Dear friends! We continue to acquaint you with the personalities who played an important role in the history of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. After the devastating explosion on November 3, 1941, numerous works of art appeared to be under the ruins of the temple, but there was a chance to save at least some fragments of its decoration. Therefore, from the second half of the 1940s, archeological excavations were carried out, during which many unique artifacts were found. The conservation measures of the cathedral ruins were conducted as well. Today we present to your attention the story of one of the first researchers of the Cathedral in the post-war period – Volodymyr Bogusevych (July 24, 1902 – July 18, 1978).

Volodymyr Bogusevych graduated from the Leningrad Teaching Institute in 1925. In 1929 he completed his postgraduate studies in the State Academy for the History of Material Culture. He has held management positions at the Pskov State Museum (1931–1935) and the Department of the Novgorod State Museums (1935–1941). In the summer of 1941, he was responsible for the evacuation of Novgorod museum values. In 1943–1945, as a commander of the infantry platoon of the First Ukrainian Front, he took part in armed hostilities, in particular, in Romania, Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals.

In October 1945, he was appointed Deputy Director of Research of the State Historical and Cultural Preserve «Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra» After defending his thesis in 1947, he got into the Department of Slavic and Rus’ Archeology of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1947–1962). Volodymyr Bogusevych is the author of 67 academic papers on the archeological and architectural issues of the Kyivan Rus’ period. He examined the monuments of the 11th-14th centuries in Novgorod, Kyiv, and Chernihiv, as well as the Kyivan Rus’ cities of Voin, Vyr, Putyvl, Vyahan, and Ostersky Gorodets.

Volodymyr Bogusevych supervised the architectural and archeological research of the Dormition Cathedral during the dismantling of its ruins in 1945–1948. The area was cleared of huge debris, which allowed taking measures to preserve the surviving parts of the monument. More than 2,000 items were saved from the ruins such as building materials, fabrics and embroideries, artifacts made of metal and wood, marble and slate.