The Magdeburg Law Column on the Dnieper slopes of Podil is the oldest monument in Kyiv that has survived to this day. It was erected in 1802 in honor of the return to Kyiv of the Magdeburg Law, a system of city self-government that the city first received in the 15th century. Kyiv residents celebrated this event for three days with balls and illuminations, and then collected 10 thousand rubles for the construction of the monument. According to legend, it was at this place that Prince Volodymyr baptized his twelve sons, so the monument had another name – the lower monument to St. Volodymyr. This ambiguity played its role: when St. Petersburg learned about the unauthorized construction, the governor-general was even dismissed from his post.
The monument is an 18-meter column of the Tuscan order, topped with a ball with a cross – an example of classicism of the early 19th century. Over the following decades, the column fell into disrepair several times and passed from one owner to another – from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the Bratsky Monastery. Major restorations took place in 1913, 1963 and 1987. During the Soviet era, the cross was removed from the monument, but was restored after independence. Today, this place at the foot of Volodymyr’s Descent remains a silent reminder of the times when Kyiv had its own city rights and was proud of it.