Kyiv’s feminine silhouettes

Antique goddesses, an enigmatic “crying widow,” milkmaids and workwomen, and many other characters look at passersby daily from city facades. In his lecture “Beauties on Kyiv Facades: Architectural Legends of the City” at the Mikhail Bulgakov Literary Memorial Museum, area researcher Mykhailo Kalnytsky tells who they are, who they are dedicated to, and what they mean.

Facades were often decorated with caryatids – the statues of women who seem to be supporting the walls. They may be luxuriously dressed or nude, with or without arms, and of a different stature. Gorgeously-curled caryatids watch a building at 14A Yaroslaviv Val. Built in 1911, this house once belonged to Leonid Rodzianko. Screw up your eyes, and two statues on the corner of 18 Volodymyrska St. and Rylsky Av. will seem to revive. Caryatids can also be seen on the outskirts of Kyiv. A posh country house with female figures on the facade is still standing at 18 Lvivska St.

BUILDINGS WITH GODDESSES

Another heroine of Kyiv architects is Athena, the Ancient Greek goddess of wisdom. With a helmet on, she looks menacingly from the pediment of a building at 55 Oles Honchar St. which used to house the Kyiv Higher Women’s Courses. There is also an Athena who stands upright and holds a lance in the company of antique deities on the wall of the building at 9 Horodetskoho St. built by the famous contractor Lev Ginsburg. There are six big statues on the facade: Hermes and Aphrodite, the symbols of commerce and beauty, on top; and Demeter, Apollo, Athena, and Hephaestus, who personify fertility, art, wisdom, and industry, respectively, lower.

14 A, YAROSLAVIV VAL. GORGEOUSLY-CURLED CARYATIDS HAVE BEEN “SUPPORTING” THESE WALLS FOR OVER A CENTURY – THE BUILDING WAS ERECTED IN 1911

You can only distinguish who is who by some characteristic signs, such as a winged helmet on Hermes or a bunch of wheat-ears in Demeter’s hand. In olden times, educated people knew all the Ancient Greek gods like an ABC, so sculptures of this kind were never captioned. Incidentally, facade characters do not always correlate with concrete myth heroes. Certain statues were made at the wish of a customer or an architect. For example, the building at 12 Saksahanskoho St. shows a female keeper of the hearth from whom Ares, the god of war, runs away.

Antique plots are strewn on the walls of Kyiv’s Arcade built in the 1910s. Four circles depict mythical scenes full of sensuality. Poseidon holds the shoulder of his wife Amphitrite who sits astride the dolphin. Hephaestus feasts his eyes on his wife Aphrodite who holds her son Cupid in the armpit. It is difficult to say who a sturdy man and a winged woman on the third bas-relief are. Kalnytsky presumes they may be Achilles’ parents Peleus and Thetis. The only bas-relief without women is the image of Prometheus riding a horse with a torch in hand.

TRIUMPH OF BEAUTY

By far the best-known and the most enigmatic female image in Kyiv is on the so-called Crying Widow’s House at 23 Liuteranska St.

When it rains, water drops trickle down the facade mask and look like tears. Built in the early 20th century, the building belonged to a well-to-do merchant, Aleksandr Arshavsky, before the 1917 revolution and, later, to entrepreneur Tevie Apstein. There was in fact no widow as mistress of the house here. It is difficult to make out whose face is on the facade. What give us a clue are wings at the sides – it must be a bird-woman. Kalnytsy says it may be Gamayun, a bird-woman that predicts the future.

A gorgeous picture adorns the building at 4 Muzeiny Provulok. The plot is original – from Ancient Greek history. There is a seminude woman, hetaera Phryne from Athens, in the center. A group of men on the right approach Phryne, and women on the left look at the hetaera with interest. A dancing feast is all around. Sculptor Fedor Balavensky made the composition, and Valerian Rykov designed the building.

The bas-relief is sometimes called Triumph of Phryne. Ancient Greeks deified Phryne owing to her beauty. Either a ditched suitor or priests told on the hetaera – they alleged she was incurring the gods’ wrath on Athens and accepting gifts for her beauty, as if she were a goddess. Phryne faced capital punishment. At the trial, the well-known orator Hypereides, who was defending the hetaera, ripped off her clothes as a last-resort measure. Everybody saw that Phryne’s beauty deserved the highest praise, and the woman was pardoned. Phryne’s triumph symbolizes that beauty will ultimately win. A drama based on this plot gained popularity in Europe in the early 20th century. This story also found a place on a Kyiv building’s facade.

THE PROSE OF WORK

Sometimes women on facades are shown doing everyday work. On the Bessarabian Market building, a dairymaid bends to lift a heavy vessel. The facade at 37 Dmytrivska St. is adorned with a viniculture composition. Women carry grapes, and a girl gives a boy water to drink. There used to be a restaurant in this building, which explains the choice of a joyous theme.

In the Soviet era, facade women “armed” themselves with sickles, hammers, and other implements of work – like, for example, on the facade of the Kyiv College of Construction, Architecture, and Design (Stadionna St.). But architects are now turning back to classical themes. For instance, two modern-day caryatids are proudly looking at passersby from 4 Gogolivska St. And there are very many compositions like this – you only have to look attentively. Kyiv has a lot of feminine faces, silhouettes, and themes. You just need to spend a few days to familiarize yourself with these female characters of Kyiv facades. To make it easier for you to choose an itinerary, we offer a list of addresses, where antique beauties, female workers, caryatids, and other colorful characters are awaiting Kyiv buffs.

THIS BEAUTY IS ONE OF THE FIRST TO SEE NOVELTIES IN KYIV’S BOUTIQUES, FOR THE COMPOSITION IS LOCATED ON A WALL OF THE ARCADE AT 15 KHRESHCHATYK STREET

NOTA BENE

► Crying Widow’s House – 23 Liuteranska St.

► Phryne’s Triumph – 4 Muzeiny Provulok.

► A grapes composition – 37 Dmytrivska St.

► Milkmaids – Bessarabian Market, 2 Bessarabska Square.

► A bas-relief on Ancient Greek themes – Arcade, 15 Khreshchatyk St.

► A Woman who Keeps the Hearth – 12 Saksahanskoho St. (in general, there are a lot of interesting bas-reliefs on this street).

► Greek gods – 9 Horodetskoho St.

► Helmeted Athena – 55 Olesia Honchara St.

► Buildings with caryatids – 14 A Yaroslaviv Val, 18 Lvivska St., intersection of 18 Volodymyrska St. and Rylsky Provulok.