On Molodizhna Street in Hostomel grows an oak tree that is about four hundred years old. Its trunk circumference is 5 meters. Locals named it the Amulet Oak, and in 2020 the Kyiv Regional Council declared the tree a local botanical natural landmark. The oak remembers Hostomel back when it was a Cossack centuria town, and in 2022 it survived the battles for the airport and the occupation alongside it.
A contemporary of Cossack Hostomel
If the oak is four hundred years old, then it grew in the first half of the 17th century. It was then, in 1614, that King Sigismund III granted Hostomel Magdeburg rights, and in 1618 the residents of surrounding villages and towns formed a Cossack centuria, which later became part of the Kyiv Regiment. The first written mention of Hostomel dates back to 1494: then Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania granted it to Prince Ivan Hlynskyi. In 1694, a church was built in the town, and in 1678 the Haidamaks of Ivan Bondarenko visited it.
The oak became a natural landmark on October 15, 2020. The protected area around it is only 0.01 hectares, and it is cared for by the Hostomel Village Council. Not many such large old oaks remain within the settlements of the Kyiv region: most of the age-old trees grow in forests and old parks.
Hostomel in the 20th and 21st centuries
In July 1941, the frontline stopped for several weeks along the Irpin River near Hostomel. The line of the Kyiv Fortified District passed here, and pillboxes still stand in the settlement, such as Pillbox No. 483 on Richkova Street. In Soviet years, glass and starch plants operated here, and near the settlement was an airfield where the world's largest An-225 Mriya aircraft was based.
On February 24, 2022, Russian troops landed an assault force at the Hostomel airfield. Battles for the airport and the settlement lasted for weeks, the Mriya burned down in a hangar, and Hostomel was under occupation for more than a month. On March 6, 2022, the settlement was awarded the honorary title of Hero City. The old oak withstood the ordeal and afterwards became an even greater symbol for the community.
How to get there
Hostomel is located right past Irpin, about 25 km northwest of downtown Kyiv. Suburban buses and marshrutkas run here from Kyiv, and the Hostomel railway station is on the Kyiv – Korosten line. The oak grows on Molodizhna Street, amidst residential buildings.
Tip
The oak stands among houses, so please behave quietly and do not climb the tree or the fence. You can combine the trip with a visit to Vorzel and the Vorzel Nature Reserve or with Bucha and Irpin. Read more about the region in the article about Kyiv Polissia.
