Kyiv - Ukraine - page 96

( http://pirogovo.org.ua ; vul Chervonopraporna 1; adult/child 30/15uah; grounds 10am-9.30pm,
village houses till 6pm) Ukraine is dotted with 'open-air' museums like this, full of life-size
models of different rustic buildings. However, the Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architec-
ture, 12km south of Kyiv, is one of the most fun and best maintained.
Two things make it stand out. Firstly, the quaint 17th- to 20th-century wooden
churches, cottages, farmsteads and windmills are divided into seven 'villages' represent-
ing regional areas of Ukraine. So in just one long afternoon you can journey from the ar-
chitecture of eastern to western to southern Ukraine.
Secondly, in summer workers enact different village roles, carving wood, making pot-
tery, doing embroidery, and driving horses and carts. There are restaurants, pubs and
stalls selling barbecued shashlyk (shish kebab). The place is perfect for kids.
Throughout the year Pyrohovo hosts various festivals - the biggest is during the coun-
trywide Ivan Kupala festival. Ukrainian musicians play on weekends.
The museum is near Pyrohovo village. From Vystavkovy Tsentr metro station take
marshrutka 172, which stops right by the entrance. Marshrutky 3 and 156, as well as trol-
leybus 11, stop at the turn-off to the museum. A taxi will cost about 100uah one way.
Babyn Yar MONUMENT
( Dorohozhychi) On 29 September 1941, Nazi troops rounded up Kyiv's 34,000-strong
Jewish population, marched them to the Babyn Yar ravine and massacred them all in the
following 48 hours. Victims were shot and buried in the ravine, some of them still alive.
Over the next two years, many more people of all ethnic, religious and political back-
grounds lost their lives at Babyn Yar when it was turned into a concentration camp,
called Syrets after the Kyivan suburb it was located. The total number of people buried
here is estimated at 100,000.
Monuments commemorating various groups targeted by the Nazis - among them Rus-
sian Orthodox priests, Ukrainian nationalists, Romany people - are scatterred around the
unkempt park. Follow the path from vul Melnykova 44, past a TV station, to the se-
cluded spot where you'll find the 1991 Jewish memorial, a menorah, which better marks
the actual killing field. From here several paths lead to points overlooking the ravine it-
self.
South of Dorohozhychi metro stands a striking non-sectarian Soviet-era monument
comprised of choking figures as if struggling to climb out of their grave. Because of anti-
Semitism and their own atrocities, it took decades for the Soviets to recognise the Babin
Yar tragedy - the monument was only erected in 1976.