The Ukrainian capital has the shortest and widest main street in Europe. Kyiv’s Khreshchatyk is 1.3 kilometres long and connects the European and Bessarabska Squares. Its construction started only in the 19th century, and before that, it had been a wooded marshland called Khreshchatyi Yar. Hence the name. Later, the first theatre in Kyiv, a skyscraper, and the first electric tram in the Russian Empire, being the second in Europe, were build here.
Most of the buildings of modern Khreshchatyk were constructed in Stalin’s Empire style as part of the post-war reconstruction of the centre of the capital of the Ukrainian SSR. Among the notable buildings on Khreshchatyk Street is the Ukrainian House, Druzhba cinema (the building with a star crowning it), the Central Department Store, Kyiv City State Administration, the Kyiv Passage and others. Parades, manifestations and rallies, as well as outdoor entertainment events often take place in Khreshchatyk.