The architecture in Soviet times was different, in this article we will look at 5 of the most interesting and futuristic buildings in Kiev.

Hotel "Salute"

Style: Futurism, Constructivism

Architect: Abraham Miletsky

Construction: 1982-1984

Address: Kyiv, 11 Ivan Mazepa str.

Interesting Facts:

• - it was planned to be 18-story, but the height was cut so that the building would not compete with the Lavra bell towers;
• - has an elliptical form, though seems round;
• - was intended to be a hotel for pioneers;
• - earlier on this place, there was a bell tower of the Military Nikolsky Monastery that was destroyed in the 1930s.

Kyiv crematorium

Style: Futurism

Architect: Abraham Miletsky

Muralists: Ada Rybachuk and Vladimir Melnichenko

Construction: 1968-1981

Address: Kyiv, 16 Baykova str. 

Interesting Facts:

• - is a part of the memorial and ritual complex of buildings "Memory Park": a crematorium, an administrative building, a columbarium, a park area, a huge water mirror, and the Wall of Remembrance;
• - The Wall of Remembrance consisted of relief sculptures depicting the path of life from birth to death. It has been constructed for seven years and was originally adjacent to the crematorium. But the authorities "frightened by denunciations of artistic sedition" destroyed it by pouring it with concrete;
• - consists of two buildings that resemble kneeling bent figures of mourners and give the impression of a mysterious portal to another world.

The building of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information, or, as the people call it, a "flying saucer"

Style: Soviet Modernism

Architects: Florian Yuryev and Lev Novikov

Construction: 1970-1971

Address: Kyiv, 180 Antonovich str.

Interesting facts:

• - building almost wholly replicates the architecture of the 10-year-older Oscar Niemeyer’s Palace of the National Congress of Brazil;
• - "flying saucer" is, in fact, a unique light musical theater with perfect acoustics, for the development of which the author received the award "For Innovation in Architecture";
• - unfortunately, the building has not been awarded the well-deserved status of an architectural monument, and it is in deplorable condition.

 People’s Friendship Arch, or, as people call it, “The Rainbow”

Style: Modernism

Architects: Serhiy Myrhorodsky, Kostyantyn Sydorov, and I. Ivanov

Sculptor: Oleksandr Skoblikov

Construction: 1978-1982

Address: Kyiv, Park road

Interesting facts:

• - the Arch has built-in multi-colored lighting, with the help of which the structure glows like a real rainbow in the evenings;
• - a special "Euro town" was located next to the Arch during the European Football Championship in 2012;
• - the Arch is the border connecting three city districts: Podolsky, Shevchenkovsky, and Pechersky.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv: Educational complex

Style: Soviet modernism

Architects: V. Ladnyi, M. Budylovskyi, and V. Kolomiets

Engineer: V. Drizo

Construction: 1970s-1980s

Address: Kyiv, 2K Academician Glushkova ave.

Interesting facts:

• - the campus has survived to this day with almost no major innovations, which makes it especially valuable as an architecture sight;
• - the project was planned for friendly Cuba but constructed in the USSR, so the building has serious problems with the temperature regulation - hot in summer and cold in winter;
• - each of the ensemble buildings is decorated with a bas-relief representing the science field studied in it.