Holy-Sophie cathedral of Kiev

See also: Holy-Sophie

The cathedral Holy-Sophie (in Greek Αγια Σοφια , “Holy French Wisdom”) with Kiev (in СоборСвятоїСофії Ukrainian, Sobor Sviatoyi Sofiyi or Софійськийсобор, Sofiys' kyi sobor ), (in Russian СоборСвятойСофии, Sobor Svyatoi Sofii or Софийскийсобор, Sofiyskiy sobor ) is a monument of the Rus' of Kiev. It is today about the one of the most known monuments of Ukraine, as well as first site registered on the Liste of the world heritage by UNESCO in this country.

The cathedral was named according to the cathedral Holy-Sophie of Constantinople, but it is possible that its manufacturer took as a starting point a similar church, Holy-Sophie with Novgorod.

The first foundations were established in 1037, but one still needed a score of years before the cathedral is not completed. She consists of five Nef S, five Abside S and 13 cupolas (what unusual for the Byzantine Architecture). She is surrounded on three sides of galleries with two stage, and occupies a surface of 37 out of 55 meters on the ground. The interior preserved mosaic S and Fresque S of the 11th century, as well as a representation of the family of Iaroslav Wise the.

The cathedral was the necropolis of the sovereign first of the Rus' of Kiev, in particular Vladimir II Monomaque, Vsevolod Ier of Kiev and, of course, its founder Iaroslav Wise the; it is the only one fall which survived.

After the plundering of Kiev by the Tatars in 1240, the cathedral was left with the abandonment, and was even used for the uniates, until in 1633 the métropolite Pierre Mohila asserts it. The rebuilding was made in Ukrainian style Baroque according to the style of the Italian architect Octaviano Mancini. Work was completed in 1740n conferring on the unit its current appearance.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, and at the time of the religious persecution campaign in the Years 1920, the government planned the destruction of the cathedral and its transformation into park dedicated to the “Heroes of Perekop” (a victory of the Red Army at the time of the civil war. The cathedral was preserved thanks to the efforts of many scientists and historians. Nevertheless, in 1934, the government confiscated the building and its accesses, and made a museum of it.

Starting from the end of the Years 1980, the Soviet leaders then Ukrainian promised the return to the orthodoxe church. However, as several confessions divided the heritage of it, it was decided to institute a “bearing”: all the orthodoxe churches had the right to lead offices to it, but at different dates. This situation ended at the time of the ceremonies of burial of the Volodymyr Patriarch, when the anti-riot police force had to intervene with the accesses of the cathedral. The latter for summer has converted into museum of Christianity in Ukraine, and the majority of its visitors are tourists.

External bonds

Official site of the museum
Information on the cathedral

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