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.