Holodomor Memorial and Museum

The National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide and its memorial complex stand at Lavrska Street 3 in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, Ukraine, on a hilltop above the Dnipro near the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The Holodomor was the man-made famine of 1932 and 1933 in Soviet Ukraine, caused by forced grain requisitions, collectivisation and restrictions on movement, and it killed millions of people. Ukraine officially recognised it as a genocide in 2006, and many other countries have since followed. The memorial was opened in 2008 and includes the Candle of Memory, a white candle-shaped tower that rises from a stone-paved area, together with a Bell of Memory, a statue of a young girl holding ears of wheat called Bitter Memory of Childhood, and a Park of Memory. The museum is located beneath the memorial, with a main hall of remembrance and exhibitions that document the famine through testimony, archive documents, photographs, household objects and a list of villages affected. The curatorial approach is thematic and chronological, moving from the pre-famine period to the policies, the experiences of victims, and the long Soviet silence about the tragedy. Symbolic installations such as the Hall of Memory with a wall of lights, and the book of names, mark individual victims. The complex has been expanded and modernised in stages. The museum is solemn, and visitors are asked to be quiet, dress respectfully and avoid disruptive photography. It is close to the Lavra and the Second World War museum, so many travellers include it in a day on the Pechersk hills. Hours and entry arrangements can change in wartime.