Golden Gate

The Golden Gate was the main entrance through Yaroslav the Wise's city wall, built in 1037 with a church over the passage, and it survived as ruined masonry into the twentieth century. In 1982 a full reconstruction was built over and around the remains, based on limited evidence and much argued about ever since: it is a plausible guess rather than a restoration. The original fragments are visible inside, and a museum occupies the structure.

What you actually see

• The reconstruction - the 1982 building raised over the medieval remains.
• The original masonry - surviving eleventh-century fragments preserved inside.
• The museum - displays on Kyivan Rus fortification within the gate.
• The Yaroslav monument - the statue in the square beside the gate.

When to go

Year round; the museum keeps set hours and closes on some weekdays. The square outside is open at all times. Summer evenings bring buskers.

Honest expectations

The building is a 1982 conjecture, not the medieval gate, and how much it resembles the original is unknown. The interior is small. Labelling is largely in Ukrainian.

Nearby

St Sophia is a short walk east, and the Descent is north.