The park Vladimirskaya Gorka that stretches over the slopes of the ancient hill in Kyiv's very center is not only another item on the list of capital's popular sights, but also truly special place on the city map. This amazing park, rightly recognized as the gem of the landscape art, has become the favorite place for strolls and recreation of Kyiv residents and its numerous guests long ago. The reason is that its picturesque terraces command probably the most breathtaking views of the legendary Podol and the Dnieper River's left bank.
Besides its majestic beauty, the Vladimirskaya Gorka is notable for special magnetism and incredibly strong energetics. Astrologers call this place the peculiar cosmic energy well, and artists and writers - the Mecca of artistic inspiration.
The mount, where the park is laid, was called Michael's Mount in ancient times. This name was derived from the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery built on its top in 1108. And only in the middle of the 19th century, after opening the majestic monument to the Saint Prince Vladimir who baptized Kyivan Rus, the mount was renamed into Vladimirskaya. As far as it was the first sculptural monument in Kyiv, the best architects from the Russian Empire were involved in its creation. The monument depicts the Saint Prince's statue with the cross in the right hand and the princely hat in the left one that is installed on the brick pedestal decorated with high reliefs. Now the twenty-meter-high monument is recognized as one of the unofficial symbols of Kyiv and is often depicted on the postcards with city views.
At the same time Vladimirskaya Gorka's (Gorka is Russian for Mount) development and layout started and the namesake park was laid out. Two terraces were designed: the upper one was located on the St. Michael's Monastery's level, and the lower was the path enveloping the foot of the mountain from Khreschatyk to Podol. The park was arranged as Swiss mountains: with numerous alleys, brick reservoirs and descents linking all platforms and terraces together.
