Description of the attraction
Many guests of Kiev are struck by the rotunda church located on the slopes of the Dnieper. This is the Nicholas Church, which was erected on the burial place of the legendary Prince Askold, who was one of the first Christians in Russia.
This is far from the first religious building in this place - even in the 10th century there was a wooden church, later destroyed by an ardent pagan and less famous prince Svyatoslav the Brave, who persecuted Christians during his short reign and destroyed their churches. After that, at the place that received the name Askold's grave, temples repeatedly appeared and rebuilt, until in 1810 a stone rotunda church was erected here. The creator of the church was the chief architect of Kiev at that time Melensky, funds for the construction were allocated by the Voronezh merchant Samuil Meshcheryakov, whose wife died in Kiev in 1809 during a pilgrimage.
Nicholas Church underwent another reconstruction in 1939: according to the project drawn up by the architect Pyotr Yurchenko, the church was turned into a park pavilion. Then a colonnade was erected over the roof, and a restaurant was opened in the building itself. Only after Ukraine gained independence, the Nicholas Church was returned to its original functions. In the early 90s, the church was transferred to the Greek Catholic community. Already in 1998, thanks to private donations, as well as funds allocated by the city authorities, the church was restored, it acquired its original appearance, a golden cross standing on the crown appeared on the roof, erected as a tribute to the memory of the Kiev prince Askold buried here. Today it is a functioning temple (in 2001 the Pope even visited it). The very grave of Askold, in the form of a stone sarcophagus, is located under the temple.
