Did you know that plague epidemic of 1770–1771 prevented Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from making bricks for its own constructions?

In 1770, Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery signed a brick-manufacturing contract with Roman Nozdrin, a merchant from the Novorossiysk province who lived in Khreshchatyk at that time. The Monastery’s housekeeper was in close cooperation with the merchant on the contract matter. According to the document, Lavra had to pay 2 rubles. 30 kop. for the manufacture of 1000 bricks. The merchant undertook a commitment to provide the Monastery with his workers, but he vanished during the plague of 1770–1771. It goes from the Monastery’s documents that when he began the work on the contract in summer 1770, he suddenly dismissed all his workers, stopped the process of brick manufactering and began hiding from Lavra’s brotherhood. Archimandrite Zosima (Valkevych) appealed to the Kyiv Governor-General for a search, but Nozdrin was never found. Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery suffered material damage as it had already paid certain amount of money to the merchant for the works that he had to do.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. Dance of Death. Xilography from “Nuremberg Chronicles” artwork. Late15th century.

2. Plague house. Western European engraving, 18th century.

3. Plague in Podillia. Polish engraving, 1770.

Hanna Filipova