St Volodymyr's Cathedral ( ) is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

in the centre of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, and one of the city's major landmarks. Since the unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine in December 2018, it has been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Before that, it was the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...

of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate.

History and description

In 1852, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow suggested a large cathedral should be built in

to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus' by prince Volodymyr the Great. People from all over the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

started donating to this cause, so that by 1859 the cathedral fund had amassed a huge sum of 100,000

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

. The

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyievo-Pecherska Lavra (), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic lavra or large monastery of Eastern Christianity that gave its name to the Pecherskyi District where it is located in Kyiv. Sin ...

(Monastery of the Caves) produced one million bricks and presented them to the cathedral as well. The design was executed in neo-Byzantine style initially by the architects I. Schtrom, P. Sparro, R. Bemhardt, K. Mayevsky, V. Nikolayev. The final version of the design belongs to Alexander Vikentievich Beretti. It is a traditional six-

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

ed, three-

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

d temple crowned by seven

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

s. The height to the cross of the main dome is . The colourful interior of the cathedral is particularly striking. Its

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s were executed by masters from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. The

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es were created under the guidance of Professor Adrian Prakhov by a group of famous painters: Wilhelm Kotarbiński,

Mikhail Nesterov Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (; – 18 October 1942) was a Russian and Soviet painter; associated with the Peredvizhniki and Mir iskusstva. He was one of the first exponents of Symbolist art in Russia. Biography He was born to a strong ...

, Mykola Pymonenko, Pavel Svedomsky,

Viktor Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (; 15 May (New Style, N.S.), 1848 – 23 July 1926) was a Russian artist who specialised in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered a co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalistic pain ...

, Mikhail Vrubel, Viktor Zamyraylo (1868–1939), and others. The painting of the Holy Mother of God by Vasnetsov in the altar apse of the cathedral impresses by its austere beauty. The entrance door is adorned with relief bronze sculptures of Olga of Kyiv by sculptor Robert Bakh and St. Volodymyr (sculptor H. Zaieman) against a blue background. The

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

is carved from the white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

brought from

Carrara Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...

. The cathedral was completed in 1882, however, the paintings were fully completed only in 1896. The cathedral risked damage during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

in 1920. During the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, the cathedral narrowly escaped demolition, but not closure. Until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it served as a museum of religion and atheism. The relics of

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the origin ...

, a martyr of the 3rd century AD, were transferred to St Volodymyr's from the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery before it was destroyed by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

,St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral
/ref> and have remained there since. After the war, the cathedral was reopened and has since remained continually open. It was then the main church of the Kyiv

Metropolitan See Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

of the Ukrainian Exarchate. The cathedral was one of the few places in the USSR where tourists could openly visit a working Orthodox Church. It saw the revival of Orthodox religion in 1988 when the millennium celebration of the Baptism of Rus' marked a late change in Soviet policy on religion. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, St Volodymyr's Cathedral ownership became an issue of

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

between two denominations that both claim to represent Ukrainian Orthodox Christianity – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a church with an autonomous status that was, at the time, under the

Moscow Patriarchate The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

, and the newly established Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, which, ultimately, won the control over the cathedral.

Works by Viktor Vasnetsov in the Cathedral

File:Vasnetsov Russian Bishops.jpg, Russian Bishops File:Vasnetsov Temptation.jpg, The Temptation File:Kiev vasnetcov.jpg, The Baptism of Kyivans. File:Vasnetsov Bapt Vladimir.jpg,

Baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

of Saint Volodymyr File:Saint Olga (Vasnetsov) in St Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kyiv.jpg, Icon of Saint Olga, later destroyed by the Bolsheviks

References

External links

History of Saint Volodymyr Cathedral, Kiev History website

Official website

— information about the cathedral
ukraine-gateway.org.ua
— St. Volodymyr's (Volodymyrsky) Cathedral
Володимирський собор
i
''Wiki-Encyclopedia Kyiv''

— St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv

Encyclopedia of Ukraine, St Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kyiv
St Volodymyr's Cathedral interior panorama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Volodymyr's Cathedral Cathedrals in Kyiv Byzantine Revival architecture in Ukraine Cathedrals of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine 19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Shevchenkivskyi District, Kyiv Church buildings with domes Religion and atheism museums in the Soviet Union Vladimir the Great

History and description

Works by Viktor Vasnetsov in the Cathedral

See also

References

External links