The Kyiv City Council has approved plans to build a park named after Golda Meir, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 1969 to 1974. Construction will begin in the spring of 2025.
The square named after Meir will be in the historical center of Kyiv in the Podilskyi district, with new buildings constructed at 17, 19, and 21 Borychiv Tik Street, reported Skyscraper, a Kyiv journal focusing on city development.
The Russian embassy had previously leased the site and planned to build new facilities there. That lease was terminated in 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea.
Last year, the Kyiv City Council gave it the status of a public square and named it in honor of Meir on the 125th anniversary of her birth. Meir was born in Kyiv on May 3, 1898, as Golda Mabovitch.
The main element of the park will be a wall made of Jerusalem limestone, which simultaneously performs a decorative function and strengthens the slope.
“The wall also symbolizes the life of Golda Meir as a figure who supported the country,” said Pragmatika, a Kyiv magazine of architecture and urban design.
Quotes by Meir will be engraved on the surface of the wall.
A double-sided bench will be located at the wall with one side facing Meir’s quotes and the other facing the square. The area will be paved with granite tiles.
The efforts of several architectural firms, two from Ukraine and the others from Germany and Spain, were combined for the project. So far, five concepts have been developed.
Funding for the project is being undertaken by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine through its charitable organization, “If Not Now, Then When,” which supports numerous good works in the country.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the project on Jan. 23 at the premiere of the film “Golda,” which stars Helen Mirren in the lead role.
“There’ll be a public garden named after Golda Meir in Kiev. We’re planning to open it this coming summer in honor and in commemoration of Golda Meir and her accomplishments as an outstanding international figure and a founder of the State of Israel, who was born in Kiev,” Klitschko said.
Meir, who fled Kyiv because of antisemitic violence to the United States, has become something of an icon to embattled Ukrainians, who have adopted many of her remarks about the Arab-Israel situation to their own with Russia.
“After watching this film, I found many parallels with today’s events, when the Ukrainian state is also fighting for its existence,” Klitschko said at the film’s premiere.
