A tsar, a hero or a commander riding a horse is a popular theme in memorial art. The most artistically famous statues of this kind are the Bronze Horseman, or the sculptural representation of Peter the Great, erected on Senate Square in St. Petersburg in 1782, and the monument to Johann of Saxony, which rises above the Theater Square in Dresden. But! Growing interest in Ukraine forces the organizers of tourist trips to take a new look at one of Kiev’s long-standing landmarks. We are talking about the monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky, which appeared on St. Sophia Square in 1888.
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This is a rare monument to the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Army, one of the most striking and controversial figures in modern Ukrainian history. Why controversial? On the initiative of Bohdan Zinoviy Khmelnitsky, the lower lands of the Sich, part of the left-bank Ukraine in the Middle Podneprovie and Kiev itself «broke» ties with the Polish-Lithuanian state and became part of the Russian Empire.
The memorial work is represented by the image of the Hetman himself, who at full speed sharply settles down a soaring horse. Hetman is dressed in what today would be called «parade uniform» — 
trousers «as wide as the entire Black Sea», saffiano boots, a traveling cloak and a cap with a feather, demonstrating the public status of the main arsonist and initiator of the Kozak uprising, which later turned into a national liberation war, against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648-1654.
In his right hand the commander holds a mace, giving the direction of movement to the people who trusted the energy of this man. The horse, stopped at full gallop, is placed on a relatively low stone. Its shape imitates a steppe mound.
All details of the sculpture — the horse, the rider and his clothes, are carefully worked out, the statue has a portrait resemblance to Bogdan Khmelnitsky, so the composition makes a grandiose impression on the viewer from almost any angle.
It is believed that one of the most powerful landmarks of Kiev in sculptural form depicts the meeting of Bogdan Khmelnitsky with the residents of the city immediately after the victory over Pilyavets.
It is known, 
that the original idea of the monument was very different from what we see now. Quite seriously considered a variant, in which Bogdan Khmelnitsky was to use a horse to trample and push off the cliff Polish nobleman and Jesuit, falling on the corpse of a murdered Jew. Khmelnitsky’s mace hand was to be turned in the direction of Moscow. At the foot of the rock was to sit kobzar with the face of Taras Shevchenko. Naturally, the kobzar sang, and he was listened to by a Belarusian, Chervonoross and Maloross, endowed with a characteristic appearance.
It is known exactly what made the sculptor — 
Mikhail Mikeshin, abandon the original idea. In 1870, an all-Russian collection of funds for the actual project of the monument began, by subscription. Collected only 37 thousand rubles. Therefore, the Governor-General of the South-West Territory, Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov, proposed to remove the anti-Polish and anti-Semitic component from the composition. In a very «reduced» version of the statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky with a horse in 1877 cast in St. Petersburg, at the factory Berda. The city’s maritime department donated 25.6 tons of scrap metal for this purpose.
Then the future attraction of Kiev was delivered to the city.
For several years it stood on the site in front of the Presence Hall — there were not enough funds for a pedestal. Then architect Vladimir Nikolaev came up with a variant of «cheap» pedestal-curgan for one of the most debatable in the new realities monument of Kiev. Nikolaev worked for free, and with the money allocated by the Kiev City Council, he developed a project of a fence with lanterns. The monument was installed in 1888, just in time for the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, which to this day enjoys great popularity among both residents and guests of the city, reminding of the great history and the struggle for independence of Ukraine.