It’s a common belief that sunny weather is most suitable for a pleasant walk in the city. While working on this article, I decided to take a stroll once again along Velyka (Big) and Mala (Small) Zhytomyrska streets – or more like wade through them.
The rain was pouring down hard. Drainpipes spewed water like crazy. My feet got soaked instantly and passing cars only completed the picture by splashing waterfalls upon me. Yet suddenly, I sensed a bitter smell of fallen chestnut leaves. I peeped from under my umbrella and was amazed by the whitish mist enveloping the city, the growing contrast of green, brown and yellow leaves, and the golden domes of St. Mykhaylivskiy and Sophiysky cathedrals looming above the trees. When Kyiv of 11th century was led by Yaroslav the Wise, it was this area, with Sophiysky cathedral, that formed the city center.
Zhytomyrska street initially connected Liadskiy, the place where Maidan Nezalezhnosti is presently located, and Judaic city gates, present-day Lvivska Ploshcha, forming the city together with Velyka Volodymyrska street. At the beginning of the 19th century, Zhytomyrska split in two – Velyka and Mala Zhytomyrska streets and several dozens of years later was filled with multi-story buildings in neo-classic and modernist style.
The remnants of past beauty remained mainly on Mala Zhytomyrska. Its three- and four-story houses decorated with towers and bronze balconies still preserve the atmosphere of old Kyiv. Now they are occupied by stylish coffee houses, such as Kavyarnya na Maidani – Coffee House on Maidan, and restaurants, such as Res Top.
There are also small exotic places that remained since the Soviet-era – a Ukrainian wine club advertising Ukrainian barrel wine (“the best wine in the world,” as the poster in the window claims), and a grocery and a cheap eatery on the ground floor offering homemade food. House No. 11 houses the central office of Ukrayinske Reyestrove Kozatstvo (Ukrainian Registered Cossacks Society), an association trying to preserve ancient Cossack traditions.
The point where Mala Zhytomyrska passes a small square with a children’s playground and bisects Volodymyrska street marks the beginning of Velyka Zhytomyrska.
The newly built five-star hotel Intercontinental heads the street, which stretches along Peyzazhna (Landscape) alley as far as Lvivska Ploshcha. Although Zhytomyrska is one of the main city streets, you won’t find any posh clubs, shops or eateries.
All that awaits you there is a jewelry store Zarina, seafood restaurant Da Vinci Fish Club on the crossing with Volodymyrska, a Coffee House and Planeta Sushi. All are located on the same corner, and a Pink Floyd (though little there is left of Pink Floyd) cafe and The Wall grocery a considerable way down the street.
At the same time Velyka Zhytomyrska contains plenty of charming unremarkable places, like bar Quinta, that once gathered non-conformists of the 80s, cafe Champagne, some cheap pizzeria, photo studio Sepia, beauty salon Kniazhna (old Slavic for “Princess”) luring you with a woodcut signboard hanging over the arch. The air of crumbling originality is generated by dusty windows of grocery stores and cafeterias closed long ago and for good.
Another dinosaur of the Soviet era is the tiny Chapayev cinema, currently occupied by cinema club Rakurs. The cinema is known for cheap tickets – around Hr 3 to Hr 10 and rich repertoire of classics as well as festival movies. The cinema building in Vienna Renaissance style is actually one of those few, including the nearby house No. 38, preserved with their original facades untouched.
One of the biggest advantages of Velyka Zhytomyrska is that numerous side streets connect it to Peyzazhna alley. If you have some extra free time for a leisured walk, take a turn and admire stunning views of the left river bank studded with skyscrapers and a reconstructed district, Vozdvizhensky, lying right under your feet.
The area around Velyka Zhytomyrska was once full of sacred places. The three-domed St. Ioan Zlatoust and Stritenska churches were situated on the street.
Unfortunately, little is left of either of them now. The former, built in 1631, was demolished at the end of the 19th century as “unprofitable.” Parishioners preferred donating to the churches in Podil.
Now, in its place, stands the Institute of Town Planning (building No. 9). Stritenska church built on the corner of Stritenska street in 1934 was replaced by the Chamber of Commerce. Now near the Chamber stands a lone chapel awaiting its revival with the efforts of the local religious community. The cause for such activity is more than understandable. The church is rumoured to date 1,000 year back to the ruling years of Yaroslav the Wise. The archaeologists working on the restoration have found 300-year-old remnants of monks buried under the church altar.
Notwithstanding all these calamities, Velyka Zhytomyrska has its small talisman – a stone chimera gaping at passers-by from the facade of house No. 8.
According to legends the owner of the house was keen on spiritualism and held his spiritistic seances only in the room closest to the chimera.
Kaviarnia na Maidani (2 Mala Zhytomyrska);
Res Top (3/4 Mala Zhytomyrska, 278-0636);
Intercontinental (2A Velyka Zhytomyrska);
Zarina (21 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 490-5445);
Da Vinci Fish Club (12 Volodymyrska, 490-3434);
Coffee-House (8/14 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 278-5984);
Planet Sushi (8/14 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 592-2083);
The Wall (25/2 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 272-2494);
Quinta (8/14 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 279-127);
Champagne (10 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 332-0205);
Chapayev cinema (40/1 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 272-4100).
