Kyiv University

Kyiv University buildings occupy a big square between LeoTolstoy Street and Taras Shevchenko Boulevard on one side and Volodymyrska and Komintern Streets on the other. The main building of the University is in the centre.

The University of Kyiv was opened in the summer of 1834. At that time it consisted only of faculty of philosophy with two departments: history and philology, and physics and mathematics. The faculty of law was introduced the following year and later on, the medical faculty. During the first years of its existence the University had no permanent building. Classes were held in rented quarters in the Pechersk district.

That same year the Academy of Arts announced a competition for the best design for the University building. The award went to Academician of Architecture Professor Vikenty Beretti who began the construction of the building in 1837. It was completed in 1842 by his son, Professor of Architecture Andriy Beretti. The main building is in the style of typical Russian classicism characterized by simplicity of form and rational symmetry. Its ground plan is a large square with a patio. The central facade, 146 metres long, is ornamented by an eight-column portico in Ionic style. The western facade faces the Botanical Gardens. The interior fully harmonizes with its exterior. The main entrance hall, with Ionic columns, and the Assembly Hall are particularly imposing. All the main parts of the building are joined by a wide passage.

The construction of the University led to the building-up of adjoining streets and along the boulevard.

The arts faculties are at No. 14 Shevchenko Boulevard. This is a large three-storey building which was built in the fifties of the 19^th century by A. Beretti and which was occupied until 1914 by a secondary school. The main facade faces the boulevard. The entrance has six Corinthian-style pilasters. The left and right wings of the building stretch along Volodymyrska and Repin Streets. Its system of passages, vaulted ceilings and cast-iron floors has much in common with the interior of the main University building.

Kyiv University has played a prominent role in the development of science and culture in Ukraine. Many outstanding scientists and scholars were among its students: Olexiy Bach, Otto Schmidt, Danylo Zabolotny, Mykola Bogolyubov and many others.

The democratic-minded students of Kyiv frequently took part in active revolutionary struggle against despotism and reaction. In 1901 following revolutionary disturbances in the city, 183 students were conscripted into the army.

During the years of the Second World War the University was evacuated to Kyzyl-Orda in the Kazakh SSR where together with Kharkiv University it formed the Joint Ukrainian State University. Most of the University equipment was plundered by the German troops. They also robbed the Botanical Gardens of their rich collection of plants and transported many rare volumes from the University library and the apparatus of the Astronomical observatory to Germany.

During their retreat from Kyiv the fascists blew up the University
building. It was reconstructed in 1950.

Today the University has 14 faculties: mechanics and mathematics, physics, radiophysics, chemistry, geology, geography, biology, history, philosophy, law, economics, philology, journalism, and foreign languages.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16