We are completing a cycle of photo stories about the reconstruction of the Great Pechersk Church - the Dormition Cathedral.
For more than two months, we published on our website photos of events that reflect the two years of work of a large team of designers, architects, builders, restorers, artists, sculptors. It is the period since the autumn of 1998 when the clearing and strengthening of the remains of the Cathedral began, and till the summer of 2000 when the consecration took place. The reconstruction of the Dormition Cathedral was preceded by decades of painstaking research work, and after the works were taken over by the State Commission on November 3, 2000, it was followed with interior decoration. The paintings on the first tier of the temple were completed in January 2013, meanwhile, the work on the paintings of the second tier continues to this day. In August 2021, the first stage of the restored funeral monument to Kostiantyn, the Prince of Ostroh, in the northern part of the Cathedral narthex was inaugurated. So, it is possible that we will return to the theme of the Dormition Cathedral in the future…
Today we invite you to see the photos taken in 1998-1999 by the then employee of the Preserve Maxym Strykhar (Figs. 1-7, 9). For two years he recorded the progress of work, in particular, from the third tier of the Great Lavra Bell Tower. The last photos are especially interesting because they are made, in fact, from the same visual point, and therefore provide an opportunity to trace in detail the process of restoration of the Great Pechersk Church.
The next release of the “Memories of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” Photo Project will be dedicated to a small monument that appeared in the Cathedral Square of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra during the reconstruction of the Dormition Cathedral and is directly related to it.

Captions to illustrations
01. Autumn 1998: clearing and strengthening the remains of the Cathedral
02. Autumn - beginning of winter 1998: installation of drilling piles, preparation of areas for reconstruction
03. Winter 1998–1999: continuation of work in difficult weather conditions
04. Spring 1999: construction of walls
05. Spring-summer 1999: completion of walls and vaults erection
06. Summer 1999: erection of dome drums and pediments
07. Autumn 1999: construction of domes and copper roofs
08. After 2000: the reconstructed Dormition Cathedral 
09. December 2000