Ukraine
N50 27 9.288 E30 31 0.696
Date of Inscription: 1990
Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2005
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)
Property : 28.52 ha
Buffer zone: 220.15 ha
Ref: 527bis
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Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Kyiv’s Saint-Sophia Cathedral symbolizes the ‘new Constantinople’, capital of the Christian principality of Kyiv, which was created in the 11th century in a region evangelized after the baptism of St Vladimir in 988. The spiritual and intellectual influence of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and the Orthodox faith in the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century.
The Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra represent two outstanding complexes of cultural heritage monuments from the Middle Ages and Early Modern period (Kyivan Rus’ and Hetmanate Periods).
The property consists of two separate components: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and its related monastic buildings and the monastic complex of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra with the Church of the Saviour at Berestovo.
Saint-Sophia Cathedral, located in the historic centre of Kyiv, is one of the major monuments representing the architectural and the monumental art of the early 11th century. The Cathedral was built with the participation of local builders and Byzantine masters during the reign of the Great Prince of Kyiv, Yaroslav the Wise, as the main Christian Church of the Kyivan Rus’ capital. The Cathedral has preserved its ancient interiors and the collection of mosaics and frescoes of the 11th century is unique for its integrity. Its masterpieces include the Pantocrator, the Virgin Orans, the Communion of the Apostles, the Deisis and the Annunciation. The architecture and monumental art of the Cathedral had a wide influence on the architecture and decoration of the Kyivan Rus’ temples. Monastic buildings constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries in the Ukrainian Baroque style surround the Cathedral. The architectural ensemble includes the bell tower, Metropolitan’s house, the refectory, the Zaborovsky gate, the south entrance tower, the cells of cathedral elders and the seminary encircled by a stone wall. Over the centuries, the Cathedral and monastic buildings have expressed a unique harmony of architectural and natural forms, and national spirit and have held a significant place in the traditional historic landscape of Kyiv.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is an architectural ensemble of monastic buildings situated on the plateau overlooking the right bank of the Dnieper River. The ensemble was formed over many centuries in organic combination with the landscape, and acts as a general urban dominant. Founded by St. Anthony and St. Theodosy in the 11th century, the monastery became a prominent spiritual and cultural centre that made a significant contribution to the development of education, art and medicine. The architectural ensemble of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra comprises unique surface and underground churches from the 11th to the 19th centuries, in a complex of labyrinthine caves that expands more than 600m, as well as domestic and household buildings from the 17th to the19th centuries. The architectural ensemble acquired its modern aspect as a result of construction activities in the 17th to the 18th centuries in the heyday of the Ukrainian Baroque. The main monuments of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra ensemble are the Dormition Cathedral, the Trinity Gate Church, the Great Bell Tower, the Church of All Saints, the Refectory Church, the monastery defensive walls with towers, the cave complexes of St. Anthony (Near) and St. Theodosy (Far) with surface churches, the Exaltation of the Cross and the Nativity of the Virgin and the Church of the Saviour on Berestovo.
For centuries, the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, with relics of saints buried in caves, has been one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centres in the world.
Criterion (i): Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra represents a masterpiece of human creative genius in both its architectural conception and its remarkable decoration.
Saint-Sophia Cathedral is a unique monument of architecture and monumental art of the early 11th century having the biggest preserved collection of mosaics and frescoes of that period. The Cathedral’s architecture is distinguished by supplementary naves added to the five-nave core and pyramidal spatial composition of the cross dome church. The monumental decoration of the Cathedral composes an ensemble unique for its conceptual design that reflects the major theological ideas of the time and is an outstanding example of Byzantine art. The huge pantheon of Christian saints depicted in the Cathedral has an unrivalled multiplicity among Byzantine monuments of that time. The mural paintings of the Cathedral also include a complex of unique secular frescoes in the stair towers made in the tradition of Byzantine art.
