| Kiev has a surface of 820 km2 and counts 2,6 million inhabitants. The city extends over 42 km from north to south and over 35 km from west to east. The " Mother of all the Russian cities ", Kiev " the Majestic ", the " City of gardens " is the cradle of one of the most oldest world civilizations, those of the Slavic orthodox. According to the monk Nestor (c. 1056-c.1114), the author of the earliest East Slavic chronicle, often translated into English as "Tale of Bygone years", compiled about 1113, Kiev would have been built in the 5th century on two hills overhanging the right bank of the Dnieper by Kyi, prince of the Polian tribes, his two brothers and sister Chtchek, Khoryv and Lybed. Kyi gave his name to the city, both brothers, their names to each of both hills " Chtchekavitsa and Khorevytsya " and Lybed gave her name to a tributary of the Dnieper. The advantageous situation of Kiev in the crossroads of the commercial ways contributed that it quickly becomes a powerful economic, cultural and political centre. But these times of magnificence and prosperity gave way to somber periods of absolute devastation, during the Mogolian and Tatar invasions, the Lithuanian and Polish domination, without forgetting the Nazi occupation and the terrible Soviet assimilation policy. Nevertheless, Kiev got up of its ruins each time more beautiful and stronger.
The history of Kiev, although fascinating to read, is even more when we contemplate its works of Art and its treasures of architecture. The cathedral Saint Sophie where were crowned all the princes of Kiev, its frescoes and mosaics dating back to the XIth century, the cathedral Saint Michel topped by its golden domes, the baroque church Saint Andrew who overhangs the old trading district of the Podil, the Petchersk Laura and its famous catacombs, numerous theaters... to name only a small part of it fabulous heritage. The city also honours through numerous monuments, the people who contributed to its history.
But all these magnificences do not make of Kiev a city-museum, it is a lively capital, carried away by regaining its freedom. All you need is to walk on the Krechtchatik boulevard or along the streets in the shade of the chesnut trees to realize it. Kiev is totally turned to a promising future but looks after its past. It drifts something in the air which makes the girls and the boys beautiful and that we feel happy there. Simply.
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