The ramparts you see here are the remains of the Old Kyiv Fortress, which existed from 1654 to the end of the 18th century. After Kyiv was annexed to the Muscovite state, the Old Russian defensive fortifications of the cities of Volodymyr and Yaroslav were restored here, placing a Moscow garrison of 2,500 to 7,000 people. Since 1672, with the participation of foreign engineers, in particular the Scot Patrick Gordon, the fortress has been modernized: the ramparts have been thickened, new internal fortifications have been built, and the territory has been divided into four sections – Andriyivske, Sofiyske, Pechersk and Mikhailivske.
After the new Pechersk Fortress was founded in 1706, Starokyivske gradually lost its strategic importance. In 1753, the Golden Gate was built here — next to the Old Russian Golden Gates, which were located in the body of the rampart — but by the end of the 18th century, the fortress was liquidated, and the ramparts were demolished in the 1830s–1870s. What has survived to this day are fragments of one of the longest and most eventful pages of Kyiv’s military history.