The Museum of Kyiv History opens the exhibition “Shadows of Old Kyiv”, dedicated to Kyiv Day, which will become a kind of journey through time and shifts visitors into the urban space of past centuries.

The exhibition reveals a city that modern Kyiv residents no longer recognize, yet whose shadows will forever remain in the memory of generations and live on in works of art. These are cozy Kyiv courtyards entwined with grapevines, cobblestone streets of the city center, kerosene street lamps recalling the past, still undeveloped views of Kyiv and the Dnipro slopes.

The exposition brings together painting and graphic works by such outstanding Ukrainian artists as Vasyl Krychevskyi, Serhii Shyshko, Liudmyla Morozova, Hryhorii Svitlytskyi, Fedir Konovaliuk, and others — artists who shaped a multidimensional vision of the city’s architectural evolution. Visitors will have the opportunity not only to admire the city through the artists’ works, but also to compare specific locations in the past and today by using a special QR code.

Today, Kyiv continues to change — neighborhoods, streets, and buildings disappear, and with them vanish someone’s cherished memories. Wars, reconstructions, the consequences of urbanization, and natural disasters have often altered the city’s appearance, yet never destroyed its spirit. Therefore, this exhibition project is especially important and timely now, as it allows us to view Kyiv in motion, understand its past, and realize that every disappearance is not only a loss, but also an opportunity for transformation and the birth of something new.

The exhibits for the exhibition come from the collections of the Museum of Kyiv History and the National Art Museum of Ukraine.