(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Located about 15 miles north of Kiev, on the banks of the Dnieper River, the sprawling estate of Mezhyhirya has a storied history in Ukraine. Dating to the 14th century, it’s been an Eastern Orthodox monastery, the summer home of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the residence of a high-ranking Nazi official during World War II. Through a complicated chain of transactions and rental agreements, the property was acquired in 2007 by the family of then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. After winning Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election, Yanukovych began building a luxurious mansion at Mezhyhirya. Known as the Honka for the Finnish company that built it, the house looks like a Russian gingerbread cottage on steroids.
Back then, Petro Oliynik was running a humble grocery in the western Ukraine city of Lviv. Today he and his girlfriend are the sole inhabitants of the deposed president’s mansion. On the final day of the Maidan revolution in February 2014, with Yanukovych having fled to Russia, Oliynik found himself part of a crowd of revolutionaries who moved into the Honka. He says he felt obliged to protect it, so he appointed himself the keeper of the house and no one seemed to object.
Living in quarters originally intended for kitchen staff, the couple work as self-appointed guards and guides. The estate has become one of Ukraine’s top tourist attractions, with hundreds of visitors a day. Ticket proceeds go to a public organization formed by Oliynik and his group of squatters, who still control the house in a tentative arrangement sanctioned by the state. They say the money is barely enough to cover upkeep.
