There Really IS a Great Gate of Kiev!

[photos must be described] Please forgive my exuberance, but I just learned something, and it always excites me when that happens. You might have heard Modeste Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition on WOSU 89.7 once or twice before - it's that piece with many movements that Mussorgsky composed on the inspiration of paintings by the Russian artist Viktor Hartmann. The final movement of that piece, entitled "The Great Gate of Kiev," was based on Hartmann's painting of an idea for a massive gate in the Kiev city walls.  Why, here's Hartmann's painting now: Now, I've traveled to many places on our vast globe, but Ukraine is not one of them. And somehow I found myself wondering just a moment ago, after years of hearing (and performing) Mussorgsky's masterpiece, Does Kiev have a great gate, even if it's not Viktor Hartmann's great gate? Lo, and behold, it does! Here's what Kiev's actual great gate - the Golden Gate of Kiev, believed to have been built in the eleventh century - looks like: 00000178-6a23-ddab-a97a-6a3b5b4f0000 So if in the not-too-distant future you happen to hear Mussorgsky's "Great Gate of Kiev" on WOSU 89.7, I hope you'll think of Kiev's actual great gate. And if you happen to have a chance to visit Kiev, please salute the spectaular Golden Gate for me. My ears will be burning - and ringing with Mussorgsky's equally spectacular music. - Jennifer Hambrick