Construction began after the 1654 Council in Pereiaslav, on the site of the already existing fortified monastery of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Located on the hills of the high right bank of the Dnieper, bounded on the north by the Klovsky ravine, on the south and west – by the slopes of the Lybid River valley.

With Kyiv gaining the designation of the capital of Kievan Rus, a large system of fortifications of the city was created.

A new stage begins during the Polish-Lithuanian rule – a fortress-castle was built on Mount Khorivytsia in Podil (Lithuanian Castle).

In 1679, the Cossack troops under the leadership of Hetman Samoilovich during the last years of the 17th century united the Old Kyiv and Pechersk fortifications – and one huge fortress was formed.

[1] A small fortress built in 1872 on the legendary Lysa Hora ("Bald Mountain") in 1906 became a place of executions for convicted political inmates.