This old 1890's postcard picture on the left shows the rise of the land looking south from the lower river level. The St. Michael's and St Andrew's churches (shown left and right) will define our area. We began our walk on the upper level, behind both churches shown, at the Zoloti Vorota--the "Golden Gate" The photo on the right is how the former remains, excavated in 1832, were preserved into the 1970's. It was one of three southern gates in the fortification of the upper city constructed by Yaraslov in 1037, which also included a moat on another side. The walled city looking north is depicted in this illustration that we photographed inside the museum (unfortunately the camera flash distorts the picture).
After a golden-domed church was constructed inside the wall that could be seen as one approached this gate, it became known as the Golden Gate and was the triumph arch of the city which was used through the 18th century for ceremonies. In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev, although there is no solid evidence as to what the original gates looked like. This is what it looks like now:
JD and I toured there in November. "Zoloti Vorota" is also the name of the nearby Metro stop. I was excited because there is a selection from Mussorgsky's suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" that I have always loved, especially in the Ravel orchestral rendering. "The Great Gate of Kiev" is the finale and grand to listen to in an acoustic hall with full orchestra, huge brass sounds and all of the percussion section playing, especially the chimes, timpani and cymbals. So I thought I was looking at the gate that inspired the music. Actually, the picture was a proposal for a Kiev city gate which never was built. But I still think of the music every time we go to that place and it is a selection on my recently-acquired Mannheim Steamroller album "To Russia with Love".
As we walked north from this area we went along a high street where side streets dropped down to the former moat level. (Pavlina said this street was a favorite sledding place in winter days of her childhood.)
We came to the northern side of this upper hill and along the overlook of a ravine there is a pedestrian walkway with many imaginative artisitic benches and playgrounds. Here are several photos:
After a golden-domed church was constructed inside the wall that could be seen as one approached this gate, it became known as the Golden Gate and was the triumph arch of the city which was used through the 18th century for ceremonies. In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev, although there is no solid evidence as to what the original gates looked like. This is what it looks like now:
As we walked north from this area we went along a high street where side streets dropped down to the former moat level. (Pavlina said this street was a favorite sledding place in winter days of her childhood.)
We walked over to St. Andrew's Church. The location of the church is attributed to the place where the Apostle Saint Andrew arrived and erected a cross in the first century A.D., where he prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city in what was then a sparsely inhabited area. His prediction later became true: the city of Kyiv arose and became a center of the Eastern Orthodox faith. The church was built in the mid 1700's by a Russian empress who died before it's completion (same one who had the original Mariyinsky Palace built at the same time). It has no parish and has changed owners and been restored many times. It sits at the slopping end of "tithing street" (named for a church built before 1000 by Vladimir with his tithing which was later destroyed). Behind it an ancient road has been maintained heading down the Andriyivskyy descent.
There we passed the back side of the St. Michael's cathedral with it's golden domes to the front. We had toured this area previously.
