luxury of Yanukovych
'.

. June 8, 2011. Accessed February 15, 2014 The building is located on territory belonging to the charitable fund "Revival of Ukraine". During 2009 and the first half of 2010, materials worth ₴76 million ($9.5 million) were delivered, for renovation of the house. In 2010, speaking before the German public in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

actually refuted his previous statements that he had nothing other than his house on the territory of "Mezhyhirya". Speaking that in his personal life he prefers "German quality", he noted: "It's no big secret to anyone... I built one such house, a club house... It was built by "Honka", a Finnish company..." After he fled the country during the

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

, Honka was squatted in by activists.

Barge

According to ''

'', a reception house was designed for Viktor Yanukovych in 2011, based on a barge that was brought to Mezhyhirya and moored in the inner harbor (). Officially, it is registered to the company Tantalit.Leshchenko, S.
Inside of Mezhyhirya. First photos of unheard luxury
'.

. April 6, 2012. Accessed February 15, 2014 The length of the "palace on the water" is around . The windows are decorated as round portholes. As reported by ''Ukrayinska Pravda'', the barge has a personal office and a hall for receptions. The "palace" is decorated with wood of valuable species, gold leaf, marble and crystal. In the niche of the ceiling of the main hall, there are three chandeliers, the price of one of which was estimated by ''Ukrayinska Pravda'' at $97,000.

Books

A journalist at ''Ukrayinska Pravda'' found various "ancient treasures of

Ukrainian literature Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...

" in the residence on 25 February 2014, including the alleged first printed book in Ukraine (dating from 1654) by Ivan Fyodorov.

Photo gallery

Honka club house

File:Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, "Honka" club house File:Honka in Mezhyhirya, side view.jpg, "Honka", side view File:Balcony of Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Honka's balcony, close up File:Stairs on the side of Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Side stairs (Honka) File:View from aside of Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Park surrounding Honka File:View from Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Gazebo near Honka File:On the way to Honka in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Park area walkways File:Lake in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Main lake with "Honka" in background

Other features

File:Barge in Mezhyhirya.jpg, "Galleon" barge File:Guest house in Mezhyhirya.jpg, Guest house

Panoramic photos of Mezhyhirya

A group of photographers made a series of 360° panoramic photos outside and inside the buildings in Mezhyhirya on 11 March 2014, available on the Web site of the German news magazine '' Der Spiegel''.

References

External links

* Open Access – a movie on corruption in modern Ukraine, including the episode where the

refuses any explanations about Mezhyhirya. **
Open Access
' (full video with English subtitles,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

) * Leshchenko, S. ''Mezhyhirya: Paradise for Yanukovych
Part IPart II
''. "

", 2010
Mezhyhirya. Day of Journalist (2013)
Telekritika. * Chernovol, T.

'. Levyi bereg. August 31, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mezhyhirya Residence Official residences in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Kyiv Oblast Official residences in the Soviet Union Political scandals in Ukraine Museums in Kyiv Oblast Viktor Yanukovych