Saint-Sophia Cathedral - Kyiv 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, and is a major historical, cultural, educational and scientific centre. Its official history dates back to the 5th century, and throughout the centuries, Kiev has played an important role in establishing European civilisation in Eastern Europe. A monument to Bodil Kirmelnitsky, one of the most famous hetmen of Ukraine, who led a freedom-fighting war against Polish oppression, stands in Sofia The idea of creating a monument commemorating the joining of Ukraine to Russia arose as early as 1868. By the late 9th century, Kiev had become the capital of the first Ukrainian state, known today as Kievan Rus'. Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Kiev's Saint Sophia Cathedral symbolises the new Constantinople, capital of the Christian Principality of Kiev, which was created in the 11th century in a region evangelised after the baptism of Saint Vladimir in 988. The spiritual and intellectual influence of Kiev Pechersk Lavra contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and the Orthodox faith in the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century. The bell tower of Saint Sophia's Cathedral was built in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was originally a three-tiered wooden structure. In 1697 it burnt down and was replaced by a brick one. After the fire of 1744, the upper tier was dismantled. The Saint Sophia Cathedral bell tower was rebuilt under the direction of Johann Gottfried Schadel, who retained the first and part of the second tier, adding a new third tier and a cupola with a tall gilt spire. Originally, the walls of the Saint Sophia Cathedral bell tower were painted in dark blue, while the cornices, the frames around the niches, windows and panels, and the relief decoration were left white. In 1851-1852, the cupola and spire were removed and a fourth tier built instead, crowned with a baroque-style gilded cupola and a lantern. The architect was probably Pavel Spar. It's in this form that Saint Sophia Cathedral bell tower appears today. The lower tier serves as a gateway. The second houses the bells and the third a clock. The abundance of deep niches, pediments and stucco ornament creates a vivid three-dimensional composition. The original bells are in the gardens near the bell tower. The clock tower and the refectory church are two of the main landmarks in a monastic landscape, totally transformed by the construction or the renovation of numerous churches. The refectory, or Roam Sophia, was situated to the south of Saint Sophia's Cathedral. This building acquired its present appearance as a result of repeated alterations. The baroque decoration of the cupola, the stucco plant ornament and the gilt cherub which crowns the building were retained intact. The name of the cathedral comes from the Greek word Sophia, which means wisdom. Built in the times of Yaroslav Mudri, the cathedral served as a social, political and cultural centre of Kievan Rus, where foreign ambassadors were received, chronicles were recorded and the first Russian library, founded by Yaroslav Mudri himself, functioned. During Yaroslav Mudri's rule, art, education and culture prospered. As for Kiev, it became one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and Asia. Construction of Saint Sophia Cathedral played an important role in the development of Kiev's look. Further south, the Metropolitan Residence houses the Ukrainian Museum of Arts and Tradition and its remarkable collection of craft. In the printing house, the Museum of Historical Treasure is a must-see, containing an exceptional collection of Scythian goldsmiths' work. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and during the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 1920s, the government plan called for the cathedral's destruction and transformation of the grounds into a park, called Heroes of Perikok, after a Red Army victory in the Russian Civil War in Crimea. The cathedral was saved from destruction, primarily with the effort of many scientists and historians. Nevertheless, in 1934, Soviet authorities confiscated the structure from the church, including the surrounding 17th-18th century architectural complex, and designated it as an architectural and historical museum. Since the late 1980s, Soviet and later Ukrainian politicians promised to return the building to the Orthodox Church. Due to various schisms and factions within the church, the return was postponed, as all Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches lay claim to it. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it's one of the city's best-known landmarks and the first Ukrainian site to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. The cathedral's name comes from the 6th-century Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople, meaning Holy Wisdom, and dedicated to the Holy Wisdom, rather than a specific saint named Sophia. According to a less popular theory, its model was which Yaroslav I the Wise determined to imitate in stone as a sign of gratitude to the citizens of Novgorod who'd helped him secure the Kievan throne in 1019. The first foundations were laid in 1037, but the cathedral took two decades to complete. The structure has five naves, five apses, and, quite surprisingly for Byzantine architecture, 13 cupolas. It's surrounded by two-tier galleries on three sides. Measuring 37 to 55 metres, the exterior used to be faced with plinths. After the pillaging of Kiev by Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1169, followed