Temples and monasteries of Kiev
We invite you to the excursion – temples and monasteries of Kyiv. We offer you a choice of our most ancient shrines – Kiev Pechersk Lavra, St. Sophia Cathedral, Vydubytsky Monastery or Zverinets Caves Monastery. We also conduct such excursions, as: “Orthodox Kyiv”, “Temples of different religions”, “Ancient churches of Podil”, “Kyiv is the center of pilgrimage”, and “Kytaivska hermitage”. Duration – 2-3 hours.
TEMPLES OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS IN KIEV
Some temples and monasteries of Kiev have remained till nowadays, so they have a long ancient history. Variety of religious institutions doesn’t interfere with coexistence and traditions enrichment. Arabs and Volga Bulgars (Muslims by their religion) had paid visits to Kyiv with trade missions (according to large number of archeological findings – coins of Baghdad, Kufa etc.), but constant settlements of this peoples in the medieval Kyiv haven’t been found.
First settlements of Muslims in Kyiv began to appear because of Tatars domination over the former Kiev Rus’. Tatars build their country The Golden Horde (founded by Batu Khan in 1242 after his returning from Central and South-east Europe campaign). One of The Golden Horde khans – Uzbeg – established Muslim as a governmental religion near 1320. It is mentioned in Kyiv Chronicle about double governance in Kyiv by “King Fedor and Basqaq” (Basqaq designated officials in the Mongol Empire in charge of taxes and administration in a certain province).
After the Mongol Invasion (1240) all life in Kyiv was focused on the Pecherskyi District so called Podol, so Basqaq-deputy had chosen the Yurcovitsa mountain as his residence, because of its winning location. On the west was small tatar village. Nowadays there is sub-district called “Tatarka”, on the place where old mosque had been located now stands new ar-Rakhma, there is “Muslim religious administration of Ukraine” (Lukianovska str, 46).
Hardly anyone knows that there is another one historical area in Kyiv is linked with the Tatars – Lypky. Many citizens believe, that the name come from lime trees (Ukrainian – lypy) growing there. But our guides on the tour will tell you, that “lypky” called some tatars, who escaped with khan Tokhtamysh from Tamerlane (Timur) to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Tokhtamysh and his tatars-lypky pitched their marquees on the “Dolgaya niva” – big field between the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and Khreschatyk. “Dolgaya Niva” thenceforth was called – Lypky.
Kyiv is a spiritual center of Ortodox Church. This mission was entrusted by history. Many years ago the founder of city – Kyi had visited the capital of Christianity – Constantinople, where he’s been welcomed by the emperor (according to Primary Chronicle). But the real capital of orthodox country Kyiv Rus become only in a time Vladimir the Great also called “Khrestytel”. Primary Chronicle tells us about Kings hesitations in the choice of religion (between Muslim, Judaism and Christianity). He could choose any of this religions, but his choice fell on the Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
A German medieval chronicle Adam of Bremen writes that in times of Yaroslav the Wise (son of Vladimir the Great) Kyiv counted 400 churches. Most of them were woody, but some were stone majestic buildings as big and beautiful as Constantinople temples. For good reason Adam of Bremen called Kyiv “the piece of jewelry – main rival of Constantinople”. According to archeological finds in Kyiv were 40 monumental stone buildings (cathedrals, churches, palaces, rotundas). Most of these buildings were destroyed by conquerors, but survived some (Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery etc.) came to us partially re-built. Some Kiev temples and monasteries have visible old stonework, what shows us all the beauty of the buildings.
Pyrogoshcha Church is one of the oldest temples of Kievan Rus. Mentioning about it there is the “Lay of the Host of Igor” (Igor the Prince thanked the Holy Mother of God for his salvation from the Polovtsian captivity in the Church of Our Lady Pirogoshi). It was built near the market in 1132–1136 by Mstislav the Prince (son of Vladimir the Monomakh Prince). It was not determined where this name come from. The church is assumed to be built on the means of merchants engaged in the sale of bread. The letters of Mnogogreshny and Samoilovich the Hetmans of 1670 and 1672 testify to the right of the Assumption Church to collect taxes for the sale of grain in the territory of Kiev. Pirogoscha is known as the Assumption Church in the written sources of the XVI century. The Church of Our Lady Pirogoshi had been serving as a public center until 1935, at which the school, the orphanage, the hospital for the poor and the city archive operated. The temple was destroyed in 1935 and rebuilt in 1998.
