Mykyl’sky Gates — the main gate to the Kyiv fortress in nineteenth century. Built in 1846-1850, designed by architect Peter Tamansky and military engineer Otto Freiman. Named after the destroyed in 1934 Bolsheviks of Mykyl’sky Monastery XV ct. — one of its churches stood right in the middle of the modern Arsenal Square.

In the middle of the XVIII century, before the appearance on the site of the Mykyl’sky Gates, an artillery field yard was located here. In 1846 construction work began, for which a ravine was filled up on the site where Arsenal Square is now. Laying the foundation on bulk soil required complex engineering work.

The barracks is decorated with unfolded wings and underlined by two towers. Mykyl’sky Gates were two arches decorated with metal cast elements. On the western side it is completed with machiculas and decorative imprints, and from the rear of the fortification – machiculas and attic. Side wings with square towers with a serrated parapet. The arches were flanked by semi-columns of the composite order. 1852 the gate was decorated with ornaments and lion mascarons. For construction six kinds of bricks were used, on each of which there is a mark of a brick and a year of production.

Around the barracks there was a protective moat, on which a drawbridge descended from the Mykyl’sky Gates. It relied on a special rectangular structure designed to fire at the moat during the assault.

Then the building, designed for 500 soldiers and 15 officers, was called Mykyl’sky
Fort. Around the gate built Kyiv fortress, formerly connected by a wall to “Arsenal” manufacture.

Interestingly, the fortress was never used for defense, because while it was being built, the planned functions lost their significance: for the new artillery it was not an obstacle.

After the abolition of the fortress, the gates that lost their functional purpose were dismantled. On the site of a partially filled up moat and dismantled defensive wall, the current street is laid.

In 1855 on the second floor of the left wing they equipped a magnetic telegraph station, in the casemates of the barracks — a guardhouse, and in 1863 — prison for “secret prisoners.”
In 1917-1918 the 3rd pontoon battalion was located in the barracks. 1951 barracks transferred to the Ministry of Defense.

For quite a long time, the Mykyl’sky Gates and the barracks stood abandoned — the historical monument was hidden from the human eye: walled up, surrounded by a fence and plaster.

Only in 2020 A Development team returned them original appearance, which everyone can now admire. Today it is a hospitable place where Kyiv residents and guests of the city have a good time. The restoration of Arsenalna Square has become a logical continuation of the A-Station project.