by Mongolian Tatars in 1240, the cathedral fell into disrepair. The 13 cupolas, symbolising Christ and his apostles, and the vaults, are arranged in such a manner as to This results in a harmonious pyramid-like arrangement. It was reconstructed and enlarged at the end of the 17th century, and was later obscured by additional bays and stories to its lateral galleries, a new tower, and many bizarre Baroque cupolas. The emphasis of the Byzantine church on the physical splendour of its edifices was a cardinal factor in determining the characteristics of Russian ecclesiastical architecture. Everything connected with the design and decoration of the new churches followed the Byzantine pattern, and the standard scheme of the Greek church. The cross inscribed in a rectangle and the dome supported on piers became the accepted type for Orthodox churches. The design and support of the central dome or cupola, together with the number and disposition of the subsidiary cupolas, remained for a long time the principal theme of Russian architecture. In the centre of the city of Kiev, Saint Sophia symbolises the new Constantinople, the capital of the Christian state, founded by the son of Prince Saint Vladimir. It was the cathedral where princes were crowned, and following the burial of Yaroslav the Wise, in a marble sarcophagus, decorated with crosses, palms and shells, the place where they were buried. At the time, it possessed the first library in all of Russia. Saint Sophia of Kiev is directly and tangibly linked with the history of the foundation of the Russian state, which even under Peter the Great celebrated its victories there. Kiev Puchersk Lavra, an enchanting golden-topped cathedral and monastery, situated in the capital city of Ukraine, is built atop a vast and complex system of caves used for a variety of purposes. Originally settled by a single monk called Antony in the 11th century, the caves at the Kiev Monastery became the site of the Antonite monks who'd become his disciples. The land on which the monastic complex stands was given to the order by the reigning Prince Yuslav I of Kiev, and the original monastery structure was designed and constructed by architects from Constantinople. Since its beginnings, an assortment of other buildings has been added to the campus over the centuries, resulting in a huge facility. Kiev Puchersk Lavra is large enough to be a small city. Within the complex of the monastery of the caves, there are numerous monuments, including the Church of the Saviour at Berestov, the Gate Church of the Trinity, the Great Lava Bell Tower, and of course the caverns below the complex, as well as a variety of other churches, chapels and structures. Each church of the Kiev Puchersk Lavra has its history and its unique image, emerged under the influence of different epochs and their typical styles. But neither time nor variability of architectural styles ruined the ancient prayerful spirit of the Lavra churches. The Orthodox ancestors revived them with love and devotion. Their domes are destined for sober prayers, for sermons of the Word of God, and administration of holy sacraments. Set atop the entrance of the monastery is the Gate Church of the Trinity. Dominating the skyline, the Great Lavra Bell Tower was raised in the mid-1700s and was the tallest freestanding bell tower in the world at the time. The construction of the buildings took 5 million pieces of bricks of different sizes and shapes. The bell tower is 96.5 meters high with a foundation diameter of 28 meters. Each tier has its own bell tower and decoration purposes. The construction of Lavra harmonizes with the landscape of the right shore of the Dnieper. The monastery lies on the high hills, where there's a deep ravine that divides it into the so-called Upper Lavra. In the 11th century, the main fraternity settled here, and Lower Lavra, where the near and remote caves are situated. Each of the complexes of the ancient residence consists of some temples, administrative and dwelling constructions. The architectural complex of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra has been placed on UNESCO's list of Cultural World Heritage Sites. The history of the caves of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra started in 1051, when the Reverend Antoni Pecherski settled in a cave on the territory of the contemporary monastery. He'd just returned from Mount Afon and founded his monastic activity here. This date, 1051, was mentioned by Nestor the Chronicler as the year of the foundation of the cave residence. The number of caves soon began to grow, and the cave of the Reverend Antonich, who sought solitude, became too populous for him. Having chosen the new leader for the fraternity, the Reverend Valam, Antonich went to the nearest hill, where he dug a new cave that was the beginning of the new complex of caves, which are now called the Near Caves. The Primary Caves are now called Remote Caves. The Church of All Saints of Kiev City was built in 1696-1698. It has two stories in its cruciform with five cupolas. Not only the plan, but the whole spatial structure of the church reproduces the Ukrainian wooden cruciform five-domed church. Tons of history, a brilliant array of architecture, and the mystique of the hidden complex within the underground tunnel caves are all part of the experience at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. One of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine, the site is well worth visiting when traveling through Kiev, particularly