[UKRAINE] Kiev - Andrew’s Descent

14:27 Travel Bunny 0 Comments

Andriyivsky Uzviz or in English, Andrew’s Descent is a historical street which links the administrative part of Upper Town Kiev to the historical commercial lower town, Podil. At the top of the street is St Andrew’s Church where the name of the street is derived from.

A famous statue at Andrew’s Descent.

St Andrew’s church was built in honor of Saint Andrew who erected a cross on the current location of the church during the 1st Century. Constructed from 1747 till 1754, St Andrew’s Church was ordered to be built by Russian Empress Elizabeth. As it was the Queen’s church, there will be no other worshippers, therefore a bell tower was not required to call the people to the church. However, Queen Elizabeth never attended the church as she died before the church was completed.

Regular church services were held in this church, but was closed since 2011 for restoration works. Cracks have appeared on the foundation and concerns that the church’s foundation might collapse. It wasn’t opened when I was at Andrew’s Descent due to on-going renovation works.

The 720 meters cobblestone street is steep and are dotted with many stalls selling arts and crafts as well as souvenirs. There are also few restaurants located here. The street were used many centuries ago but it was only in the 17th century where the first building were constructed.

St Andrew’s church as seen as I was descending the street.

Plenty of paintings sold here.

This is the statue of Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet, writer, artist and political figure.

Most of the buildings located here are however newly constructed. In 2012, buildings were torn down under the guise of reconstruction efforts.

We came back to Andrew’s Descent again on the next day and took the walk all the way down to Podil. I was looking for some Ukrainian souvenir and I thought the best place to find it would be here.

Handmade lacquered wooden box and painted plate seems to be a popular souvenir in Ukraine,

Vyshyvanka (Embroided shirt) sold at Andrew’s Descent.

At the end of the street is Lower Town, Podil which is located along the banks of Dnipro River. Centuries ago, here was Kiev’s main port. In 1881, a fire broke out and destroyed most of the buildings of Podil.

Passed by a Lviv Handmade Chocolate shop. It’s a famous chocolate shop in Ukraine.

I wanted to take funicular back to the Upper Town. The walk was longer than I expected and I had to ask for direction to know where the funicular station is.