Description of the attraction
The Assumption Church of the Mother of God Pirogoschei is an Orthodox stone church built in the XII century by the sons of Vladimir Monomakh, Mstislav the Great and Yaropolk. This temple was even mentioned in the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years". Despite such antiquity, the church was destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1935, and only in 1998 a new church was erected here.
Experts still do not agree on where the temple got its name from. Some are inclined to believe that it comes from the Byzantine word, which denoted the icons placed in the towers of fortresses and monasteries, others believe that the word "Pirogoshcha" comes from two Slavic words associated with merchants who traded in bread (perhaps they invested a lot of money in the construction of the temple).
The church, which was a small three-nave temple crowned with a dome, was badly damaged during the Mongol invasion, but it was restored and consecrated in the 15th century. Later, the temple had to be restored several times, since it often suffered from the campaigns of the Crimean Tatars and fires. At the same time, not only local residents, but also foreign architects took part in the restoration of the church (for example, the reconstruction of 1611 was carried out under the leadership of the Italian Sebastiano Brachi).
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the temple in the life of the people of Kiev, for them it was the main center of the city. Later, a hospital, an orphanage, a school and a city archive worked here. When at the beginning of the 17th century St. Sophia Cathedral was under the leadership of Greek Catholics, it was the Assumption Church of the Virgin of Pirogosche that was one of the central churches of the Kiev Metropolis. The ceremonies of the local brotherhood were also held right there. Ukrainian hetmans also did not bypass the temple with their attention, allowing him to levy taxes on grain sales in Kiev with special station wagons.