Church of The Holy Cross is originally a wooden church on a stone basement with a separate wooden bell tower. It was built in 1748 with the funds of artisans – the residents of the tract of Gonchar and Kozhemyaki. The name of this church is associated with Mikhail Bulgakov, the famous writer, who was baptized here. In 1935 the church was closed. During the German occupation, worship services were resumed, and the church was never closed again and worship services are held until now. The restoration of the upper part of the church was carried out in the 1986–88, as well as the lower one in 1991. This allowed to bring the inner decoration of the church to about the kind that it had before the damage inflicted to it in 1936–1941, when the warehouses were located here.
Frolovsky Convent is one of the oldest monasteries in honor of St. Florus and Laurus, supposedly founded in the beginning of the 16th century. The heyday began in 1711 after Peter the Great closed the Ascension Convent and transferred the inhabitants to the Frolovsky Convent. The numerous monasteries of Voznesensky were submitted to Frolovsky Convent. Then it became one of the richest convent among the poorest ones. There is a well on the territory of the convent, which is considered to be healing by the worshipers. In the Frolovsky Church there is a unique sight: an embroidered icon, as a valuable sample of the Ascension sutures on the territory of the monastery. A picturesque garden is refined on the territory of the convent.
Saint Elias Cathedral was first mentioned in 1632. It is considered to be the first Orthodox church of Kievan Rus. According to the legend, the temple was built by Askold and Dir the Princes. There is a version that the baptism in 988 occurred near this temple. In 1957, in a church under a layer of the 19th century painting, the fragments of the 18th century paintings were found, which were successfully restored. The remains of the previous painting were preserved only in the altar part of the church.
The Tithe Church is the first stone church of Kievan Rus. It was built on the site where, due to the Prince Volodymyr’s order, two Christians – infant John and his father Feodor were sacrificed to Perun, the pagan god. The church was built in 989–996 in the period of Volodymyr Sviatoslavovych reign, who allocated a tenth of the princely income for its construction, i.e. a tenth. Hence the name of the temple was arisen. The temple was established in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God and was a cross-domed six-pillar temple. The Tithe Church was decorated with mosaics, frescoes, carved marble and slate slabs. Volodymyr Sviatoslavovych and his wife, the Byzantine princess Anna, were buried here, and Princess Olga’s ashes were brought here from Vyshhorod. At the end of 1240 hordes of Khan Batu, having seized Kiev, destroyed the Tithe Church that was the last cache of Kievans. During the brutal massacre, arranged by the Tatar-Mongols, many Kievans tried to hide in the temple. Under the pressure of people, the church could not stand it and collapsed, the townsfolk were buried under it. In the 30-ies. of XVII century at the initiative of Peter Mohyla the Metropolitan, the first excavation began and the sarcophagus of Prince Volodymyr and his wife Anna were found. In 1635 at the initiative of P. Mohyla on the site of the Tithe Church, a church was built in honor of St. Nicholas, which stayed until 1824. Archaeological discoveries are kept in the reserve of the Sofia Museum, in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. The complex of archaeological excavations is, like the whole complex of Sophia of Kiev, is under the protection of UNESCO.
The Transfiguration Church (Church of the Savior on Berestov) – one of the oldest churches in Kyiv, it is located near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Being outside the Lavra, the church is still considered to be a part of the historical complex related to the World Heritage. The name of the church comes from Berestovo village, which used to be here (now it is the territory of the Glory Park). The village was a suburban estate of Kyiv princes.
The Brodsky Synagogue was built in 1898 with the donations of the Kyiv millionaire Lazar Brodsky (he also built the Bessarabian market, the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the Paton Institute and the operetta theater). In 1926, the building was transferred to the club for a trade union of handicraftsmen. Since 1955, a children’s puppet theater was located there, in 1997 the building was transferred to the Jewish community of Kyiv.
