[Bjorn Hagstrom]

Hi everyone!

I will be spending the end of the week in Kiev, Ukraine and will have time for some sight-seeing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Histori...of_Ukraine is on my shortlist of course.

But apart from that, does anyone know if there is some other place I should look up for iron age/medieval exhibitions?
Or possibly any Churches/Monuments worthwhile for mosaics, iconography and such?

If I had more time there (and eventually maybe I will) there are a couple of active armourers in the area, right?

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

I am not sure whether there are active armourers in the Ukrainian capital or not, Björn.

[Bjorn Hagstrom]

I think ArtArmor, Jolly Knight and Steel Mastery all have adresses listed as Kiev, but that of course does not mean that production happens there, but I will check it out :-)

[Gregory Yudenko]

Hey Bjorn,

I was born and raised in Kiev and so I happen to know a few great museums and quite a few churches which might be of interest to you. I hope it's not too late to offer you my advice.

So you've already mentioned your main destination, the secondary one should be Museum of Kiev's history where you will find a few early and late medieval artifacts and weapons; http://kyivhistorymuseum.org/

The third location should be Museum of Armed forces Of Ukraine, it's filled with various types of weapons, from iron age to 21st century; http://nvimu.com.ua/

The forth and filth ought to be Museum of Western and Oriental Art and Museum of Russian art, they are both right next to each other, and both of them posses great quantities of Renaissance art and 19th century paintings of famous Russian artists, it's a must see. Plus they are located in beautiful, what used to be private homes of pre 1917s Revolution Merchants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Western_and_Oriental_Art

http://www.kmrm.com.ua/eng

The 6th location could be Kiev Pechersk Lavra, it's a huge Russian orthodox "sector' which is filled with numerous Large Churches, a few small museums and most importantly, Caves. You should visit them as a tourist and gaze upon Kievan Rus mummies of Saints and heroes who were mentioned in this manuscript for example; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_Chronicle.

The place itself is fairly spooky and very, very deep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Pechersk_Lavra


I can think of a few dozen more large and ancient Churches like this one; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sophia%27s_Cathedral,_Kiev

but I think it's more than enough places to see in one go.

Greetings.

[Bjorn Hagstrom]

Thank you so much for this Gregory! Definitely not too late :-)

Especially Museum of Western and Oriental Art and Museum of Russian art will be on my list, I will see how much I have time to cover..I tend to get stuck at museums with good exhiibits, especially if I have a sketchbook with me..