Київ (Kyyiv)

Київ (Kyyiv)¹, formerly Києв (Kiev), is located on both banks of the Dnipro (Dnieper) River in north central Ukrayina (Ukraine); the older part is on the west (right) bank. It has nearly three million residents.² The tallest building is the Klovski Descent 7A, a residential tower.³ More famous is Saint Sophia Cathedral and the related Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Cave Monastery) Complex. The latter includes the 12th century Trinity Church, the All Saints Church at the Near Caves and the Church of the Conception of St. Anna at the Far Caves. From the last century is the Bat'kivschina-Mati (Mother of the Fatherland) Monument, a column surmounted by a 62 meter stature. (The statue's sword was cut off to make the monument's height shorter than the cathedral.) It is part of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.

The city rose to prominence in the ninth century, was destroyed by the Mongols in 1240 and was partly rebuilt. It was Lithuanian in the 14th century, was mostly destroyed by the Crimean Tatars in the 15th century, was part of the 16th to 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and became Russian in 1667. In 1991 it became the capital of independent Україна (Ukrayina).

External references

St. Sophia Cathedral, Kyyiv from above (golden spires, green bases); modern buildings in background

Historical maps

Footnotes

1. Also transliterated as Kyjiv or Kyiv; in Russian: Киев (Kiev); in Polish: Kijow. I do not know what the Lithuanian name for it was. The Ukrainian written form did not exist before the 18th century, although the alternate pronunication is centuries older.
2. World-gazetteer.com, accessed 8/2/2012.
3. Emporis.com, accessed 9/21/2012.
4. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of World's Largest Cities".
5. The state of Rus' had disintegrated by 1100, although it briefly revived in the early 12th century.
6. Chandler, ibid., Cities of Europe, 1200."
7. Києв (Kiev) was a client state of Vladimiro-Suzdal'skoye knyazhestvo (Vladimir-Suzdal Principality) at this time.
8. Rounded from world-gazeteer.com, 2001 census (city proper), accessed 11/10/2012.