Red University Building
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The Red University Building () is the principal and oldest 4-story building of the
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 ...
located at 60 Volodymyrska Street, 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, ...
, the capital of
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 ...
. This building is a famous symbol of the Kyiv University and the Ukrainian fundamental higher educational system.


History

It was constructed from 1837 to 1843 and was built in a late Russian
Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...
type construction by Russian architect with Italian origins Vincent I. Beretti working for the Russian Empire. The building forms an enormous figure enclosing a
courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...
, the length of the facade is . The walls of the building are painted red and the heads and bases of the columns are painted black, corresponding to the colors of the stripes on the
Order of St. Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'. Grades The order had four ...
(founded in 1782), as Kyiv University used to bear the name of this Order. The motto of the Order, "Benefit, honor and glory" became the motto of Kyiv University. Local tour guides sometime state that Tsar Nicholas II ordered the entire main building painted red in response to student conscription protests during World War I to remind students of blood spilled by Ukrainian soldiers. The legend does not reflect the historical fact, as the building was painted red before World War I, in 1842. Built at the top of a hill, this building has significantly influenced Kiev’s architectural layout in the 19th century. Colloquially referred as Red Corps, the building was nearly hit by a rocket during the
2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, an event captured close-up by
smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
video.


References


External links

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Головний корпус Національного університету — WWW Енциклопедія Києва
i
''Wiki-Encyclopedia Kyiv''
{{refend Buildings and structures in Kyiv Volodymyrska Street Buildings and structures destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine fi:Punainen yliopisto