The Central Post Office ( uk, Головпоштамт, translit=Holovposhtamt) in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, is located in

Maidan Nezalezhnosti Maidan Nezalezhnosti ( uk, Майдан Незалежності , literally "Independence Square") is the central square of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchen ...

. It houses Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service, and includes offices and a 24-hour internet café on the upper floors. The building was completed in 1958, and underwent a renovation during the 1990s.

History

Construction for a new post office began in 1914, was halted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was eventually completed in 1941. It was deliberately destroyed later that year by Soviet forces in an explosion during the , once

Nazi forces The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

had entered the city following the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

's retreat. The current building was built between 1952 and 1958. On 2 August 1989, during heavy rainfall, the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

of the building collapsed, killing 13 people. At the time of the collapse, the building had been undergoing reconstruction. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, although many Ukrposhta employees either moved to safer areas in

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

or left the country entirely, the post office remained operational. Ukrposhta also released a number of popular stamps, highlighting events such as the sinking of the ''Moskva'', the 2022 Crimean Bridge Bombing, and the

liberation of Kherson The Liberation of Kherson was the recapture on 11 November 2022 of the city of Kherson and other areas of Kherson Oblast and parts of Mykolaiv Oblast on the right bank of the Dnieper river by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU), while the Russi ...

, leading people to queue up for hours outside the post office.

Building

The seven-story brick building has concrete floors and a tin roof. It is L-shaped, with its wings being about in length. The wing located along Khreshchatyk has a slight curvature. The façade includes Ukrainian Baroque elements. The building used to have a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

, but it does no longer. White marble tiles were added to the central hall during a renovation in the 1990s. On the first floor, the frames for the doors and windows are made of dark granite.

Gallery

Notes

References

{{khreshchatyk Buildings and structures completed in 1958 Buildings and structures in Kyiv Maidan Nezalezhnosti Post office buildings