How the unique Podilski Gate on Kyiv's embankment once looked like. Archival photos

For almost a century, a unique system of city fortifications in the form of a small castle, the Podilski Gate, was located on the embankment in Kyiv. A tram even ran through them, and they were located near the current Green Theatre.

Unique photos were published on social media. Unfortunately, the unique fortification was destroyed more than 70 years ago.

"'Podilski gate. The gate of the city fortification system, destroyed in 1951 and built a century before right on the banks of the Dnipro River, under the current Green Theatre. A tram used to run through these gates. And then the granite from them was used to build the 48th school," the statement reads.

The Podilskyi Naberezhnyi Werk (or Podilska Brama) was built in 1849-1853 by architect Petro Tamanskyi. It is located in front of the lower retaining wall on the banks of the Dnipro River.

The fortification ensured control of traffic along the Dnipro and was intended for armed defence of the Chain Bridge from Podil. The artillery was housed in two-tiered casemates and could fire along the Naberezhne Highway in both directions and towards the Dnipro water area.

Recall that the oldest building on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the Gudovsky House, has withstood time and the Communist bombing of Kyiv's city centre. Unfortunately, in the 1970s, it was demolished during the reconstruction of the capital's main square.

On July 7, 1902, a flood was recorded on Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv. As a result of the emergency, the basements of the buildings were flooded, and the water was pumped out using pumps.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Frantisek Meser went down in history as a master of high-quality photographs of the landscapes of old Kyiv. The Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine holds an album of his works made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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