KieVVision

Made in Spain (1988)  A little bit of Spain in every home  EUROVISION COUNTRY: Spain  KYIV DESTINATION:  The National Toilet Museum   The very first water closets in Ukraine were Spanish. They arrived in the 19th Century after a Spanish porcelain manufacturer developed a new system that integrated flushing water into the toilet bowl structure.  This system was branded as 'Unitas' - or Unified (system). It was so popular that the Ukrainian word for а flushing toilet remains to this day as "unitaz". You can learn about the whole history of water closets at the Museum of the History of the Toilet.  http://museumtoilet.com.ua    The museum is based in an interesting building. It is part of the 18th century defences of the city in "Tower No. 5". The visit is with a Russian-speaking guide, and takes about 15 minutes, after which you are free to roam and look at the exhibits. Take a Russian-speaking friend to translate for you as...

Разом нас богато (2005)  The City Centre  KYIV DESTINATION: Around Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) This square, cut into two parts by Khreschatik street, symbolises Kyiv for many tourists, but in ancient times this low-lying boggy area was outside the city walls and protected the city from attack. However in the 21st century this area has become the epicentre of living history. Almost all of the key moments of Ukrainian history since independence have happened here. Most recently Euromaidan. In the 19thC Maidan Nezalezhnosti was an elegant shopping area and park, but it was almost totally destroyed by the retreating Soviet army during WWII. Therefore the architecture today is almost uniformly 1950's "Stalinist baroque". Now it has a metro station and shopping centre. Let's explore it a bit further. Emerging from the metro you come first of all into a large underpass below the street packed with souvenir shops. The underpass is covered in wacky m...