The monument most famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko located opposite the no less famous red building of the university, now bears the name of the poet.

The idea of ​​establishing a monument appeared in the early twentieth century, but the city treasury was found on him money so I had to ask the public for help .  On the fundraising it took about five years and then was given an order to install the monument .  Already at the drafting stage of the monument there was a lot of controversy .  For example, the local government did not approve the idea of ​​placing the monument at St. Michael's Square, he was more than impressed by the idea of ​​installing a monument to Princess Olga (since then done) .  It has been studied a lot of options and finally settled on a site near Peter's alley, but there is a new problem - the possibility of landslides, the struggle which significantly increases the cost of installation of a monument .  Proved controversial competition to design the monument - they had to spend a few, but the winner has not been named, and this despite the fact that it involved the sculptors of world renown, such as French or Italian Roden Shioritino . 

So the matter was delayed until the First World War, when everyone was not up to the monument. Only in 1919, at St. Michael's Square, on a pedestal, which was demolished a monument to Princess Olga, there was a modest bust of the poet. Complete the bronze monument to Taras Shevchenko sculptor Manizer, he appeared in Kiev in March 1939, when celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko. Although the poet in this case is not looking at your favorite Dnieper, which he repeatedly sang in verse and in the university, which now bears his name, not the name of the Holy Prince Vladimir the Great, as once.