There are two versions of How the Chestnuts came to Kiev:
- In 1842 for the visit of Tsar Nicholas I, one of the rulers of Kiev - governor-general Bibikov had introduced the trees from the Balkans, “the unknown plant that delights the eye and smell nice.” Trees were planted in the now Boulevard Shevchenko, where the tsar and his entourage were supposed to enter the city from. However, the emperor expressed his displeasure. During the night all the chestnuts were uprooted, and instead planted Lombardy poplars. Fortunately, the townspeople did not let the exotic trees die and secretly planted them in their backyards.
- In the second version, the estate of Kiev decorated monasteries with the chestnut trees, even in XVII-XVIII centuries. There is quite a lot of evidence to support this version. For example, in “History of Kiev,” written in 1799-1800 years, the author refers to the “wild” (non-edible) chestnut trees, which are well-off people of Kiev “bred in the gardens for a beauty of their flowers.” An additional advantage of these trees were magnificent crown, under which it was possible to escape the summer heat. Over time, the chestnuts almost completely replaced the spectacular, but practically useless poplar - a symbol of Kyiv of XIX century, imposed on the city by royal authority.
- At the end of the XIX century, chestnuts were planted only in the old part of town.
- Up to 1969 Kiev did not have its own coat of arms. The symbol of the city was, as usual, the hammer and sickle from Soviet regime. Somewhere around then they began to plant chestnut - because they were pleasing in appearance, and their leaves and flowers had a well-ordered form.
- According to the manual “Kievzelenstroy” there are 1 million of chestnuts, in the capital today, which shed in the autumn some 30 tons of cores. Previously, the core was collected by the students and passed on to the pharmacies, where they made brandy.