Our photo story today is dedicated to a small monument that appeared on the Cathedral Square of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the late 20th century and is directly related to the Dormition Cathedral itself and the process of its reconstruction.

To the left of the main entrance to the Cathedral you can see a small metal ciborium, under which a masonry block is installed on a granite pedestal. It is a fragment of the wall of the Great Pechersk Church, dating from the 11th-12th centuries. On the south side of the same pedestal there is a figured bronze plate. The inscription reminds of the events associated with the tragic history of the main Lavra church: “Citizen! In front of you are fragments from the ruins of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The reconstruction of the Cathedral was a triumph of Christian light over the cruelty of darkness. Cathedral of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin was founded in 1073, consecrated in 1089 for the first time, and in 1729 for the second time. Destroyed by barbarians of the 20th century in 1941, reconstructed in 2000”.

This masonry block was discovered in 1952 during the dismantling of the ruins of the Dormition Cathedral by an expedition of the State Construction Committee of the USSR with the participation of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Architecture of the USSR led by Mykola Kholostenko. This is a fragment of the upper part of the northern wall of the ancient temple. On its outside, a part of the pilaster has been preserved, and on the inside, there are fragments of the choirs’ vaults. Initially, the block was placed for a long time on the ruins of the Cathedral under a metal canopy, partially lined with new bricks. In the Autumn of 1998, it was dismantled and moved outside the building. In many photos dated of winter-spring of 1999, the fragment is pictured under a striped white-blue tent. On the eve of the consecration of the Cathedral, the masonry block was installed in its current place and became a kind of monument to the ancient temple and its restorers.

The next release of the “Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” Photo Project will present pictures of Lavra winter landscapes of the late 1990s – early 2000s.

Captions to illustrations
01. Beginning of works on arrangement of the Cathedral’s fragment: the ground around has been already cleared, and the fragment was underpinned with support beams
02. Workers remove the soil under the monolith to underpin beams
03-04. Continuation of work on “tying” the fragment by a metal structure
05-06. Completion of metal construction production. After the first snow fell, the masonry block had to be covered from snow
07. Heavy snow prevented further work
08-09. Before the erection of the temple walls, the monolith was moved to another place, near the Bell Tower
10. Finally in “its” place
11. Monolith on the background of the reconstructed Cathedral
12. The following year, a ciborium was built to protect against the weather
13. Commemorative plaque
14. Monument always attracts the interest of tourists. View from the Great Lavra Bell Tower