Did you know that bas-relief of Archangel Michael, which decorated the upper part of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, became one of the centre-pieces of the Fund collection of “All-Ukrainian Museum Town” State Historical and Cultural Preserve in 1934?

“A sword and shield, copper gilded and hammered figure of Archangel Michael was passed to the funds of the museum institution from St. Michael’s Monastery. It was transferred under the Act of August 5, 1934 along with gilded copper crosses of the central dome and Catherine’s southern aisle of the Cathedral. Soon a copper embossed gilded bas-relief of Archangel Michael, made in the middle of the 18th century, was included into the exhibition “Religion in the Service of Feudal Exploiters” exposed in the Annunciation Church of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Probably due to the events of the Second World War, the work of the Kyiv School of Baroque Metal Sculpture appeared in the courtyard of the Institute of Fine Arts and stayed there until 1956. There it was discovered by the Ukrainian art historian Pavlo Zholtovsky who transferred the work of art to the Lviv Museum of Ethnography and Crafts (nowadays subordinated to the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). In 1999, the figure of Archangel Michael was returned to Kyiv and passed to the Museum of History of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, where the bas-relief is still on display.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. Fragment of the exposition “Religion in the Service of Feudal Exploiters” (the so-called Department of Feudalism) of the All-Ukrainian Museum Town in the Annunciation Church of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. 1935? (inv. № KPL-N-2948)

2. Copper gilded bas-relief of Archangel Michael that decorated the upper part of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, in the exposition of the All-Ukrainian Museum Town. 1935? (inv. № KPL-N-2948)

3. Copper gilded bas-relief of Archangel Michael that decorated the upper part of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, in the exposition of the Museum of History of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. 2010 (https://zeft.in.ua/muzej-istoriyi-ta-dzvinitsya-mihajlivskogo-zolotoverh...)

Anna Yanenko