Subscribe to download
The Golden Gate of Kyiv, Ukraine

The Golden Gate of Kyiv was the main gate in the 11th century fortifications of Kiev, the capital of Kievan Rus'. It was named in imitation of the Golden Gate of Constantinople. The structure was dismantled in the Middle Ages, leaving few vestiges of its existence. It was rebuilt completely by the Soviet authorities in 1982, though no images of the original gates have survived. The decision has been immensely controversial because there were many competing reconstructions of what the original gate might have looked like. The rebuilt structure on the corner of Volodymyr street and Yaroslaviv Val Street contains a branch of the National Sanctuary "Sophia of Kyiv" museum. The name Zoloti Vorota is also used for a nearby theater and the Zoloti Vorota station of the Kyiv Metro. Modern history accepts this gateway as one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise. The golden gates were built in 1017-1024 at about the same time the Saint Sophia Cathedral was erected. Mentions of an older construction, such as the one presented on a painting by Jan Matejko of king Bolesław I of Poland striking the Golden Gate with his sword during the intervention in the Kyivan succession crisis in 1018, it is now regarded a legend. Originally named simply the Southern Gate, it was one of the three main entrances to the walled city, along with the Ladski and Zhydivski (Polish and Jewish) Gates. The last two have not survived. The stone fortifications stretched for only 3.5 km. The fortification of the Old Kyiv (Upper City) stretched from the Southern Gates down to what is now Independence Square and where the Lechitic Gate[3] was located. From there, the moat followed what is now Kostyol Street, skirting St. Michael's Monastery and continuing along today's Zhytomyr Street toward the Jewish Gates (at Lviv Square). From there, the fortification stretched what is now Yaroslaviv Val Street back to the Southern Gate.