Crematorium
As of today, the Baikove Cemetery, which opened in 1831, is one of the oldest in Kyiv, with about 200,000 burials. There is also a columbarium there, with a unique crematorium as a symbolic center.
The project of the complex, which opened in 1975, was designed by the architect Avraham Miletsky in cooperation with Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko, a family of monument sculptors. They intended to make the crematorium and its surroundings not a utilitarian place but an environment to bid farewell and heal after loss. This resulted in an unusual building, a landmark of Kyiv modernism. The building is made in the shape of two reinforced concrete shells with two farewell halls. It is also organically blended in with the landscape.
On the way to the crematorium, visitors pass the grand Wall of Memory – a majestic 213-meter bas-relief, which took Rybachuk and Melnychenko seven years to create. It depicts the path from birth to death, the destiny for all of us. Well, that's what it used to depict.
In 1982, Soviet authorities declared the Wall of Memory to be subversive to the principles of socialist realism. Despite the authors' protests, their seven-year work was destroyed in just three months – hidden under 1,000 cubic meters of concrete.
In 2021, Ukraine initiated the restoration of the Wall of Memory. And in 2024, a museum-workshop to honor Rybachuk and Melnychenko was opened in Kyiv.
Volodymyr Gnatenko
Volodymyr Gnatenko began writing electronic music when his father gave him a
Roland FR-3x electric accordion. Now the 25-year-old producer from Lutsk, Ukraine,
has several acclaimed releases on labels such as “Where We Met”, “Animals on
Psychedelics” and others. His LP "Rainalice," which is out now on “Kalahari Oyster Cult”, contains all the qualities of his live sets and EPs to date.
His live performances are like works of art, a soundtrack from a movie. Melancholic
and dynamic at the same time, they transport you to another dimension.
Volodymyr's parallel project Hena, in which he plays on his e-guitar, is somewhere
between Berlin School, ambient and intelligent dance music. Also, upcoming releases
on his own label, which is being planned for later this year, will showcase exclusive
music created with much love.