Features

Intriguing House with Chimeras

Across the road from the ordinary presidential administration offices in Kiev, Ukraine, stands a house that is spellbinding and very unusual. It quietly looms from its location on a hill in Bankovaya Street, and has been the source of many legends and folklores; some that are buried in grief and loss and others that make the hair on your neck stand up. The building itself has an air of mystery and uncertainty about it, and even though most visitors compare it to a castle, the house and its extraordinary decorations inspire visitors to conjure up their own tales of ghosts and goblins.

Ukrainian Easter Eggs Symbolize more than Gifts for Tourists

Ukrainian Easter eggs, or psanky, to Ukrainians are an established part of worldwide popular culture. The intricacy of designs revealed with microscopic precision by dying and waxing the egg before pealing away the wax are now manufactured without all the patience necessary to create these mini pieces of art.

Easter - A Time of Feasting, Resurrection, and Ritual for Ukrainians

Pagan traditions to celebrate the return of spring and the abolition of another winter may have faded into the pages of Christianity, but Ukrainians, whether recognizing the rites of spring or the resurrection of Christ, ancient customs survive on a shoestring in rural Ukraine, particularly in the country’s western region.

Chornobyl Museum Conveys the Horror of Manmade Disaster

A routine, but largely unnecessary safety test caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster on April 25, 1986. Technicians working at reactor Number 4 at the electricity-producing Chornobyl power plant planned to shut down the system for regular maintenance. The decision was made to see if the grid would continue to power the system in the event of a shutdown. This decision cost 31 people their lives and set in motion a rain of radioactive material that stretched to the borders of Sweden.

Kyiv’s Open Air Museum Delights History Buffs and Casual Visitors Alike

The 21st century may be bombarding everyday lives around the world with technological gadgets that promise salvation through “connection”. Books may soon be obsolete and libraries may lose their status as institutions of learning in favor of becoming “gentle read” facilities. Still, with all the efforts to move into the future at all costs, people hunger to understand their past. How else can one explain the genealogical research craze or reenactment festivals that woo tourists around the globe each summer?

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