After its initial establishment the university was located in private rooms in
Pechersk, and was named for St. Vladimir. Now the main building (built 1837–42 by architect V I Beretti) can be found at 60
Volodymyrska Street, whilst a number of humanities departments are located at 14 Shevchenko Boulevard 14 (formerly the First Kyiv Gymnasium). Furthermore, there are departments located on Akademika Hlushkova Avenue (building 6, built 1954–70) and Vasylkivska Street (Library is located in building No. 90, built in 1939). The university's administration is housed in buildings 58–64 on Volodymyrska Street.
Red University Building It was constructed from 1837 to 1843 and was built in the late Russian
Classicism style, by a Russian architect of Italian descent, Vincent I. Beretti. The building forms an enormous square enclosing a
courtyard; the length of the main façade is 145.68m. The walls of the building are painted blood red and the capitals and bases of the portico's columns are painted black, corresponding to the colours of the ribbon of 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" ''(Pol'za Chest' i Slava)'' also, subsequently, became the motto of Kyiv University. Local tour guides sometime 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. The legend does not reflect the historical fact, as the building was
painted red before World War I, in 1842.
Nicholas I of Russia (1825–1855) died long before
World War I (1914–1918). Built at the top of a hill, this building has significantly influenced Kyiv's architectural layout in the 19th century.
Botanical Gardens The university's
A.V. Fomin Botanical Garden (named after Academician
Aleksandr V. Fomin, 1869–1935) was founded in 1839 and planned by architect V. Beretti and botanist R. E. Trautfetterom. The total area covered by the garden is around 5.22 hectares; it has a collection of over 10 000 species, forms and varieties of plants. The garden's
greenhouse's height, after reconstruction in 1977, is about 33 meters and is the largest in the world. The university's first
orangerie was built in 1846-49 for its collection of tropical and subtropical plants; a collection which has now over two thousand items and is one of the largest in Europe. The gardens are located at the city centre campus, to the rear of the red building; the nearest metro station is
Universytet.
Yellow Building and Maksymovych Library The Humanities Building or "Yellow" building of the university is located at 14 Shevchenko boulevard. Built in 1850–1852, it was designed in the classical style by the architect Alexander Vikentiyovych Beretti (1816–95), son of V. Beretti, the architect of by the main ("red") building. The building initially belonged to the First Gymnasium (a grammar school, in which M. Berlin and
M. Kostomarov taught, and where students included the artists
Nikolai Ge and V. Levandovskyy, historian M. Zakrevskii, economist M. Bunge, poet M. Herbel, sculptor P. Zabello, writers
Bulgakov and
K. Paustovsky, and future academics
E. Tarle,
A. Bogomolets, and
A. Lunacharsky). In 1919 the academic
Vernadsky, first president of
the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, took up residence in part of the building. Since 1959, the building has been part of the Kyiv National University. The
Maksymovych Library (58 Volodymyrska Street), built in 1939–1940, is a neo-classical building designed by architects V. A. Osmaka and P. Alyoshin as the university's Humanities building. Currently the library holds around 3.5 million books, making it currently the largest research library in Ukraine. The Maksymovych library – along with the No.1 branch of the
National Library of Ukraine (62 Volodymyrska Street), designed by the same architects in 1929–1930, and the main ("red") building of the university – forms part of an important and impressive architectural ensemble which is today considered one of Kyiv's key collective architectural monuments.
Architecture In the 1960s it became imperative that the Kyiv National University acquire more space for its greatly expanded number of departments. It was with this in mind that the building of a complex of new buildings for the university started on the southwestern outskirts of Kyiv (opposite the
National Exhibition Centre of Ukraine). The authors of the final project were architects V. I. Ladnyi, M. P. Budylovskyi, V. I. Kolomiets and engineer V. Y. Drizo. The Institute of International Relations and Institute of Journalism's joint building at 36 Melnikova Street, developed by Kyivproect architects O Nosenko, I Shpara, Yu Duhovichny, O Klishchuk and Y Vig, was awarded the
State Prize of Ukraine in the Field of Architecture in 1995.
Astronomical Observatory The astronomical observatory of Kyiv National University is located at 3 Observatorna Street; founded in 1845, it was initially planned to place an observatory in the Main Building of the university (as evidenced by existing architectural designs for the red building), however, it was later decided to build for a separate building to house the observatory. This task was again entrusted Vincenty Beretta, it was built in 1841–1845 and officially opened on February 7, 1845.
Accreditation Of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv • World Health Organization • Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine • Medical Council of India ==Notable alumni==