Beneath the city center of Kyiv lie two huge underground water-supply reservoirs. The first one carries a rich historical heritage. It was built in 1871 as part of Kyiv’s first water-supply system; in the 1950s the site was refitted as a fallout shelter, and it was completely abandoned in the 1990s.
The main hall of the underground reservoir. Its brick arches and ceilings rest on massive columns.
A blast-resistant door inside the reservoir is a trace of its conversion into a bomb shelter. The site also contains some water tanks and gas masks.
It’s a pretty good location for making movies.
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The second abandoned reservoir is a far more massive structure, built during the Cold War as an emergency water supply. It is the size of a football field, and its ceiling is held up by 8-meter-high columns.
Ninety-six meters beneath Kyiv runs a water-pipe tunnel system 6 kilometers long. This tunnel, named “Shtolnya-1,” was built between 1973 and 1976 as a secret facility.
This is a crossroads of tunnels where several huge gates are located.
This room is connected to the reservoir by a shaft.
The shaft is 96 meters high.
Something similar to this site, but much more ancient, exists in Istanbul, Turkey. You can read about it here: Basilica Cistern.
Sometimes it’s possible to include a visit to the deep underground pipe tunnel on our Kiev urban exploration guided tour — just contact us 😉
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