Dear friends!

In our today’s release of “Memories of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” photo project we continue our story about architectural and archaeological research of 1997-2000. It was carried out before and during the restoration of the Dormition Cathedral, which blew up 80 years ago, on November 3, 1941. In the previous release on this topic (see: link) we have already noted that the main purpose of the then archaeological research was to gather the material about the construction and architectural history of the Great Pechersk Church. Of course, some valuable data was found during preliminary explorations, which were conducted quite regularly, though intermittently, throughout the 2nd half of the 20th century. It provided scientists with significant amount of information and helped them discover a large amount of archaeological findings. However, recent studies of the ruins of the Cathedral were also very important. In particular, they significantly expanded the idea of the structure and historical topography of the necropolis of the Great Church. For example, the discovery of ancient sarcophagi under the floor of the Cathedral aroused great interest both among scientists and the public. The presence of princely times burials’ was known since the middle of the 17th century. Some of them were marked on the plans in the historical works of the 19th century. But only thanks to the archaeological excavations in the late 20th century the researchers could determine the exact location of burials and their number. Out of seven burials marked on the plan of the Cathedral at the end of the 19th century, five were confirmed. In addition, archaeologists fixated eight more burials in sarcophagi during the excavations. Some of the studied burials date back to the grand ducal times, some - to the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are researchers that identify them with the dynasty of the last Kyiv appanage princes from Gediminas and Olelkovych families.

Next release of “Memories of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” photo project will continue telling the story about the archaeological research that preceded the restoration of the Dormition Cathedral in the late 20th century.

Captions to the illustrations:
1. Ruins of Dormition Cathedral before the start of restoration works. In the foreground - pits at the burial place of Olelkovych princes
2. The finding of the first sarcophagus. Serhii Balakin (left), Oleksandr Syromyatnikov (right)
3. The clearing of ruins continues
4. The wall of the sarcophagus appears. In the photo - Serhii Balakin
5. Taking field notes. Serhii Balakin (left), Konstantyn Rezuto (right). In the foreground - side walls of two more sarcophagi.
6. The remains of the sarcophagus lid are disassembled, the clearing of the contents of the coffin begins. From left to right: O. Syromyatnikov, Volodymyr Honchar, Andriy Zankin, Serhii Balakin.
7. The burial is almost cleared. Who was buried there?
8. Could sarcophagus belong to Mykhailo Olelkovych?
9. Anthropologists start working
10. A well-known archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Dmytro Telegin, visits the research site
11. Another burial is cleared. Serhii Balakin (left), Andriy Zankin (right)
12. Documentalists have arrived. In the foreground - Oleksandr Rosly sitting with his video camera. On the right - Fedir Zolotnytsky
13. One of the rules of archaeology is to describe everything... From left to right: Serhii Balakin, Oksana Chobitko (Ryzhenko), Oleksandr Syromyatnikov, Volodymyr Honchar
14.… And to draw. Oksana Chobitko (Ryzhenko)
15. Working meeting afield. From left to right: Kyrylo Khomenko (the 2nd), then - Oleg Kotsyuba, Oleksandr Syromyatnikov, Oleksandr Zagrebalny, Mykola Bushma, Andriy Zankin, Serhii Balakin. Last on the right – Dr. of Historical Sciences Glib Ivakin, the supervisor of the expedition