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According to legend, Shchek, the brother of the legendary founder of Kyiv, built his city on this Hill in Podil. As a matter of fact, hence the name of the Hill. Apart from Shchekavytsia, there are other well-known place named Olehivka (because it was here that a snake supposedly bit the Prince Oleh and his grave was there), Skavyka, Lysa, and the City of the Dead. According to the annals, there was a fortress on the Hill in the Middle Ages. Following the Mongol-Tatar Yoke, the territory began to be used for farming. Until the 15th century, the fortifications that withstood the onslaughts of the Muscovites, Poles and Tatars had again appeared on the Hill. Following the plague epidemic in the 70s of the 18th century, a central cemetery was arranged in Shchekavytsia and a church was built, none of which have survived today. On the Hill, there were graves of the famous Kyivites: the Balabukhs, Maksymovichs, Hryhorovych-Barskyis, musician Artem Vedel, and the first chief architect of Kyiv, Andrey Melensky. In the 1930s, most graves were destroyed to make place for building an entertainment complex on this site. Yet instead, with the beginning of the Cold War, the Hill was closed to visitors and a radio tower was erected there. In the period of independence, Shchekavytsia began to be actively developed, even despite the creation of a landscape reserve of the same name there in 2020.
Among the Kyivites, the Hill is known for its sightseeing platform. From a height of 172 metres, one can see the best panoramas of the city.