When you slowly walk the quiet Tereshchenkivska Street in Kiev center, looking at green trees of Taras Shevchenko park and old buildings on the other side of the street, you will surely notice a cozy mansion that resembles Italian palazzo. Its facade is decorated by a relief with the coat of arms of the old Ukrainian lineage of Khanenkos.

The house belonged to the family of Ukrainian art connoisseurs, Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko who collected a number of valuable art masterpieces. In 1919 a museum was opened in this house. For a long period of time it was known as Kyiv State Museum of Western and Eastern Art. Now its initial name is used, “Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Art Museum”.

Today the museum holds more than 20 thousand works of painting, sculpture, print and applied art of both West European and Eastern countries from ancient times till XIX century.

When you enter the museum you will get into the atmosphere of ancient Europe. The interior of the museum-house was stylized according to Khanenkos’ idea in order to recall the mode of different historical epochs and fascinate the guests by their refined harmony.

Now the museum’s permanent exposition demonstrates the best works of European art from XVI-XVIII centuries.

Works of outstanding Renaissance masters such as Giovanni Bellini, Pietro Perugino, Jacopo del Sellaio represent Italian art of the collection. The spectacular magnificence of Italian baroque painting impresses visitor's eye from canvases by Johann Leiss, Luca Giordano. The landscape painting of Italy from XVIII century is presented by vedutas by Bernardo Bellotto, Francesco Guardi, and Francesco Tironi.

The masterpieces of the Netherlandish, Flemish and Dutch painters are real treasure of the collection. The highlights of the holdings include the unique diptych "Adoration of the Magi" by a Netherlandish master of XV century, works by Gijsbrecht Lijtens, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Jan Weenix.

The group of Spanish art holds extraordinary artistic value. It represents real gems of painting from XVII century: "Portrait of Infant Margarita" by Diego Velasquez and "Still Life with Chocolate Mill" by Juan de Zurbaran.

The art of France from XVIII-XIX centuries is presented by canvases by Louis Tocque, Jacques Louis David, Claude Joseph Vernet, and Francois Boucher.

In 2004 the renewed exposition of the world known Byzantium icons from VI-VII centuries was opened in the separate hall of the museum. "The Mother of God and the Child Christ", "The Saint John the Baptist", "The Saints Sergius and Bacchus", "The Two Saints" are the earliest monuments of Christian icon painting.