St. Cyril's Monastery ' onMouseout='HidePop("1090")' href="/topics/Romanization_of_Ukrainian">translit.

Romanization of Ukrainian

The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic....

 Kyrylivs’kyi monastyr) is a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 monastery in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

, the capital of Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. The monastery contains the famous St. Cyril's Church, an important specimen of Kievan Rus' architecture

Architecture of Kievan Rus

The medieval state of Kievan Rus incorporated parts of what is now modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, and was centered around Kiev and Novgorod. Its architectural style quickly established itself after the adoption of Christianity in 988 and was strongly influenced by the Byzantine...

 of the 12th century, and combining elements of the 17th and 19th centuries. However, being largely Ukrainian Baroque

Ukrainian Baroque

Ukrainian Baroque or Cossack Baroque is an architectural style that emerged in Ukraine during the Hetmanate era, in the 17th and 18th centuries....

 on the outside, the church retains its original Kievan Rus' interior.

History

St. Cyril's Monastery was founded in 1140 by Vsevolod Olgovich

Vsevolod II of Kiev

Vsevolod II Olgovich was the Prince of Chernigov and Grand Prince of Kiev , son of Oleg Svyatoslavich, Prince of Chernigov....

, the Kniaz' (prince) of Chernigov

Chernihiv

Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...

, in the Dorohozhychi neighbourhood of Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 and named after his heavenly protector, Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...

. In the second half of the 12th century, Princess Maria, Vsevolod's widow, built the stone church of St. Cyril, which served as an ancestral burial place of the Olgovichi family.

The monastery suffered a harsh fire in 1734, which was later reconstructed by the Ukrainian architect Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi

Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi

Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi or Ivan Grigorovich-Barsky is a Ukrainian architect who worked in the Late Cossack Baroque style...

 during 1750–1760. His reconstruction works also included the addition of masonry walls enclosing the monastery's courtyard, a picturesque corner tower and gate, and other monastic buildings.

In 1787, St. Cyril's Monastery was closed by the Tsarist Government

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 and its living quarters were converted into a hospital (St. Cyril's Hospital) and was later transformed into an insane asylum, which lasted until the mid-late 20th century in Soviet Ukraine

Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

.

On May 8, 1929, the Council of Commisars of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed St. Cyril's Monastery as a monument of historic significance and ordered that a "preservation district" be established. However, at the same time, the monastery's church was closed to worship and it was prepared for transformation into a museum. The monastery's belfry

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 was to hold a museum dedicated to Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi. Like the many other numerous state protection districts throughout the Ukrainian SSR, the St. Cyril's complex was owned by the People's Commisariat of Education.

Pursuant to legislation passed by the Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

 in June 1936, the Commisariat of Education had to grant permission for the dismantlement of the St. Cyril's Monastic structures. According to the former curator of the St. Cyril State Preservation District, the monastic walls, gates, one coner tower and the belfry were dismantled for their brick material in 1937.

St. Cyril's Church, including the medieval interiour frescoes and the 1880s murals by the famous Russian painter Mikhail Vrubel

Mikhail Vrubel

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel is usually regarded amongst the Russian painters of the Symbolist movement. In reality, he deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance painting.-Early...

, were fortunately preserved. The remaining constructions of the complex, the rest of the monastic walls, one corner tower (see picture), and two buildings constructed by Barskyi were also preserved. Of the monastery's cemetery, only two 18th century graves remained.

In 1965, the Church became a branch of the National Sanctuary "Sophia of Kiev", allowing for major restorations as well as historical documentation to begin. Since the late 1990s, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous Church of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine, under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate...

 has been allowed to conduct regular services inside the structure.

St. Cyril's Church

St. Cyril's Church ' onMouseout='HidePop("58001")' href="/topics/Romanization_of_Ukrainian">translit.

Romanization of Ukrainian

The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic....

 Kyrylivs’ka tserkva) is a rectangular-shaped structure with three apses jutting out on the eastern side. The church's dome and vaults rest upon six cruciform piers. A staircase built into the north wall leads up to the gallery in the western section. On this side there is also a chapel - a rare feature of ancient Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....

 churches. The baptistery and the niches of the narthex

Narthex

The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...

 are other uncommon features. Originally, each of the vaults was roofed with plates of sheet steel.

Throughout the centuries, the church suffered more than once from devastating enemy raids and a devastating fire in 1734. The church was restored and reconstructed many times, altering its original appearance. As St. Cyril's Church is located within the contemporary limits of Kiev, the church is the only medieval church structure that survived until the 20th century without any major additions. The current exterior of the church was shaped during restoration works carried out during 1750–1760, by the Ukrainian architect Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi

Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi

Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi or Ivan Grigorovich-Barsky is a Ukrainian architect who worked in the Late Cossack Baroque style...

. Although containing elements of Ukrainian Baroque

Ukrainian Baroque

Ukrainian Baroque or Cossack Baroque is an architectural style that emerged in Ukraine during the Hetmanate era, in the 17th and 18th centuries....

 on the exterior, the interior remains largely unchanged from its original style.

Belfry

Of the monastic buildings Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi constructed within the monastery, his most important construction was a free standing belfry

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

, built in 1760. The belfry combined the idea of a tall campanile

Campanile

Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

 with a gate on the ground level and a chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

on the belfry's second tier. The two lower levels of the belfry had some elements of a Ukrainian tripartite church, consisting with the belltower placed over the central part of the nave. This architectural combination in a belfry with two apse-like lower elements on each side. The original roof above the belfry's chapel was a stepped-hipped roof, which was popular at the time. After the fire of 1849, the roof's over the chapel and the cupola were modified from the original. After the Ukrainian SSR's decision on the demolition of the belfry in 1936, the belfry was destroyed a year later, to be used as bricks in construction projects.

External links

• Kiev History Site - St. Kirill Church
• interesniy.kiev.ua - St. Cyril's Church, middle of 12th century
• interesniy.kiev.ua - History and legends of St. Cyril's Church
• Sophia Kievskaya - Information from the museum's page and a photo gallery. /
• Sobory.ru - Some photographs