Golden Gate (Kiev) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Golden Gates of Kiev is a major landmark of the Ancient Kiev and historic gateway in the ancient city fortress, located in the capital of Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Currently it serves as a museum and can be found on the corner of Volodymyr street and Yaroslaviv Val Street (Yaroslav's Moat). The name Zoloti Vorota is also used for a nearby theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

and a station of the Kiev Metro

Kiev Metro

The Kiev Metro is a metro system that is the mainstay of Kiev's public transport. It was the first rapid transit system in Ukraine and the third one built in the USSR . It now has three lines with a total length of 63.7 kilometres and 49 stations...

History

The modern history states that this gateway was one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise

Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...

, Grand Prince of Kiev, in 1037 (6545 by the Byzantine calendar

Byzantine calendar

The Byzantine calendar, also "Creation Era of Constantinople," or "Era of the World" was the calendar used by the Eastern Orthodox Church from c. 691 to 1728 in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was also the official calendar of the Byzantine Empire from 988 to 1453, and in Russia from c...

) about when the Saint Sophia Cathedral

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first Ukrainian patrimony to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kiev Cave Monastery complex...

was erected. However some sources claim that the gates stood some time before that like for example the painting of Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko

Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...

where he depicts both Bolelaw Chrobry and Sviatopolk I entering the city during the Kiev succession crisis in 1018. This version currently is being considered as a legend. Originally named as simply the Southern gates they were one of the three main gates of the city fortification with other being called: Lyadski and Zhydivski (meaning Lechitic and Jewish). The last two gates did not manage to survive. The stone fortifications stretched for only 3.5 km (~2.5 mi). The fortification of the Higher City (Fortress) stretched from the Southern Gates towards where today is the Maidan

Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street...

and where the Lechitic Gates (Polish Gate, Lackie wrota) were located. Then the moat was rising along where the Kostiol Street and "hugging" the St. Michael's Monastery

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery is a functioning monastery in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The monastery is located on the right bank of the Dnieper River on the edge of a bluff northeast of the Saint Sophia Cathedral...

and ran along the today's Zhytomyr Street towards the Zydowski Gates (at Lviv Square). From there the fortification stretched along the Yaroslaviv Val Street back towards the Southern Gates.

Later the Southern gates began to be called as the Grand Gates before the construction of the golden-dome Blahovist Church (known as Church of the Annunciation) which was established in the close proximity to the gates and easily seen from the outside of the city. Since that time the gates were known as the Golden Gates of Kiev. The passing part of the gates was about 40 feet high and 20 feet wide. For almost half of millennium they served as the Triumph Arch of the city and were considered the major pride of the city's residents. It was reputedly modeled on the Golden Gate of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, from which it took its name. Later a similar name was given to the gates of Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...

city where one of the Monomakh's descendants, Andrei I Bogolyubsky, established his own state, Grand Duch of Vladimir. In 1240 it was partially destroyed by Batu Khan

Batu Khan

Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...

's Golden Horde

Golden Horde

The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

. It remained as a gate to the city (often used for ceremonies) through the eighteenth century, although it gradually fell into ruins.

In 1832 the ruins were excavated and an initial survey for their conservation was undertaken. Further works in the 1970s added an adjacent pavilion, housing a museum of the gate. In the museum one can learn about the history of construction of the Golden gate as well as ancient Kiev.

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. Some art historians called for this reconstruction to be demolished and for the ruins of the original gate to be exposed to public view.

In 1989 with the expansion of the Kiev Metro

Kiev Metro

, a station Zoloti Vorota

Zoloti Vorota (Kiev Metro)

Zoloti Vorota is one of the most famous stations on the Kiev Metro. Named after the Golden Gates historical structure, the station is arguabely one of the most stunning achievements in late Soviet architecture....

was opened nearby to serve the landmark. What makes it unique is that its architectural ensemble is very much based on the internal decorations of ancient Ruthenian churches

Architecture of Kievan Rus

The medieval state of Kievan Rus incorporated parts of what is now modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, and was centered around Kiev and Novgorod. Its architectural style quickly established itself after the adoption of Christianity in 988 and was strongly influenced by the Byzantine...

In 1997, the monument to Yaroslav the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise

was unveiled near the west end face of the Golden Gate. It is an enlarged bronze copy of an experimental figuring by Kavaleridze.

External links

Kiev Info - History of the gate
Golden Gate at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine oldkyiv.org.ua - History of the gate

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History

See also

External links