Description of the attraction
The University was founded in 1833 by the decree of Tsar Nicholas I on the basis of the Kremenets Lyceum and Vilnius University and was called the Kiev Imperial University of St. Vladimir. The tsar also approved the staffing table and temporary charter. Kiev University was the second, after the Imperial Kharkov University, in the Little Russian territory, and the sixth university in the Russian Empire.
Until 1842, Kiev University did not have its own premises. Therefore, private houses in Pechersk, poorly adapted for the educational process, were rented. In 1838-1842. under the leadership of the professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, V. I. Beretti, on the uninhabited outskirts of old Kiev, a huge university building was erected in the style of Russian classicism, which was originally white. The main university building (Red Building) is a huge closed building (the length of the facade is more than 145 m) with a courtyard inside and painted in the colors of the award ribbon of the Order of St. Vladimir - black and red (black capitals of the columns and bases, red walls).
During the battles for Kiev in the Great Patriotic War, the buildings of the institution suffered irreparable damage. The main building lay in ruins, cultural values and funds were destroyed. But despite the destruction caused by the Nazi invaders, the university resumed its activities just a couple of months after the liberation of the city. And by 1949 the university had 12 faculties. Teachers and students rebuilt the chemistry and humanitarian buildings on their own, and at the beginning of 1944, classes resumed in the senior courses. In 1994, by presidential decree, Kiev University was awarded the status of a national, providing for the autonomy of a state university.