The Kyiv temple of Krishna Consciousness is a Hindu temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, located on the Zoryanyi Lane, 16. It operates since 1992 and is called “New Navadvipa Mandir”. It is considered to be the largest temple in Ukraine. This spacious 6-storeyed brick building with large windows was built in stages, starting from 1992 until 2014.
The Kyiv Mormon temple – the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, built in the suburbs of Kyiv – Sofiivska Borshchahivka village. It was opened in 2010 and is considered the third largest temple in the world and in Eastern Europe. The area of the building is striking in its scale – these are three 5-meter floors, which is 2 thousand sq.km.. The height of the spire reaches 42 m, at the peak of which rises the gilded statue of the angel Moroni.
St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1909 to commemorate the Emperor St. Nicholas’ II visit to Kyiv. Construction of a foundation for concrete piles was proposed for the first time and reinforced concrete was widely used in the construction.
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was founded in 1051 by St. Anthony, the Monk, settling in the caves of the future Pechersk Monastery. It is from the caves that the monastery takes its name. At the request of St. Antony, Izyaslav, the Prince gave the monastery the territory, which includes the whole mountain above the caves. In 1062 the monastery was called Pechersk. the territory of the monastery has begun to be built since the end of the XIth century.
Zverinets Caves and Archangel Mykhail Monastery is an ancient Russian abode, it was presumably founded in the XI–XIIth centuries on the territory of the Zverinets that were the hunting grounds of Vsevolod the Kiev prince. It was destroyed in 1096–1097 by the Polovtsi. The caves of the monastery were found at the end of XIXth century. The monastery was partially rebuilt in 1913. A cave church and a small cell were found not far from the entrance to the caves, an underground corridor with 40 tombs is represented to the left of it.
Vydubytsky Monastery is located in the Vydubytsky tract, on a hill above the Dnieper. According to the legend, the pagan idol of Perun, thrown into the Dnieper by Prince Vladimir, was “poured out” on the shore. The origin of the name came after underground monastery, which later “poured out” on the surface. Vydubytsky Monastery was founded in the XIth century by Vsevolod Yaroslavich, the Son of Yaroslav the Wise, the Prince. The main temple of the monastery was laid in 1070, which was partially preserved to the present day.
The Wonder-worker (St. Nicholas Pritisk) is an architectural monument, a small church in the style of the Ukrainian Baroque, built in 1695–1707. According to one version, the name of the church is derived from the word “tail” (pier) because it was on the pier, which was called “sticky”. St. Nicholas has always been the patron of saints and merchants. According to another version, the name is connected with the river Glybochitsa, the arm of which passed near the temple, pressing (“squeezing”) from the southern part of the building. Since the days of Kievan Rus there was a wooden church, it was first mentioned in 1612. The church was destroyed by fires several times. In 1935, the church was closed and used the premises for a cotton-spinning factory. In the 1990s the church was reopened.
The St. Andrew’s Church built by the order of Elizabeth the Empress as part of the Kiev royal residence, consisting of the Mariinskyi Palace and the palace church in 1749–1754 in the Baroque style designed by F.-B. Rastrelli. The temple is built on a steep spur of the Ancient Kiev Plateau, which served as a pedestal for the construction of the church.
St. Michael’s Golden-domed Cathedral is the oldest and greatest Orthodox shrine of Kiev, founded by the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, Sviatopolk Iziaslavovych the Prince on the territory of the Dmitriivskyi Monastery according to the chronicle in 1108 and it is dedicated to Michael the Archangel the heavenly patron.
The St. Sophia’s Cathedral is the greatest architectural structure, built by Yaroslav the Wise the Grand Prince in 1037. It preserved until now not only the richness of ancient architecture, but also the picturesque decoration of the 11th century, mainly mosaics and frescoes. Religious and state ideas of that time were embodied in the artistic image of Sophia of Kiev. The ensemble of mosaics is decorated with the main altar of the St. Sofia’s Temple.
St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral – built in the Old Byzantine style in honour of Prince Volodymyr the Baptist. The idea of creating a cathedral belongs to Metropolitan Philaret Amfiteatrov. Officially it is believed that the construction of the church was started in 1852 on the order of Nicholas I. By 1859, about 100 thousand rubles were collected. The original project was developed by architect I. Shtrom, but the project was too expensive.