Building No. 5 on Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street is a landmark of Ukrainian cultural life. It was home to a succession of famous theaters, now the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theater. Famous actors, directors, artists, and composers worked in these theater groups.
On January 10, 1882, the first performance of the Ukrainian professional theater under the direction of Marko Kropyvnytskyi (1840-1910), a writer, playwright, theater director, and actor, took place in this building. Kropyvnytskyi's name is associated with the creation of the Ukrainian professional theater in the Dnipro region of Ukraine and the next stage of development of realistic drama. He wrote more than 40 plays. The theme of the devaluation of age-old spiritual values in the minds of people who were detached from the spiritual foundations of their nation is a cross-cutting theme in Kropyvnytskyi's work. He sees the cure for the spiritual decline of his compatriots in the Ukrainian national revival. The city of Kropyvnytskyi is named after him, and a street in Kyiv's Pechersk district is named after him.
A marble plaque with a bronze bas-relief to Marko Kropyvnytskyi was unveiled on 24 May 1958.
Authors: sculptor Ivan Honchar, architect Isroel Shmulson.
Address: 5 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street.
