St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...

Military Cathedral ( uk, Військовий Микільський собор, russian: Никольский военный собор), popularly known as ''The Great Nicholas'' ( uk, Великий Микола) was one of the military cathedrals of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. It was built in 1696 and located in the Kyiv Fortress overlooking the

Dnieper River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

. As a cathedral it was adopted after establishing the Russian Kyiv Fortress in the 19th century. This penta

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

Ukrainian Baroque Ukrainian Baroque, or Cossack Baroque or Mazepa Baroque ( uk, Українське бароко або Козацьке бароко), is an architectural style that was widespread in the Ukrainian lands in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was th ...

building was originally designed by

Osip Startsev Osip Dmitrievich Startsev (Осип Дмитриевич Старцев) was a Russian architect who mastered both Muscovite Baroque and Ukrainian Baroque idioms during the early part of Peter the Great's reign. His father Dmitry Startsev was the ...

at the bidding of Hetman

Ivan Mazepa Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (also spelled Mazeppa; uk, Іван Степанович Мазепа, pl, Jan Mazepa Kołodyński; ) was a Ukrainian military, political, and civic leader who served as the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host in 1687–1708. ...

to serve as the main church of St. Nicholas's Hermitage traditionally associated with

Askold's Grave Askold's Grave ( uk, Аскольдова могила, translit=Askoldova Mohyla) is a historical park on the steep right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv between Mariinskyi Park and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex. Overview The park was cr ...

. The church was consecrated in 1696. It was famed for its dazzling gilded icon screen commissioned by Mazepa. A free-standing

Rastrelli Rastrelli may refer to the following persons: * Antonio Rastrelli (politician) (1927–2019), Italian politician * Antonio Rastrelli (born 1945), Italian Olympic swimmer * Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1675–1744), Italian sculptor who emigra ...

esque bell tower was completed in the mid-18th century. The

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

became the church's patron in 1831. A set of

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s near the building proclaimed its military associations. In 1934, the

Soviet regime The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the Co ...

blew up the cathedral, replacing it with a

Pioneers Palace Young Pioneer Palaces or Palaces of Young Pioneers and Schoolchildren were youth centers designated for the creative work, sport training and extracurricular activities of Young Pioneers and other schoolchildren. Young Pioneer Palaces originat ...

. Struggle for a reconstruction of the cathedral is growing. The

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. As an informal leader of th ...

supported the idea of restoration of the destroyed cultural heritage. Now Divine services are carried out at open-air near to a place where there used to be a church. The website of parishioners – https://web.archive.org/web/20130925162354/http://mykilsky.org.ua/

References

Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas Military Cathedral Cathedrals in Kyiv Demolished churches in the Soviet Union Demolished churches in Ukraine Demolished buildings and structures in Kyiv Former cathedrals in Ukraine Churches completed in 1696 17th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Buildings and structures demolished in 1934 1696 establishments in Russia 1934 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Baroque architecture in Kyiv Baroque church buildings in Ukraine Anti-Christian sentiment in Ukraine