Askold's Grave () is a historical

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

on the steep right bank of the Dnipro River in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

between Mariinskyi Park and the

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyievo-Pecherska Lavra (), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic lavra or large monastery of Eastern Christianity that gave its name to the Pecherskyi District where it is located in Kyiv. Sin ...

complex. The park was created by the Soviets in the mid-1930s in place of an old graveyard around the Church of St. Nicholas, which, as the story goes, marks the place where Prince

Askold Askold and Dir (''Haskuldr'' or ''Hǫskuldr'' and ''Dyr'' or ''Djur'' in Old Norse; died in 882), mentioned in both the ''Primary Chronicle'', the ''Novgorod First Chronicle'', and the ''Nikon Chronicle'', were the earliest known rulers of Kyiv, ...

of Kyiv was buried in the 9th century. In the Middle Ages, Askold's Grave was known as the Hungarian tract (). According to the

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

, it was the place where the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

crossed the Dnipro on the way from the Russian steppes to

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

. Archeological excavations have revealed a 9th-century

dirham The dirham, dirhem or drahm is a unit of currency and of mass. It is the name of the currencies of Moroccan dirham, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates dirham, United Arab Emirates and Armenian dram, Armenia, and is the name of a currency subdivisi ...

hoard and some remains of Izyaslav II's wooden palace. There's a modern

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

commemorating the Magyar migration. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Askold's Grave was settled by the Orthodox monks of St. Nicholas's Monastery. Hetman Mazepa had the monastery moved to a nearby hill, where a new Baroque penticupolar cathedral was then erected. The existing church of St. Nicholas is a modest Neoclassical rotunda designed by Andrey Melensky in 1810. A golden-domed chapel was built on the bank of the Dnipro in 2000. The

Ukrainian Baroque Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an style (visual arts), artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and Europea ...

revival chapel is dedicated to Saint Andrew Protokletos and belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.Temple of Saint Andrew Protokletos
Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Points of interest

* Monument of Architecture " St. Nicholas Church" * National Monument of Archaeology "Uhorske village" * Chapels: St. Andrew, Exaltation of Cross * Memorial burial (rebuilt, partially): Memorial to Holodomor victims, Memorial to Heroes of the

Battle of Kruty The Battle of Kruty () took place on January 29 or 30, 1918, near Kruty railway station (today the village of Pamiatne, Nizhyn Raion, Chernihiv Oblast), about northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, which at the time was part of Nizhyn Povit of Chern ...

* Monument to Saint Andrew the First-Called

Lost landmarks

* Priest's House * Bell tower * St. Nicholas Hermitage * Necropolis (original)

Opera

The Opera Askold's grave composed by Russian composer Alexey Verstovsky and premiered in 1835, tells the story of how Askold and Dir happen to be buried in Askold's grave by Olga of Kyiv.

Gallery

File:Askold's Grave by Vasily Sternberg, 1837.jpg, ''Askold's Grave'', a painting of Vasily Shternberg (1837) File:Аскольдова могила.jpg, St.Nicholas Church sketch by

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

(1846) File:Аскольдова Могила Київ 1911.jpg, St.Nicholas Church (1911, photo) File:Церква святого Миколая (Аскольдова могила), Паркова дорога.JPG, St.Nicholas Church (2009, photo) File:Аскольдова могила. Хрестовоздвиженська каплиця.jpg, Chapel of Exaltation of Cross File:Аскольдова могила - пам'ятник Андрія Первозваного.JPG, Monument to Saint Andrew the First-Called File:Сторична місцевість-парк Аскольдова могила,.JPG, Sculpture of Blessed Virgin Mary File:Аскольдова могила 2.jpg, Askold's Tomb File:Kiev - chapel.jpg, St.Andrew's Chapel File:Holodomor Genocide Memorial Kyiv.JPG, Memorial to

Holodomor The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...

victims with

in the background File:Хрест_на_могилі_Героїв_Крут_Аскольдова_Могила,_Київ.jpg, Heroes of the Battle of Kruty memorial File:Історична_місцевість-парк_Аскольдова_могила.JPG, Modern stela commemorating the migration of Magyar tribes File:Kyiv Ugorske SAM 1651 80-382-0009.jpg, Official placard identifying the National Landmark of Archaeology Uhorske village File:Аскольдова могила, Печерський район, Паркова дорога.jpg, Flight of steps down to

Dnipro Dnipro 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 River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

from St. Nicholas Church File:Askold Grave Park.JPG, One of the Park's trails File:Аскольдова могила 01.JPG, Traffic at the entrance (off Parkova Doroha, 2014) File:Миколаївська церква на Аскольдовій могили. 1809 р.jpg, Winter 2013

References

External links

{{Authority control Cemeteries in Kyiv Parks in Kyiv Landmarks in Kyiv National Landmarks in Kyiv Tourist attractions in Kyiv Pecherskyi District Monuments and memorials in Ukraine