Ukraine. Kiev. Andriyivskyy Descent Editorial Photo

Andriyivskyy Descent is a historic descent connecting Kiev's Upper Town neighborhood and the historically commercial Podil neighborhood. The street, often advertised by tour guides and operators as the Montmartre of Kiev, is a major tourist attraction of the city. The descent, 720 metres (2,360 ft) in length, is constructed of laid cobblestones. It winds down steeply around the Zamkova Hora hill, ending near the Kontraktova Square in the Podil. The Andriyivskyy Descent is marked by a couple historic landmarks, including the Castle of Richard the Lionheart, the 18th century baroque Saint Andrew's Church, famed Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov's house, and numerous other monuments. Recent talk of the descent's reconstruction has been going since 2006, when a local grassroots organization aimed at saving the Andriyivskyy Descent collected more than 1,000 signatures to petition local authorities to take action on the descent's reconstruction. On June 23, 2009, the Kiev City Council administration approved the reconstruction of the Andriyivskyi Descent, which was officially announced a year earlier by Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky. The exact timeline for reconstruction has not yet been adopted, although the reconstruction's budget has been drafted in the city's 2010 budget