Inside Kyiv's 1,000-Year-Old Monastery, A UNESCO Site, Damaged In Russian Attack

Following Russia's air attack on Monday, Ukraine's 1,000-year-old monastery, situated at the heart of Kyiv, was set on fire. According to reports, at least four people were killed and dozens were wounded in the capital.

It has been more than four years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. The war between the countries has officially lasted longer than World War I, which raged for 1,568 days. 

Thousands of buildings in Ukraine have been damaged and destroyed since the war began, but Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is not just any structure; it carries 1,000 years of cultural, spiritual, and historical legacy.

Structures Of Kyiv's 1,000-Year-Old Monastery Damaged In Russian Air Attack

The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a cave monastery founded in 1051. Also called the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, it has been an important centre of Eastern Christianity in Eastern Europe.

According to the Russian Primary Chronicle, the monastery was either founded in 1051 or 1074. It is believed that Anthony, a monk on Mount Athos (an important centre for Eastern Orthodox monasticism), returned to Kyivan Rus', the first East Slavic state, and settled in Kyiv. He was a missionary of monastic traditions to Kyivan Rus'.

He chose a cave at the Berestove Mount, and his community of disciples soon followed. Prince Iziaslav I of Kyiv bequeathed the whole mount to the monks and they founded the monastery. Since its foundation, the structure has been damaged and restored many times.

The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra comprises many architectural monuments, including the Great Lavra Belltower and the Dormition Cathedral, which were destroyed during World War II and reconstructed in the 1990s.

The Great Lavra Belltower is a significant part of Kyiv's skyline. In 1995, the Dormition Cathedral was finally restored, and the new one was consecrated in 2000. The Gate Church of the Trinity is the gateway to the entrance to the monastery, and its interiors contain murals painted by Alimpy Galik, an 18th-century painter.

The refectory chambers with the Church of the Saints Anthony and Theodosius are the third in the series of temples on the premises. The original was built in the 12th century and disassembled by the Russian authorities in the 19th century. The current temple, which replaced the old one, was referred to as the Refectory Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

The All Saints Church, constructed between 1696 and 1698, boasts Ukrainian baroque architecture. In 1905, students of the Lavra art school painted the interior walls of the church.

The Church of the Saviour at Berestove, despite being outside the Lavra fortifications, remains a crucial part of the architecture. On the other hand, foreign travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries wrote that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra caverns, a system of narrow underground corridors, stretched to Moscow and Novgorod, Russia.

The library of the Lavra was reportedly burned in the 18th century. In 1988, the restoration work resumed, and after 20 years, more than 10,000 volumes were collected. In 2008, the library was moved to the premises.

The Necropolis in the Lavra is a burial ground in which notable people over the centuries were laid to rest. Finally comes the museum in the monastery, the largest one in Kyiv, which showcases architectural relics of the past. It also provides tours to the catacombs (underground passages), containing remains of Eastern Orthodox saints or their relics.
     
With a thousand-year history, the monastery was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990, along with Saint Sophia Cathedral. The building was set ablaze after Russia reportedly attacked Ukraine with 70 missiles and 600 drones.

It takes centuries to build a nation and its civilisation, but a single war can destroy it in moments.