In front of St. Andrew’s Church, one of Kyiv’s most beloved monuments appeared in 1999 — the sculpture of the heroes from the comedy Chasing Two Hares. It was here, on Andriivskyi Descent, that key scenes of the cult film based on the play by Mykhailo Starytsky were filmed.
The monument captures the story’s most romantic moment: Svyryd Holokhvostyi kneels before Pronia Prokopivna and proposes his love to her. The monument was created by architect Volodymyr Skulskyi and sculptors Volodymyr Shchur and Vitalii Syvko. Actress Margarita Krinitsyna, who portrayed Pronia in the film, attended the unveiling ceremony and highly praised the likeness.
Two popular rituals are connected with the monument. If an unmarried woman rubs the ring on the index finger of Pronia’s left hand, legend says she will soon get married. And if you stroke the stag beetle on Holokhvostyi’s back, wealth and a happy family life are said to await you.
Whether it truly works — you can find out for yourself.