I am a Romantic

I am quite old, so trust me, I know what I’m talking about.

A multitude of meetings happened on my streets, I witnessed lots of love confessions and proposals, it is my romantic nature that inspired the creation of new music, paintings and arts in general. Well then, I’ll tell you something and you promise me that soon you’ll visit me and walk the streets from my story and rest assured, you’re going to like it. So listen…

There’s this street I have, it’s called Kostolna Street, and I really love it. It’s situated in the very centre and it's one of those famous fan-shaped streets that lead off from Independence Square. You can easily find it if you stand in front of my patron saint Archangel Michael to your right you’ll have Kostolna Street. A monument of two streetlights in love sitting together on a bench will guide you in the right direction. Kostolna is wonderful, it swiftly goes down like a stormy river and then rises steeply (depending on what side you are coming from). This street is relatively young, it appeared at the beginning of 19th century and its length is only 270 meters, only two of the houses located there aren’t architectural landmarks, so the level of  beauty and history per square meter here is overwhelming.

   In one of the houses on this street a composer by the name of Ihor Naumovych Shamo lived and created incredible music. He was, by the way, the author of the official anthem in my honour. “Yak tebe ne lyubyty, Kyieve miy!” (“How can I not love you, my Kyiv?”) - ever heard of it? You probably have, because this 1962 song was translated into various languages including Japanese, Chinese and Hebrew. The creation of this, dare I say, hit song is connected to a very romantic story.

Ihor Shamo wrote the music for this song in one night, but the creation of lyrics by the poet Dmytro Lutsenko took a month. As Dmytro Omelyanovych himself said, he lacked words to describe my beauty, having written lyrics to the line “de kolyshutsya vity zakokhanykh mriy” (“where the branches of love dreams sway”) his inspiration left him. One day Ihor Naymovych invited him for a walk and my streets helped him to find the right words. Passing by a young couple they overheard a boy looking lovingly at a girl and saying: “How can I not love you?..”. The song was finished that very evening. When you’ll walk this street, listen closely and an easy breeze will for sure sing the famous tune to you.

   I will unveil another little mystery about Kostolna, if you have a problem that is hard to solve  – go ahead, walk this street and you will definitely find a right solution. Most of Kyivans tend to believe that the ghosts of scientists, former residents of the house No. 15 with an eloquent name “Naukovets” (“Scientist”) help to deal only with scientific problems, but you can believe me when I say that each puzzle finds its solution, especially the amorous affairs. But let’s talk about mystics in another chapter called “I am a mystic”. Going up the Kostolna Street you will get to Volodymyrska Hirka. the view there is spectacular! A great deal of love confessions and marriage proposals happened here, it’s impossible to count how many.

By the way, 19th century Kyiv doctors considered that the air here had healing properties. Maybe that is why Ivan Semenovych Nechuy-Levytsky had a regular habit of going for a walk here, regardless of the season. In the 12th century St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in honour of Archangel Michael was built nearby. It has become the first golden-domed monastery in Kyivan Rus. You can find a wishing well on its territory, come and make your wish and see for yourself that everything comes true. This monastery once kept the sacred relics of Saint Barbara, considered to be miraculous since they repeatedly saved city residents from plague. A tradition existed, when after meeting me people would bring souvenirs and one of the most beloved of souvenirs were St. Barbara rings. To visit the relics today one has to go to St. Volodymyr's Cathedral.

Once, approximately in 1744 the Russian Empress Yelisaveta Petrivna visited me with her favorite Oleksa Rosum and was so astonished by my beauty that she ordered to build a church on one of the hills in honour of Saint Andrew the Apostle, who preached here in 1st century AD. This church still stands there and is one of my most romantic and recognizable places.

If you dream of a successful marriage definitely go there, because at the bottom of St.Andrew`s Church you’ll meet a colourful couple – Svyryd Petrovych Holokhvastov and Pronia Prokopivna. Legend has it that if you want to be happily married you should rub one of miss Sirko heels, and to have money in the family – pay attention to a stag beetle on barber’s buttocks. The stairs between the monument to this odious couple and St.Andrew`s Church will bring you to the painters avenue. The well-equipped terrace offers an extraordinary view of Podil, the Dnipro and the left bank, and if you look to the left you will see Kokorivska gazebo - a place beloved by almost all lovers who were here.

My dear guest, I’ve only just started telling you about my places and stories, so open other chapters and let’s get to know each other better.

Sincerely yours, Kyiv.