Landscape Alley is one of the coziest corners of historic Kyiv, created in 1982 for the city’s 1500th anniversary celebrations. The alley runs along the site where the defensive ramparts of the Upper City once stood and was designed by architect Avraam Miletsky as part of an ambitious vision to transform the area into an open-air archaeological and cultural complex called “Ancient Kyiv.”
Only the alley itself was ultimately realized from this grand plan — but what a result it became. The pedestrian path with its observation terraces stretches from the National Museum of the History of Ukraine to Velyka Zhytomyrska Street, offering picturesque views of Podil and the Dnipro River.
Today, the alley is a true open-air sculpture park featuring 75 mosaic and ceramic art objects. Here you will find a children’s square with the famous 30-meter-long centipede cat, fountains shaped like an elephant and zebras, animal-shaped benches, and a figure of The Little Prince — a gift from the French Cultural Center.
Interestingly, this square appeared on a site where, in 2007, authorities had planned to build a nine-story residential building for officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Only thanks to activists from the “Save Old Kyiv” initiative was the development stopped and the vacant lot transformed into one of the city’s favorite public spaces.