Kiev’s One Street Museum chronicles the vibrant history of Andreyvsky Uziv, often described as Kiev's Montmartre. Over the years a wide variety of artists, actors and writers lived on the street.

The creators of the One Street Museum have been exploring the mysteries of the old Kiev street Andreyevsky spusk (Andrew’s descent) over the last fifteen years. Small in size but very deep in substance, the museum became one of the most popular museums in Kiev. The abounding exposition of the museum is filled with historical documents, manuscripts, autographs, antique postcards, photos, and a great number of fascinating objects of the antique interior. Exploring the museum visitors immerse into nostalgic atmosphere of the history, as if traveling by the time machine.

Usually Andreyevsky spusk is associated solely with the name of Mikhail Bulgakov, the world-famous writer, who lived in the descent in the building No.13. Actually, since the end of nineteenth century many prominent figures of the Ukrainian and Russian science and culture lived in this densely populated street. The One Street Museum illustrates the way they lived and worked without any preconception and bias. Just as these people were neighbors living in Andreyevsky spusk, so they continue to be alongside in the museum exposition.

In 2002 the One Street Museum became a nominee for European Museum Forum – an international organization under the auspices of the Council of Europe and under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of Belgium. It was the first and only museum of Ukraine participating in the Forum.

The team of the One Street Museum lay down a new path in museum business. The main principle of the museum is strict and impartial reflection of reality. There are neither cuts of history process, nor cultural, religious or ideological bias. The museum exposition shows history just as it is.

Anyone who had ever been to Kyiv would never forget this small winding, very steeply inclined street, with its roughly laid large cobblestones, running between Kyiv's lush picturesque hills: only 850 meters long, with just a few dozen rather eclectic and colorful buildings, which has a feeling of history, going back about two thousand years.

The place is now known as Andreyevsky Spusk has been first mentioned in the ancient chronicle, "The Tales of Bygone Years". According to the legend, in the first half of the first century, apostle Andrew erected a cross on the top of the hill where St. Andrew's church is now standing, predicting future prosperity and glory for the "eternal city of Kyiv".A narrow road running from that hill that connected the Upper Town where nobility lived and the Down Town composed of craftsmen and common people, became a vital artery, the living heart of Kyiv.

The whole subsequent history of the street has become evidence of the inimitable interplay between real and imaginary, between fact and legend, the street has become a very surreal place - it's that magic place where reality and fantasy touch. The street, born out of a myth, became a myth in itself. Andreyevsky Spusk, formerly a provincial little street, became one of the most beautiful, most exciting, most romantic places in today's Kyiv.

But is is the eminent inhabitants of Andreyevsky Spusk that the street owes its more recent fame to. At different times, painters H. Dyadchenko, F. Krasitsky and I. Makushenko; sculptor I. Kavaleridze; medical doctor F. Yanovsky; professors of Kyiv Theological Academy F. Titov, P. Kudryavtsev and S. Golubev; journalist A. Savenko all used to live on Andreyevsky Spusk.

A Russian writer of worldwide fame, Mikhail Bulgakov, who spent most of his childhood and youth on the street, made Andreyevsky Spusk a full-fledged personage in his first novel, "The White Guard." This book full of deep and tender love for the writer's mothers town, reveals the spirit of Kyiv better then anything ever written about the city.

In 1991, Creative Society "Master" (a non-governmental and non-profit organization founded in 1988) opened the "Museum of One Street" dedicated to the history of Andreyevsky Spusk and its prominent inhabitants. For a few years this cozy museum was the only museum in Kyiv that managed to present the picture of the past without any political or ideological bias. Very fast, it became one of the most popular and best known museums in the Ukrainian capital. More than half a million people from all over the world have visited Museum of One Street since the day of its opening.

The Museum's collection contains more than four thousand exhibits---books, documents, paintings, photographs, items of everyday life, etc. It is completely unique, since all of the world class exhibits are related to one subject----the history of a single street.

Creative Society "Master" is engaged in various activities-----such as excursions, lectures, and exhibitions. "Master's" members are regular contributors to the Ukrainian media. In January of 1999 one of the Ukrainian publishing houses printed the first and so far only book on the history of Andreyevsky Spusk. A book written by "Master's" members. The staff of the Museum dedicate much of their time and effort to assist people in learning about Kyiv's history and about the historical heritage and cultural traditions of Ukraine.

The staff of the Museum are always available to take people around the ancient capital of Ukraine. The Museum can offer you various walking tours of Kyiv, from "St. Sophia - Kyiv's Historical Heart" to "Architectural Treasures of Kyiv," to "Andreyevsky Spusk - Journey Through Time". Other tours can also be arranged.