Lysa Hora
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- See also Lysá hora, a mountain in the Czech Republic, and Łysa Góra, a mountain in Poland.
Lysa Hora (Ukrainian: Лиса Гора; Russian: Лысая гора (Lysaya Gora); literally "Bald Mountain") is a large woody hill in the Ukrainian capital Kiev (Kyiv), near the confluence of the Dnieper and Lybid' rivers. The mount supposedly takes its name from the fact that its top was (some slopes of the hill are still) not covered by trees.
According to the legends, the Lysa Hora hill is the largest and most famous location of the mystical "bald mountain" - a traditional site of the witch gatherings. Particularly, it is asserted in the writings of Nikolay Gogol.
[edit] History
In 1872, a small fortress (part of the Kiev fortress) was built on the hill by Russian army. However, upon completion the fortress was found to be of little military importance and was converted into the military storehouse. Due to its relatively remote location, from 1906 the fortress was used as an execution place for convicted political prisoners of the tsarist government. Over 200 people were executed there by hanging between 1906 and 1917, one of them was Dmitry Bogrov, the assassin of Pyotr Stolypin.
Later, the Red Army used the fortress as storage area till 1980. A mysterious sealed and flooded underground complex beneath the fortress is mentioned in Net, but in fact only old water tanks can be found, still filled with rain water.
In the 1980s, a radio beacon for aircraft navigation was built on the Lysa Hora.
Kiev hydro-meteo institute is also located on the hill just by Lysa Hora.
The hill is now a nature reserve included in the Kyiv Fortress museum.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Ukrainian) Site of The Kyiv's Greenlands Defenders (An environmentalist group that started their activities with Lysa Hora issues; includes photos and description of Lysa Hora nature)
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