Golden Gate, Kiev “visit card”

Every big city has main places of interest that become its “visit card”, for Kiev it is the Golden Gate. What you can see now – it is the reconstruction made in 1982 when Kievans celebrated the 1500^th anniversary of the city foundation. It was a huge project though many specialists strongly criticized this idea because there was no formal evidence to suggest clearly what the gate may have looked like. The original remnants of the Gate walls now are hidden under a pavilion imitating the ancient structure. The Gate was constructed in 1017 -1037 during the reign of Great Kiev Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukr.-Yaroslav Mydryi). It was incorporated into the earthwork fortification that encircled the City of Yaroslav the Wise. The natural landscape could not be used for the defense of Kiev that is why high ramparts were raised in more flat southern, northern and western areas of the city.  The ramparts were topped with wooden walls, the length was 3,5 km  and the height up to 16 meters. The site of the main entrance to the city was chosen in the Sothern-Western direction, and it was the only one gate that was made in Byzantine technique of «opus mixtum» - mixture of stones and bricks, all others gates was wooden. This Gate was the biggest and the highest, it was surmounted by a small church of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the interior of the church was ornamented with frescoes, ceramics and woodcarvings. The Gate delighted and impressed the contemporaries with its grandeur and beauty and terrified the enemies with its impregnability. And, really, nomadic tribes could never take it by assault, and even Batu-Khan didn't manage to enter the city through the gate, in 1240 he stormed a less fortified city entrance and destroyed the Golden Gate from inside.

Jerusalem date in Ukraine?

The origin of the gate's name “Golden” is unknown, there are many legends and hypothesis, but the scientists prefer this one: Prince Yaroslav was very ambitious, giving this name he wanted to emphasize the analogy with the main entrance to Constantinople. There in its turn the name was brought from Jerusalem. The ceremonial entrance to the ancient Jewish capital was known as the Golden Gate. The tradition of calling the main entrance to city as “golden gate” was introduced in order to stress the continuity of the Christianity. The street that connected the Gate with the town of Prince Vladimir  was the main street of  the city in the 11^th-13^th cc. Being partly destroyed in the 13^th c. the gate continued to perform the role of the main triumphal entrance to Kiev. Honourable guests, foreign Ambassadors and delegations were welcomed near this gate in the 14^th-18^th cc. Time was merciless to the Gate and by  the end of the 18^th century there were ruins only. It was decided to fill up the ruins with soil. In 1832 during the demolition of city walls remains the ruins of Golden Gate were unearthed, and the archaeological research was started.  The Gate has a small museum where one can learn more about Old Russian style of the architectural design and the way the ancient fortification was constructed. Concerts and dramatic performances are conducted in the doorway too.