An enormous pile of coal, derelict industrial zones and soulless brick shacks bending backwards for a glimpse of sunshine.
Sounds like a scene from industrial Donetsk, doesn’t it? Wrong! It only takes a 20-minute drive from Kyiv to see the seamy side of Ukraine.
This is just one of the incongruous sights en route to Trypillya village, the site of an ancient civilization which dates back before the Egyptian pyramids. Sadly, there are no temples to explore there. But Ukraine’s modern-day pharaohs give you plenty to look at on the way.
The tour starts on the Novoobukhivska trasa, a road leading south from Kyiv, where high metal fences guard government dachas and the closed communities of the rich and powerful. The pine trees have been thinned out here to make way for private roads, some of which are paved with dirty cash. Some had to sweat for the land, while others found an easy way. For those worrying their land will slip out of their fingers, the solution is right there on the highway. Huge billboards offer help legalizing land ownership rights, however illicitly the plot had been acquired.
These ads mix with others depicting luxury brands, yachts, diamonds and other fancies that are part of the lifestyle in the Ukrainian Hamptons, the Koncha Zaspa region on the Dnipro River.
The road is lined with outdoor restaurants featuring ponds, barbecues, fishing and horse riding. And then suddenly it all ends when you take the turn off for Trypillya. Rusty cranes and abandoned factories reveal a toothless picture of former Soviet industrial might. One coal mine seems to be still spewing out black rock, piles of which spill out onto the road. I am sure some stop to nab a bagful for a bonfire.
Just a little further a big hill bursts out of nowhere with a torn Ukrainian flag and a cross on top. Called Divych-gora, it’s the site of an ancient altar dating back to the 11th century. It’s the first welcome sign to Trypillya.
Spreading over the river, the village used to serve as a water gate to ancient Kyiv. Dinghies have replaced galleys since then, with local fishing enthusiasts gazing into water for a catch. Right on the water front lies a private museum with Trypillya excavations.
The state museum perched on the hill is a few minutes’ drive away. Occupying a former Museum of Komsomol Glory, built for the youth wing of the Communist Party, it has no windows to peek in. Inside, there are three modest halls with some pre-historic stones and arrowheads, as well as distinctive Trypillya pots.
Our guide points to a peculiarly shaped figurine on the wall with huge thighs and a thin chest, explaining that Trypillya people worshipped women. Such clay figurines have been unearthed in abundance.
The museum surroundings are just as unusual. It stands right next to an orphanage, a Soviet monument covered with smudged graffiti and a park overlooking the Dnipro.
Driving on to Rzhyshiv town, there is another Trypillya museum with large monuments – also looking rather lonely in early spring.
After a short trip to the Stone Age, you return a little closer to modern times in Ukrainka town, featuring an abundance of Soviet architecture. Populated with five-storey houses, its most striking features are roads worst than those in Kyiv and boarded-up shop windows.
The road back into the capital brings you right back up to the present golden age of wealthy suburban dwellers. It goes through another posh settlement still under development.
You can spot a lonely Porsche negotiating the potholes. Sometimes, Bentleys fly by.
The dreary, neglected suburbs outside Kyiv feel surreal when you are there. But the minute you hit the capital, you realize that they are characteristic of large parts of the country.
There’s little of Trypillya to see in Kyiv, but what matters is the story of this civilization. Our predecessors were famous for agriculture, as well as pottery. Developing land, they used it until the first signs of exhaustion.
Then, they would pack up and move on to new fields giving old plots time to breathe and recover.
This is a practice long lost with modern Ukrainians. They practically rape the land and dry out river beds to build hamlets, despite official and ecological bans on it. And if they ever have to move, they leave behind scorched earth.
It’s unclear how Trypillya culture disappeared. The settlers may have dissolved among other tribes. Hopefully, modern Ukrainians won’t go down in history that way. But maybe the neglected environs are an early warning.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliya Popova can be reached at [email protected].
