The Ministry of Defence building is a government building in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

that houses the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The building, originally constructed as the Vladimir Cadet Corps, was built to the design of Russian architect Ivan Shtrom.

History

In 1847, the nobility from a number of Southwestern (Ukrainian) Russian ''

guberniyas A governorate (, , ) was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the October Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, governorates remained as subdivisions in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, By ...

'' (

Volyn Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in Ukraine it is roughly ...

Podolie Podolie () is a village and municipality in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1332. Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovak ...

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

and Tavrida) collected 200,000

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

for construction of a school building for children of nobles from those ''guberniyas''. The nobles also agreed to pay 67,000 silver rubles to the school annually for education, and they petitioned to name the school after the newly born

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (; 22 April 1847 – 17 February 1909) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, a brother of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and the senior Grand Duke of the House of Romanov during the reign of hi ...

. Emperor

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I, group=pron (Russian language, Russian: Николай I Павлович; – ) was Emperor of Russia, List of rulers of Partitioned Poland#Kings of the Kingdom of Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 18 ...

granted the petition, and in the same year, he visited

to pick a spot for the new school. In the meantime, it was agreed to temporarily conduct all classes in the First Kyiv Gymnasium (today the 'Yellow Building' of

Kyiv University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

). The construction was entrusted to the Russian architect Ivan Shtrom and stretched for some 10 years. The building was finally completed on August 30, 1857, and it housed some 400 students. The school changed hands during the

Ukrainian–Soviet War The Ukrainian–Soviet War () is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917 and 1921, nowadays regarded essentially as a war between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks (Russian SFSR a ...

of 1917 to 1920, and normal education was interrupted. From June 1920 until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the building housed the 5th Kyiv Infantry School. During the occupation of Kyiv by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, the building served as army barracks for the German

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

. On November 5, 1943, a Soviet air strike destroyed half of the building, and it was rebuilt from 1951 to 1953. After that time, the headquarters of the

Kyiv Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

was located there. Since 1991, the building houses the

of Ukraine.

External links

Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps

Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps
Cadet Commonwealth. {{Authority control Government buildings in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Kyiv Government buildings completed in 1857 Ministry of Defence (Ukraine) 1857 establishments in the Russian Empire