Kiev - the Big Water city in transition

The country is the largest nation within geographic Europe, and Kiev is an ancient cultural city on the Dnieper, which after the Volga and Danube, is Europe's third-longest river. The "Big Water" as the Persians called the Dnieper in the Middle Ages, was once part of the European trade network linking the Byzantine Empire with Scandinavia. On sunny weekends you are likely to meet half the townsfolk on extended strolls round the Venetsianska Bay, while in summer children splash about on the beaches - regardless of the radioactive pollution.

In 1986, the city's three million inhabitants were lucky, spared many of Chernobyl's evil effects by a favourable wind. Although independent institutes have warned of the dangers of the contaminated water, the people of Kiev try their best to come to terms with the past. In many respects, the legacy of the Soviet Union is still highly visible. On the Dnieper's west bank the huge monument that looks like a silver croquet hoop and towers over the park near the city centre. It is the Arch of Brotherhood, a steel construction that was built towards the end of the Soviet period and is supposed to symbolise the unity of the Socialist Soviet Republics.

Among Kiev's most impressive sights is the enormous St. Sophia Monastery Complex, which marks a highpoint of Kievan architecture in the 11th century. Another important landmark is the Lavra, which is famous for its labyrinthine caves. The monastery is regarded as one of the most sacred sites of Orthodox Christianity. The main Lavra church was blown up in 1941. There are many scars still visible in this city, inflicted first by the Stalinist terror of the 1930s and then by the German invasion. Many of them remain. The city's religious buildings show the degree to which architecture has defined Kiev's long political history. And yet although Stalin ordered many churches and monasteries to be destroyed, today there is just as much interest in rebuilding them.

The new building activity is a sign of change and the search for a new national identity. Russian historians in the Soviet era proclaimed the Kievan Rus, a ninth-century alliance of princes in the region, as the core of the Russian nation, an idea that the Ukrainian state since 1992 is now claiming as its own. The second pillar of the Ukrainian nation is regarded as the rule of the Cossacks in the 17th century, a period which is hugely popular again today.

It is easy to get the impression from city tours and official brochures that the Orthodox church, the Kievan Rus and Cossack rule make up the central elements of the Ukrainian nation. And yet, particularly in winter, it is obvious how deeply Kiev is still characterised by 70 years of Soviet rule. The state still uses a centralised heating system to warm households making the badly isolated network crisscrossing the city its lifeblood. Every evening, Kievans huddle together in metro stations around the Khreshchatyk and swap their cold living rooms for a folk festival outside with plenty of beer, vodka and music.

In contrast to other Eastern European states, Ukraine does not yet have a central tourist agency. Details of visa requirements should be obtained before travel from your nearest Ukrainian embassy.

(dpa)