Description of the attraction
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is one of the first monasteries in Russia to be founded. It was founded in 1051 under Yaroslav the Wise by the monk Anthony, a native of Lyubech. The co-founder of the Pechersk Monastery was one of the first students of Anthony - Theodosius. At first, the monks lived in dug caves, and later, when the underground monastery ceased to accommodate all the brothers, they began to build the first aboveground buildings. There are legends about the length of the Lavra caves - they say that underground passages go under the Dnieper, and also connect the Lavra with other monastery caves in Kiev and Chernigov.
Construction history
In the 70s of the XI century, intensive construction began in the monastery: the Assumption Cathedral, the Trinity Gate Church and the Refectory were erected. After a great fire in 1718, the restoration of damaged buildings and the construction of new ones began. The Assumption Cathedral and the Trinity Gate Church acquired a baroque look, and stone walls were erected around the territory of the Upper Lavra. Thus, in the middle of the XVIII century. a unique architectural ensemble of the Lavra was formed, which has largely survived to our time.
After the communists came to power in 1917, hard times came for the monastery - all its property was declared the property of the people, and the monastery itself was soon closed and after a while a museum town was opened here. In 1941, during the Second World War, the Holy Dormition Cathedral was blown up. Until now, it has not been precisely established who carried out the blasting work - the Germans, or the Soviet underground.
Monastery ensemble
The Assumption Cathedral is the heart of the Lavra, which, according to legend, was built by architects from Constantinople in 1073-1089. Since then, the temple has been rebuilt more than once, and in the 18th century it was crowned with seven gilded domes and for a long time was a burial vault - the first Metropolitan of Kiev, St. Michael, St. Theodosius, St. Metropolitan Peter Mogila, etc.
Trinity Gate Church, built in the 17th century and reconstructed in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Baroque style, with figured fronts and rich stucco decorations. The structure is based on the foundation of an ancient stone temple built in 1106-1108.
The Great Lavra Bell Tower, built in 1731-1745, is still one of the tallest buildings in Kiev (the height with a cross is 96.5 m) and has four tiers. The bells of the chimes, installed in the fourth tier in 1903, chime every quarter of an hour.
Not far from the Assumption Cathedral is the Kovnirovsky building - a two-story building with figured fronts built in the 17th-18th centuries, which now houses the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine.
In the northwestern part of the lavra there is the Nikolskaya Church with an adjoining hospital ward, which now houses a lecture hall. The former Lavra pharmacy houses the State Historical Library of Ukraine.
The gates led to the Economic Building, where the father of the economist, who was in charge of the Lavra's economy, lived. Above these gates, at the expense of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, in the 1690s, a five-domed All Saints Church was built, on the facade of which the coat of arms of the disgraced Hetman was recently restored.
One of the latest structures in the Lavra is the Church of Saints Anthony and Theodosius and the adjoining refectory, built in 1893-1895. The prime minister, the author of one of the most intelligent Russian agrarian reforms, Pyotr Stolypin, is buried near the refectory. Behind the refectory there is an observation deck overlooking the Dnieper, Zadneprovye and the complex of Near and Far Caves.
On a note
- Location: st. Lavrskaya, 15, building 42, Kiev.
- The nearest metro stations are "Dnepr", "Arsenalnaya", "Pecherskaya".
- Official site: lavra.ua
- Opening hours: daily, 9.00-19.30.
- Tickets: for adults - 16 UAH, for children - 8 UAH. Ticket to the caves - 2 UAH
