House of Chimeras

I have two tickets to the Rihanna concert.

St Michael monastery

young musicians on Khreschatyk, Kyiv's main boulevard

A Wealth Of Attractions—Without The Crowds

Kyiv offers a diverse array of attractions and activities for visitors; they are the same as for residents.  That is one of Kyiv's most appealing aspects; because Ukraine is devoid of the oozing masses of tourists engulfing other European capitals in northern summer, it is easy to mix with the locals, who have to be counted among the friendliest of Eastern Europeans. 

The city's openness is obvious in the new generation who sport piercings and wildly coloured hair just as their counterparts elsewhere do these days, yet Kyiv is also a devout place where ladies dressed in black flock to the many Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries for a bit of contemplation.  All walks of life are accepted more than would be imagined in this part of the world, where—relatively short periods aside—creativity and forward thinking have thrived for more than a thousand years in this, one of Europe's oldest capital cities.  All those beautiful imperial buildings we admire in such places as Prague and Vienna?  While not as numerous or as elaborate, those in Kyiv, too, reflect the city's former wealth in numerous 19th-century residential buildings whose details and scale rival those in the West.

19th-century buildings, though, are babies in a place where monasteries have existed for more than a millennium.  St Michael's monastery is a beautiful complex where Eastern Orthodox priests clad from head to toe in long black robes go about their business maintaining the physical and spiritual upkeep of this historic complex whose atmosphere pleases the senses with aromatic incense and superb interiors reminiscent of Aya Sofia in Istanbul, though on a smaller scale.  While St Sophia at the other end of her eponymous square is often very busy with visitors, St Michael offers a more meditative experience; its surrounding gardens offer many vantage points for enjoying views of its golden domes.  Located between these two bastions of history is the ultrafabulous Hyatt Regency Kyiv, a superb property whose splendid views of both sets of golden domes just steps away are as dazzling as the hotel itself.

Undoubtedly the most impressive nonreligious building in Kyiv is the monumental House of Chimeras, a grandiose private home facing the Presidential Palace, which surpasses it by far in size but not in style.  Though closed to the public, the House's main attraction in any case is its exterior, decorated with numerous phantasmagorical gargoyles to keep the beautifully carved rhinoceros and deer heads company on its walls.