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The first Russian monastery

In 988, contacts of ancient Kiev with Constantinople drought deep cultural influence and Kiev became the birth-place and centre of Russian Christianity, based on the Greek Orthodox Church. The first church appeared in Kiev in the mid-ninth century but it was Grand Prince Vladimir who declared Christianity as the state religion and in 988 the whole population of Kiev was baptized in the river's waters. The city's main street is still called Kreshchatik, meaning baptism. The historic event was commemorated by the monument to the "Baptizer of Russia", designed by Konstantin Thon, the favourite architect of Tsar Nikolas I, and the bronze statue of Prince Vladimir by sculptor Pyotr Klodt, known for his horse-breaker sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge in St.Petersburg.

 

In the early eleventh century the chronicler Titmar Merzeburgski recorded that Kiev had more than 400 churches, eight markets and an uncalculated number of people.

 

The first Russian monastery was established in the mid-eleven century. Named the Pechersky Monastery (from old Russian word for cave "pechera") it was founded by holy man, Antony of Liubech, who retired from the world to live a life of prayer and fasting in a cave on the Berestov Mount. Other zealots came to join him, living in the nearby caves, and when their numbers reached twelve, a monastery was formed. Antony moved closer to Berestovo, where more disciples arrived to join the network of caves and underground chapels.

 

As monastery grew in numbers and influence, the Kievan princes granted the monks the mount and money to build a stone church (Dormition Cathedral), which was begun in 1073. According to an early thirteenth century history of the monastery, the church was build as the result of the vision of Shimon, an outstanding Varangian  warrior who lived in Kiev. Shimon's most treasured possession was a belt made from pure gold. He had a vision that his life would be spared if a church in the name of the Virgin was built in the monastery, using his gold belt as the building's measure. Shimon gave his belt to the monks, who shortly afterward were visited by master masons from Constantinople who told them that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them in a dream and told them to go to Kiev to build a church. Six years later, a graceful church with a single cupola and a small baptistery adjoined to the north wall was completed. It measured twenty times Shimon's belt in width, thirty times in length and fifty times in height.

 

Shortly after the Church of the Dormition was consecrated, a strong wall was built around the cloister, partly to shelter the monks from outside world but also to protect from the raids of the barbaric nomads from the Dnieper and the Don. Stone gateways were set in the wooden wall, the main entrance on the west side, and the service gates on the north side. Each was topped by an exquisite little chapel, one of which was the Gate Church of the Trinity. Partially rebuilt, they still survive.

 

The Pechersky Monastery became famed for its wealth and culture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, attracting many outstanding figures, such as the chronicler Nestor, the icon painter Alimpy and the physician Agapit. The monastery had a large icon studio, where Alimpy painted many of his works. One of them has survived: a stunningly beautiful icon of the Virgin in prayer (nearly six feet in height). It was found in last century in a storeroom at the Spassky Monastery in Yaroslavl and now is in the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow.

 

Many of the monastic buildings were burned to the ground in 1240, as the Tartar hordes led by Khan Batu swept through Russia, looting and destroying.

 

In 1654, Kiev joined the powerful state of Moscovy, which shared the Russian Arthodox faith and offered to Kiev its only hope of protection from domination and religious persecution by neighbouring countries. This period saw a flowering of culture in the Ukraine, centring in Kiev, that reached its height in the eighteenth century.

 

The original Pechersky Monastery became unrecognisable under its new baroque garb; wooden domestic buildings were replaced by stone once, a new fortress wall with eight towers, an extensive hospital complex and residences for monks of noble birth and distinction were built. A traveller in the second half of seventeenth century described the monk's accommodation as "decorated with all kinds of paintings and superb images, furnished with tables, long benches, beds and stoves, the hearths having beautifully painted tiles", and he mentioned magnificent rooms containing books of great value.

 

In the first half of the eighteenth century, the new Great Bell Tower was built, by the German architect, Johann Gottfried Scheodel, after wooden had burned down in 1718. The tower had four tiers. The first and second ties served as a book repository and library, the third housed the bells and the fourth an enormous chiming clock. This ornate structure, using ceramic ornamentation even for the capitals on the columns, measures almost 100 feet in diameter at its base and 317 feet high.

 

The Kiev Pechersk Monastery is one of the largest Ukrainian museums. The exposition is not only the collection of architectural relics but hundreds and hundreds of objects from 16 - 20th centuries as articles, prints, portraits, chalices, crucifixes, textiles, books. The museum exposition contain remains of Orthodox saints and  burials of historic figures such as: Ilya Muromets, Nestor the Chronicler, Saint Kuksha, Alipy of the Caves, Agapetus of Pechersk, Oleg son of Volodymyr II Monomakh, Eufemia of Kiev daughter of Vladimir II Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruki, Vasily Kochubey, Ivan Iskra, Pyotr Stolypin, St. Spyridon.

Other names of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery are: Kiev Cave Monastery, Kiev Caves Monastery, the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, the Pechersk Monastery and Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Its property's jurisdiction is split between the Ukrainian State Museum, the National Kiev Pechersk Historic Cultural Preserve, and the headquarters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.

It was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Who have seen these beautiful churches described them in one word – breathtaking.

About the Author

Along with writing on Russian historical places and nature Nina Spring is the owner and editor of website which reviews and lists the best Home Coffee Makers in two languages, English and Russian. There you can find her latest article about Black & Decker coffee Makers deals.

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