Bohdan Khmelnytsky Monument

You'll find him on the square in front of St Sophia's Cathedral, on a mound, on a horse. The Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument dates from 1888, which makes it one of the oldest in Kyiv, and it's become one of the symbols of the city.

It's a good spot for photographs because of what's behind it rather than the statue itself. Stand in the right place and you'll get St Michael's and St Sophia in the same frame.

The architect V. Nikolaev and the sculptor M. Mikeshin originally planned a group of smaller sculptures around the main figure, but ran out of money and settled for the horseman alone. The pedestal is made from granite boulders salvaged from the old Chain Bridge.

Who He Was, and Why He's Here

Khmelnytsky was a Cossack who led a rebellion against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and he's remembered as a national hero and a founder of Ukraine. The monument went up while Kyiv was one of the major cities of the Russian Empire, during the celebrations for the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Volodymyr the Great.

He was very nearly somewhere else entirely. The original plan put him on Bessarabian Square, which is why the square nearby carried his name from 1869 to 1881, but the Crimean War delayed construction long enough for the site to change.

Come in December if you can. The square around the monument turns into the city's main Christmas market, which is the busiest and the best you'll see it.