On Saturday, 16 May 2026, the GDIP Media Center Directorate organised a new walking tour for diplomats entitled Masonic Secrets of Kyiv. Numerous legends and mysteries have long surrounded Freemasonry. ‘Freemasons are everywhere,’ ‘Freemasons rule the world,’ ‘Freemasons possess secret knowledge,’ — these are only some of the myths associated with the Masonic brotherhood.

Employees of the embassies of Croatia, Denmark and Norway, as well as international organisations — the UN Mission, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine — joined the capital’s promenade.

During the tour, participants learned who the Freemasons were and how they appeared in Ukrainian lands. The diplomats discovered hidden symbols embedded in Kyiv’s architecture and heard about the history of Freemasonry, its secret signs and rituals. At the turn of the 20th century, when Freemasonry was officially banned, Kyiv was undergoing rapid urban development. It was these symbols that the tour participants sought as they explored the city.

The guests observed the future monument to Freemasons, depicted on Ukrainian hryvnias, and were immersed in the enigmatic atmosphere of early-20th-century Kyiv. The tour covered the Bunge School, the Uvarov House, the Demchenko merchant estate, the Chocolate House, the House of the Weeping Widow and the Kovalevskyi House, known as the Castle of Sighs.

The guide drew particular attention to prominent Ukrainian Freemasons, including Kyrylo Rozumovskyi, Vasyl Kochubei, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Drahomanov, as well as members of the distinguished patron families Khanenko and Tereshchenko.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to a secret club for an interactive game — an initiation into Freemasonry, just as it might have taken place a century ago.