During construction work on a building at 10 Yaroslavov Val in Kyiv, workers came across the probable remains of defensive fortifications from the princely era. The find was reported by urban planner and local historian Dmytro Perov, who drew attention to the stone masonry discovered at a depth of five underground floors.
According to him, during drilling, the workers encountered a very strong stone wall. The inability to drill through it caused the builders to simply bypass the obstacle and continue work nearby, leaving the masonry as a kind of "support". This indicates that the structure has considerable strength and may be part of an ancient defensive wall.
Comparing the modern and historical topography, the researcher emphasizes: it was along the current Yaroslaviv Val Street that a large defensive rampart passed in princely times. Its remains are partially visible in the relief of Zolotovoritsky Square and near Grinchenko Street. It is not for nothing that the street was previously called Velyka Pidvalna - it passed under the rampart fortifications.
Historical maps of Kyiv from 988–1240 also show that defensive structures ran along this particular section and crossed it in the direction of Sviatoslavivy Yar.
The building where the work was carried out is located in the UNESCO buffer zone, next to St. Sophia Cathedral and the Golden Gate. It is a historic estate known as the house of architect Alexander Schiele, built in 1877. In the 20th century, the Versailles Hotel operated here, and it also housed the institutions of the Ukrainian state of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky.
However, in recent years, the building has undergone aggressive reconstruction: the facade of the first two floors has been partially demolished, the interior ceilings have been dismantled, and new construction is actually underway on the site. According to media reports, the owner of the building is Mircea Yav LLC, and the beneficial owner is Olga Balyasna.
Maryna Solovyova, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection of the Kyiv City State Administration, reported that the work has been stopped. Although the Ministry of Culture issued an order back in 2020, the developer ignored it. Now, specialists from the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine are to conduct a study of the site of the find.
If the discovered stonework is confirmed as part of an ancient rampart, it will be one of the largest archaeological finds in central Kyiv in recent years.
