"Museum Of One Street"

Andreyevsky Spusk

Kyiv, Ukraine

Every ancient city---and the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, is no exception---has its own, very special, unique feeling to it. In the perception of both its residents and its guests, this special flavor of the past is usually connected with a particular place, a special location on the map of the town. In Kyiv, it is Andreyevsky Spusk (Andrew's Descend), a street, known far and away from Ukraine, as Kyiv's Montmartre.

  Anyone who had ever been to Kyiv would never forget this small winding, very steeply inclined street, with its roughly laid large cobblestones, running between Kyiv's lush picturesque hills: only 850 meters long, with just a few dozen rather eclectic and colorful buildings, which has a feeling of history, going back about two thousand years.
The place is now known as Andreyevsky Spusk has been first mentioned in the ancient chronicle, "The Tales of Bygone Years". According to the legend, in the first half of the first century, apostle Andrew erected a cross on the top of the hill where St. Andrew's church is now standing, predicting future prosperity and glory for the "eternal city of Kyiv".A narrow road running from that hill that connected the Upper Town where nobility lived and the Down Town composed of craftsmen and common people, became a vital artery, the living heart of Kyiv.
The whole subsequent history of the street has become evidence of the inimitable interplay between real and imaginary, between fact and legend, the street has become a very surreal place......its that magic place where reality and fantasy touch. The street, born out of a myth, became a myth in itself. Andreyevsky Spusk, formerly a provincial little street, became one of the most beautiful, most exciting, most romantic places in today's Kyiv.
But is is the eminent inhabitants of Andreyevsky Spusk that the street owes its more recent fame to. At different times, painters H. Dyadchenko, F. Krasitsky and I. Makushenko; sculptor I. Kavaleridze; medical doctor F. Yanovsky; professors of Kyiv Theological Academy F. Titov, P. Kudryavtsev and S. Golubev; journalist A. Savenko all used to live on Andreyevsky Spusk.
A Russian writer of worldwide fame, Mikhail Bulgakov, who spent most of his childhood and youth on the street, made Andreyevsky Spusk a full-fledged personage in his first novel, "The White Guard." This book full of deep and tender love for the writer's mothers town, reveals the spirit of Kyiv better then anything ever written about the city.
In 1991, Creative Society "Master" (a non-governmental and non-profit organization founded in 1988) opened the "Museum of One Street" dedicated to the history of Andreyevsky Spusk and its prominent inhabitants. For a few years this cozy museum was the only museum in Kyiv that managed to present the picture of the past without any political or ideological bias. Very fast, it became one of the most popular and best known museums in the Ukrainian capital. More than half a million people from all over the world have visited Museum of One Street since the day of its opening.
The Museum's collection contains more than four thousand exhibits---books, documents, paintings, photographs, items of everyday life, etc. It is completely unique, since all of the world class exhibits are related to one subject----the history of a single street.
Creative Society "Master" is engaged in various activities-----such as excursions, lectures, and exhibitions. "Master's" members are regular contributors to the Ukrainian media. In January of 1999 one of the Ukrainian publishing houses printed the first and so far only book on the history of Andreyevsky Spusk. A book written by "Master's" members. The staff of the Museum dedicate much of their time and effort to assist people in learning about Kyiv's history and about the historical heritage and cultural traditions of Ukraine.
The staff of the Museum are always available to take people around the ancient capital of Ukraine. The Museum can offer you various walking tours of Kyiv, from "St. Sophia----Kyiv's Historical Heart" to "Architectural Treasures of Kyiv," to "Andreyevsky Spusk---Journey Through Time". Other tours can also be arranged.

Museum of One Street

Creative Society "Master"

Andreyevsky Spusk, 2-B

Kyiv 071--252071, Ukraine

Dmitriy Shlionskiy

Director

380 44 416 0398

Research Assistant

Vlada Osmak

380 44 419 1994 (Residence)

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