Skip to content
TravelHub
Kyiv · Ukraine

Mother Ukraine Monument: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Residents living beneath the hilltop statue treat the surrounding museum grounds as an everyday transit corridor where the redesigned shield keeps wartime realities in constant view.

Map of places
About the place

The monumental sculpture overlooks the capital as part of the national memorial grounds.

The monumental statue stands in Kyiv as an integral part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. Originating in the Soviet era, the structure underwent major modification during the Russo-Ukrainian War. Workers dismantled the Soviet heraldry from the shield and installed the Ukrainian tryzub coat of arms, reframing the skyline around modern national defense.

Read on

Beyond its commemorative role, the monument appears across international media as an emblem of the city. The novel World War Z features the statue watching over a Ukrainian tank commander and his soldiers evacuating an abandoned capital. The location also served as a competition pit stop on the television series The Amazing Race and provided the visual backdrop for the Scottish rock band Frightened Rabbit in their music video for Get Out.

Associations
  • Tryzub shieldReplaced Soviet heraldry in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
  • Soviet heraldryOriginal ideological symbols were dismantled from the monument shield.
  • War museum groundsThe sculpture belongs to the national Second World War memorial complex.
  • Pop culture depictionsFeatured in international television broadcasts, fiction, and music videos.
Facts
  • The sculpture forms part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.
  • The tryzub coat of arms replaced the original Soviet heraldry on the shield of the monument.
  • The monument provided a pit stop location for contestants on the television competition The Amazing Race.
  • Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit featured the monument in their music video for the song Get Out.
Source: Wikipedia
Mother Ukraine Monument in pictures8 photos · 1 place
National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II
Alex-engraver · cc-by-sa-3.0 · May 28, 2011
Andriy155 · cc-by-3.0 · Jul 2, 2012
Guillaume Speurt from Vilnius, Lithuania · cc-by-sa-2.0 · Jun 15, 2011
Ilya · cc-by-sa-3.0 · Apr 11, 2009

Getting there and staying

2 sources · As of November 3, 2026
Source: TravelHub · OurAirports (public domain)