The new release of the Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Photo Project is dedicated to the visitors of the Kyiv-Pechersk State Historical and Cultural Preserve in the 1970s.

Over the past decades, owing to the painstaking work of specialists in various fields, the destruction caused by the Second World War has been virtually eliminated. In the early 1970s, after the restoration of All Saints' Church over the Economic Gate, the Church of the Saviour at Berestove, and the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the Near Caves, these monuments were opened to the public. So, in the mid-1970s, tourists had the opportunity to visit five Lavra churches, which have preserved their authentic interiors and decoration. Both Lavra underground labyrinths were also included in the excursion route, as mentioned in the previous Facebook posts.

New expositions were constantly opened such as the exhibition "Christianity and Atheism in Ukraine" in the Refectory Chamber in 1972, and the exhibition "Architectural Ensemble of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1975 (one of the previous releases of the photo project was dedicated to it). In 1978 a unique exhibition "Microminiatures of Mykola Siadrystyi" was opened in the building Nr.3. More than 300 thousand visitors visited this exhibition annually.

Great efforts were made to improve the area: planting trees, flowers, setting up comfortable benches, kiosks for the sale of periodicals and souvenirs, drinks dispensers and other.

The number of visitors to the Kyiv-Pechersk Preserve has been constantly increasing. At the same time, the number of foreigners who visited Kyiv through the Soviet tourist organizations Intourist and Sputnik also increased significantly. In the late 1970s, about 800 thousand tourists from all over the Soviet Union and from abroad visited the Lavra every year.

The next week the “Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” photo project will be dedicated to dignitaries and official delegations who visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Preserve in the 1970s.

Picture captions:

01. Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the 1970s

02-03. Traditional photography near the Trinity Gate Church

04. First visit to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo from the personal archive of O. Mokrousova

05. T. Khorolska gives a lecture to schoolchildren

06. Research worker V. Lyubashenko (Kolpakova) with a group of servicemen. 1978

07-10. Tourists on the Cathedral Square

11. In the interior of the art metal exhibition

12. "Christianity and Atheism in Ukraine" exhibition

13. Guide S. Grabar gives a tour around the exhibition "History of the Lavra Caves"

14. Tourists in line to the Near Caves

15. In the caves