Museums in Kyiv
Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has many museums that cover art, history, transportation, and religion. They help people learn about the city’s culture and history.
National Art Museum of Ukraine
This museum is dedicated to Ukrainian art. Housed in a 19th‑century building that looks like a Greek temple, it has 21 galleries with icons, sculpture, and paintings by artists such as Taras Shevchenko, Kyriak Kostandi, and Mykola Pymonenko. Its collection spans medieval to modern times and includes works from the socialist and Revolutionary periods, as well as a pre‑19th‑century wooden icon from Kyiv’s St. Michael Monastery.
Pyrohovo Open Air Museum
This museum shows Ukraine’s folk decorative arts. It features churches, barns, windmills, huts, and crafts, with guides dressed in traditional village costumes.
Museum of Western and Oriental Art (Khanenko Museum)
A treasury of Ukrainian and world art. It has 9th‑century ceramics, 14th–17th‑century tiles, bronzes, and embroidery. In the western part you can find a painting by Hieronymus Bosch (Temptation of St Anthony); the eastern part showcases Buddhist, Islamic, and Chinese art. The building resembles a grand Western European house, with fine furniture and paintings by masters such as Rubens and David. The museum also houses important religious artifacts, including a 6th‑century icon.
Other major museums
- Pinchuk Art Centre: private, focused on contemporary Eastern European art.
- Ivan Honchar Museum: promotes Ukrainian culture and ethnography.
- Mystetskyi Arsenal: a large art exhibition space.
- Kudriavtsi Manor Museum: life in Kyiv in the early 19th century, connected to writer Alexander Pushkin.
- Many other cultural museums honor writers and artists, such as Bulgakov, Rylsky, Tychyna, Hrushevsky, and Zankovetska. Some museums are inside churches, including St Andrew’s Church, St Sophia Cathedral, St Cyril Church, St Nicholas Cathedral, and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Other notable museums
- Ukraine National Beekeeping Museum: one of the world’s largest beekeeping museums.
- Kyiv fortress area: historic fortress complex with parts that housed soldiers and prisoners; Kosyi Kaponir later became a Soviet museum; Lysa Hora fortress is now a landscape reserve.
- Museum of History of Ukraine in World War II: large collection and millions of visitors.
- National Museum-Preserve “Battle for Kyiv 1943”: covers Kyiv’s battles in 1943.
- Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum (Podil): presents the Chernobyl disaster.
- National Historical Museum of Ukraine: traces Ukrainian history from ancient times to today, including archaeology, ethnography, and art; features artifacts from Trypillya, Kievan Rus, the Soviet era, and the Orange Revolution.
- Kyiv Archive Museum of Transitional Period: briefly operated as a Nazi propaganda museum in 1942 (now closed).
- Toilet History Museum (in Kyiv Fortress): opened in 2006; the largest collection of toilet-related items.
- Infrastructure museums: Building of Pedagogical Museum, Kyiv Fire Service Museum, Kyiv Pharmacy Museum, Kyiv Recycling Museum, Kyiv Sewer Museum, Kyiv Water Museum, and the National Museum of Health Care.
- Water Museum (Khreshchatyi Park): teaches about water resources.
- National Museum of Natural History (NASU): Ukraine’s largest natural history museum with thousands of exhibits.
- Kyiv Jellyfish Museum: a private, underground museum opened in 2018 near Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
- Ukraine State Aviation Museum (near Zhulyany Airport): about 70 aircraft and helicopters.
- Kyiv Railway Museum: at Kyiv-Passazhyrskyi Station.
- Kyiv Museum of Electric Transportation (Tram History Museum, founded 1992) and Kyiv Subway Museum.
These museums offer a wide view of Kyiv’s art, science, history, and culture for visitors of all ages.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:41 (CET).