A magnificent monastery complex

We had just come out of the catacombs (hence the head scarf). The size of the of the church in the                              background helps to give some idea of how vast the whole site is. 

We have now been in Ukraine for ten months and we have finally made a trip to one of the most prominent sites in Kyiv - the Kyiv-Pechersk monastery complex.  This is a huge area on the highest point in Kyiv and contains many, many buildings.  

This helps to see how it is the highest point of the city. All the buildings with green roofs in the foreground and middle distance are part of the complex. We were standing very near the church you can see in the distance with the scaffolding, in the previous picture.  In the far distance on the right of the photo you can see the other side of the river with the row upon row of residential high rises.

The complex, however, has been built in a very haphazard fashion and there doesn't seem to be any order as to where various buildings are located. It is a very ancient site and some parts of buildings date back to the 11th century.  There are many churches on the site and an Orthodox seminary which is under the authority of the Moscow Orthodox Church. It is a place where many people visit and tours of small groups are conducted. 

The lady with the pink scarf was the guide.  She always put the scarf over her head in the churches but it was only in the catacomb section that it was mandatory for the women. The explanations were not in English. You could have one in English but it was a lot more expensive and Bill could tell me about what he heard without the cost.  Seeing as I was not listening to her so much we have quite a few photos of me gazing upwards at the churches.

We went on a tour and it took an hour, but we saw just a small fraction of the area. There were many university-aged art students doing sketches and paintings of the buildings.

The whole area is very well maintained and as you can see the churches are magnificent structures.

The buildings are not all churches by any means. There are libraries and other things and one building (not one of these) was once a hospital.

 

There were tourist things for sale (see on the right) but it was very low key and did not intrude on the experience.

The churches are amazing with just about every speck of the interior either painted with scenes from the Bible or saints of the church or carved.

At the conclusion of the tour we were able to walk through a catacomb area. Priests in the distant past would live in small cells in this area. Some would live there for a number years, some lived all the remainder of their life. You couldn't see into the cells but the doors into them were unbelievably small.  The area was completely dark.  We were allowed to take a taper candle in with us for light and there were occasionally some feeble electric lights but I found it difficult to see my way.  There were passages and stairs. The passages were fairly low and very narrow.  The tourist information said it is a difficult place for taller than usual people and for people who are claustrophobic.  I am not especially keen on dark narrow places but I didn't find it difficult at all to cope with. My problem was that it was so dim and the path was not always very even so I was not always sure of my footing. The area where we could walk was not huge but there is another area as well which we did not see, maybe it is bigger.  There were a number of glass coffins where there were bodies from many centuries ago. The information says that the monks built the catacombs themselves but it didn't say how. Women cannot go into this area unless wearing a skirt and having their hair covered. I had come prepared. Even though it is a tourist site it is still a working Orthodox community and seminary so we saw quite a few young seminary student in ground length black robes moving around.

There was building work going on in one area. During World War 2 damage was done to the area. Many years ago not long after we married Bill's dad had read for me from a book called 'Babi Yar' (grandma’s ravine).  It recounts what happened in Ukraine and Kyiv in particular during the German occupation from Sep 1941- Nov 1943. At the present I am re-reading the book. In one part the author recounts what happened to the Kyiv-Pechersk complex.  He says there is controversy as to who caused it but many parts of the site had mines laid in it some months after the initial occupation of the city. These mine were then suddenly detonated. Official Soviet history blames German troops saying the German commanders were trying to destroy Kyiv and punish the local people. Others blame the Soviet troops for setting off the mines in order to cause as much damage to the occupying German army as they could.   No one knows for certain which story is accurate.  Anyway, one of the largest churches on the site was one of the buildings that was mined.  Only about an eighth of the large building was left standing.

This is the church that is being rebuilt.  As you can see it is almost complete after fourteen years of work.  On the other side there is still scaffolding in places. We did go into a small section but I don't know how much of the interior is still to be completed. The cupola on the left partially obscured be the tree is one that was damaged in the explosions and has not been replaced.

In the Soviet era in Ukraine after the end of the war many of the buildings in this area were turned into museums.  However, since Ukraine gained independence again late in 1991 work has begun to rebuild this important church.  Most of it is now complete.  One of the cupolas is obviously damaged. It has deliberately been left as it was when the building was mined as a reminder of the event. The churches are beautiful and magnificent. We hope and pray that many here will come to know the unsurpassed beauty and greatness of the Creator of all in the face of Christ.