Red University Building
Red University Building
Red University Building
The Red University Building is the principal and oldest 4-story campus of the Kiev University located at 60 Volodymyrska Street. This building is a worldwide famous symbol of the modern Kyiv University. The University and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is the famous and most known symbols of Ukrainian higher educational system.
It was constructed from 1837–1843 and was built in a late Russian Classicism type construction, by Russian architect with Italian origins Vincent I. Beretti. The building forms an enormous figure enclosing a courtyard, the length of the facade makes 145.68m. 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 (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. However, local tour guides state that Tsar Nicholas I 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. Built at the top of a hill, this building has significantly influenced Kiev’s architectural layout in the 19th century. Today University names as National Taras Shevchenko University.