History of Kiev

Kiev is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities of Eastern Europe. It has heroic and glorious history. According to the legend Kiev was founded about1500 years ago by three brothers - Kyi, Scheck, Khoryv and their sister Lybid. The city was named after the eldest brother - Kiev and has quickly become an important political and cultural centre of Kievan Rus.

During the 11th and 12th centuries ancient Kievan Rusreached its greatest period of ascendancy. By the 11th century Kiev was one of the largest centers of civilization in the Eastern Christian world. At that time, there were about 400 churches, 8 markets and more than 50,000 inhabitants in Kiev. It was the Golden Age of Kievan Rus.  In 1240 Kiev was completely destroyed by Mongol invadors led by Batu Khan.

In 1321, the greatly diminished city and surrounding area was conquered by Gediminas for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From 1569 the city was controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a capital of Kiev Voivodeship, transferred by then to the Polish Crown. In the 17th century, Kiev was transferred under rule of Russia. In the Russian Empire Kiev was a primary Christian centre, attracting pilgrims. Kiev is a cradle of many of the empire's most important religious figures (as an important religious centre), but until the 19th century the city's commercial importance remained marginal.

After the revolution in Petersburg the power in Kiev changed constantly. By the 22 of January in 1918 Ukrainian Central Rada by the lead of historic Mikhail Grushevskiy proclaimed Ukraine’s Independence. The first president of Ukrainian republic became Grushevskiy by itself. However Ukrainian politics lacked enough political economical and military power to stand up for the Independence of Ukrainian state.

In 1922 there was created the the Soviet Union and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic(USSR) joined it. It joined officially like a sovereign state in the federation, but actually all power was handed to center. There followed numerous repressions against cultural and scientist workers.

During the times of World War II Kiev was almost completely destroyed , 72 days lasted heroically Kiev defense against fascist invaders 19 September 1941 the troops of Nazi Germany have entered the city. The city was Released on the 6 November 1943 by the price of big loss and human lives. In post-war period Kiev rebuild swiftly.

On August 24, 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine proclaimed its independence. This was the beginning of the whole new period in the history of Ukraine and its beautiful capital.