The photo project “Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”

This time we invite you to admire historical photos of the series “Military in the Lavra”.

The collection of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve contains many photographs capturing the military - in groups or separately. Some of them are depicted with their families. There are no exact dates in the photos, but it is easy to guess in connection with what event they were taken "for a long memory".

Exactly 106 years ago, on July 28, 1914, the First World War began. Three days later, on August 1, the Russian Empire joined it. Almost all of Europe was experiencing a patriotic uplift, each of the opposing sides was confident of a quick and easy victory. Neither confusion nor anxiety can be seen on the faces of the military and their relatives. None of them could have predicted that the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary would soon turn into a civil war for them, after which those who survived would find themselves in completely different socio-political realities of the Bolshevik dictatorship.

We do not know what happened to the soldiers in the photos, or how many of them survived the war. It is possible that some people found themselves in exile, some people completely adapted to a new life. Those who returned from the front crippled could even settle in the Town for Invalids established by the Bolshevik authorities on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

World War I directly affected directly the Pechersk monastery. More than 300 Lavra novices joined the active army, and twenty hieromonks were sent to the front to perform pastoral responsibilities. The Hospital of the Lavra was converted into a military hospital, and an orphanage was established in the Kytaivska Hermitage. A significant amount of the Lavra funds was allocated voluntarily-compulsorily to military needs. But more severe trials awaited the monastery in the near future...

Next week in the project “Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” you will be able to see historical photos from the series “Behind the walls of the Lavra”.

Let’s discover the beauties of the Preserve’s collection together!

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