if you're interested in architecture or the medieval history of Ukraine. The central historical part of the monastery is full of places of interest. Here there are shady parks, snowy white churches, and golden domes. The principal sites are preserved in the Architectural and Historical Reserve, which contains monuments of the ancient Russian architecture. Dormition Cathedral used to incorporate a former bakery building, but is now one building built at different times. The south part was built in the 17th century by S. Kovnya and reconstructed during the 18th century. A second northern part was built and decorated by him in 1744-1745. It now houses the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine. Each epoch left its mark on the architectural appearance of the monastery. Nowadays, it consists of three different groups. The Upper Lavra is situated on the flat plateau, the structures of the near caves are settled on the hill, and further at the top, the group of buildings of the far caves are located. A more recent building is the Trapezner Refectory Church. It dates from the end of the 19th to early 20th century. It stands out among other buildings around it with its architectural style. The church recalls the ancient Byzantine churches. It's a large two-story octagonal building with a huge spherical dome with a diameter of about 20 meters. Most of the surviving buildings in the Lavra Monastery were erected, or comprehensively reconstructed, in the 17th and 18th centuries, and bear the architectural imprint of those times. The Refectory Church certainly looks much more modern in style, and yet is in harmony with the surrounding architecture. The Cathedral of the Assumption was begun in 1073 and completed in 1078. Work on the mosaic and fresco decoration continued until 1089. It was the first stone church in the monastery. The results of archaeological investigation make it possible to establish the building's original appearance with a considerable degree of confidence. The Cathedral of the Assumption had a single aisle, three apses, six piers, and a single cupola. At the western end, there was a narthex with a gallery over it. Dormition Cathedral was designed along the lines of the Cathedral of the Monastery of the Caves, and was given the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, which had been stolen from the court at Kiev. The palace church conformed to the linear variant of the simple cross-in-square plan with two freestanding piers. It was nonetheless richly decorated, a combination that was to become an architectural hallmark of Vladimir Suzdal, largely attributable to Romanesque influences. There are deeply recessed portals with columns, Corinthian-style foliated capitals, moulded window surrounds, and figurative sculptures on the façade and corbels. The building, the details of the façades with its perspective of the gates, with the ascending rows of arched gables, the belts of small arches in the middle of the façade wall, and the singular white stone reliefs carpeting the external flat walls, allow one to look at the architecture of northeast Rus' and the broad context of European Romanesque architecture. The history of art in Russia may be said with confidence to have begun with the introduction of Christianity to Rus' in 988. The new era brought religious liturgy with it, which meant architecture, painting, music and the culture of the book in the form of illuminated manuscripts. The acceptance of Christianity from Byzantium was occasioned by pragmatic considerations, but the chronicled legend about how Prince Vladimir chose between diverse faiths is nevertheless significant, pointing as it does to the aesthetic motive in the decision of Vladimir's messengers. Kiev Rus' found itself in the political space of Constantinople, which no western state or papal Rome could seriously compete with. However, it's of no less importance that Rus' took its beliefs and its culture from what was, at the time, the only European civilization in the full sense of the term. Byzantium was the heir not only of Roman but also of Greek culture. Constantinople, the remaining cultural power of Europe, whose radiance nothing could extinguish, naturally drew Kiev and Vladimir into its orbit. In this sense, Russian art was from the very beginning European. Its autonomy took shape gradually, under the influence of the Mongol invasion and the fall of Byzantium, which turned Moscow into the only remaining orthodox polity. At the same time, the West abandoned the medieval understanding of the image for the artistic direction led by Giotto. John the Baptist's church in the Assumption Cathedral became part of the main temple of the monastery. The temple was small in terms of square meters, standing within four cruciform pillars topped by arches, which held an octagonal drum with spherical dome. Its walls reached the height of the Assumption Cathedral. Until 1941, the iconostasis in Assumption Cathedral belonged to the times of Hetman Skoropadsky, from 1708 to 1722, and had a great artistic value. The icon of Assumption, of Pechersk Saints and others, were covered with beautiful images. All the gilding was created by lavra jewelers, who were as equally famous as painters and carvers. Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe, and many historical Kiev tourist attractions can still be seen. This colorful city is an intriguing blend of old and new, as the capital city of an independent country, emerging from the former Soviet Union, and also one of the oldest established cities in Europe.