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20 May 2017 11:30-19:30National Park Mezhyhirya

After the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, the ousted ex-president of Ukraine Yanukovych fled the country abandoning his luxurious 160-hectare residence and leaving it subject to looting, until a group of Euromaidan activists took over and reorganized the estate into a national park and an open-air “museum of corruption”. 

Nowadays fully open to public for a symbolic entry donation used to maintain the estate’s facilities (including the zoo, the orangery, the fish pond, the dog training center, horse club etc), the site  receives no support from the state which apparently considers Mezhyhirya as an additional burden for Ukraine’s struggling economy.

 Mezhyhirya is proud to host several events throughout summer – like investigative journalism festival Mezhyhirya Fest and children summer camp Eurocamp.

In addition its public status, Mezhyhirya is a temporary home for more than 70 families of refugees from the annexed Crimea and the war-hit Eastern Ukraine. A lot of them have children born while living in Mezhyhirya.

The energy supply of Mezhyhirya is almost 100% green, as the activists converted heat supply from natural gas to wood residuals, and the electricity is sourced from a nearby Kyiv hydropower plant.

The activists constantly look for new ways to expand sustainability practices already used in Mezhyhirya and are keen to meet with and to learn new ideas from the alumni of SIMP NE 2016 and other event guests.

Event format

As Mezhyhirya is located outside Kyiv, one of the convenient, fast and at the same time pleasant ways to get there is by a river boat along the Dnipro river. The boat ride takes about one-two hours each way (including passing through water gates of the Kyiv hydropower plant’s dam).

Upon arriving, the participants will have a guided tour on electric cars around Mezhyhirya’s territory, visit the house of the ex-president, and meet with the activists who maintain the site during fika. 

After the fika, there will be about up to two hours of personal time, followed by the departure to Kyiv by bus (to ensure participants have more time around the site).

Event program

11:00-11:30 Meeting at Kyiv River Port (https://www.google.com.ua/maps...)

11:30-13:30 Boat ride to Mezhyhirya (incl. lunch)

13:30-16:15 Guided tour around Mezhyhirya

16:15-16:30 Short introduction presentation by activists

16:30-17:00 Fika and informal mingling with brainstorming

17:00-19:00 Personal time

19:00-20:00 Bus ride to Kyiv River Port

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Denys Tarahkotelyk
Head, NPU Mezhyhirya

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