The ensemble of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a masterpiece of Ukrainian art that was definitely formed during the Baroque period. It integrates unique surface and underground buildings and structures of the 11th-19th centuries combined with a rich landscape.
Criterion (ii): The property is a result of the cultural interaction of the Kyivan Rus’, the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe. Architecture and monumental painting at the property reflect the changes of Byzantine architectural and artistic traditions that acquired a new sense under the influence of local vision. It revealed, in spiritual tradition as well as in architectural planning, encompassing the tradition of underground Orthodox cult architecture of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The Dormition Cathedral was an example for the construction of similar churches in the Eastern Europe region during the 12th to15th centuries.
Criterion (iii): Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra bears exceptional testimony to the centuries-old Byzantine cultural traditions of neighbouring countries in general and of Kyivan Rus’ in particular. Over the centuries the property had a major spiritual influence in Eastern Europe.
Criterion (iv): Saint-Sophia Cathedral is a unique edifice that reflects in its architecture and mural decoration the peculiarities of churchwarden order. The construction of the Cathedral laid the foundation of an architectural school that influenced the cult architecture and monumental art of Kyivan Rus’ and then of Eastern Europe.
Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is an exceptionally valuable architectural ensemble formed over the course of almost nine centuries, which reflects changes in stylistic trends in architecture, as well as the process of the improvement of engineering structures.
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Kyiv, Europe’s city of intrigue, is the capital of Ukraine and its largest and most vibrant city with 3 million inhabitants. It is in the north of central Ukraine on the Dnieper River. The official name of the city has long been Kyiv, a transliteration from the Ukrainian Київ. The common English name of the city, Kiev is a transliteration of the Russian Киев. Expect to see Kyiv used more often inside Ukraine and Kiev to be used by most foreign media. The spelling of the city name in English-language guidebooks is debatable. The Ukrainians are understandably very proud of their capital’s role in establishing European civilisation in Eastern Europe. Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe dating back to the 5th century although settlements at this location existed much earlier. By the late 9th century, Kiev was at the centre of an emerging Eastern Slavic state. Between the 10th and early 13th centuries, the city reached its golden age as the capital of the first Ukrainian state known today as Kievan Rus (Kyivan Ruthenia, or Rus-Ukraine) [read more].
Bila Tserkva (all lit. ”White Church”) is a city in central Ukraine, the largest city in Kiev Oblast. Bila Tserkva is located on the Ros River approximately 80 km (50 mi) south of Kiev. The area is 67.8 square kilometres (26.2 sq mi) Its population is approximately 207,745 (2017 est.). Administratively, Bila Tserkva is incorporated as a town of oblast significance. It also serves as the administrative center of Bila Tserkva Raion (district), though administratively it does not belong to the raion. The town was founded in 1032 as Yuriiv by Yaroslav the Wise, whose Christian name was Yuri. The present name of the city, literally translated, is “White Church” and may refer to the (no longer existing) white-painted cathedral of medieval Yuriiv. Since 1363 it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and since 1569 to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, administratively in the Powiat of Kiev, part of Lesser Poland. It was crown property, but in recognition of his great service, it was granted to the Castellan of Kraków, Janusz Ostrogski [read more].
Vinnytsya is a city in Central Ukraine. The administrative center of the Vinnytsia area and Vinnytsia region. Located 267 km south-west of Kyiv. A historic town known since Middle Ages and a former Soviet Cold War-airbase, Vinnytsia is now an industrial center (particularly, dominated by the Roshen corporation), a growing international IT-outsource center and the main base of the Ukrainian Air Force. A long lasting warm summer with a sufficient quantity of moisture and a comparatively short winter is characteristic of Vinnytsia. The average temperature in January is −5.8 °C (21.6 °F) and 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) in July. The average annual precipitation is 638 mm (25 in). Throughout the year, 6–9 days per year include snowstorms, 37–60 days of the year include mists during the cold period, and 3–5 days include thunder storms with hail. Vinnytsia has been an important trade and political center since the fourteenth century, when Fedir Koriatowicz, the nephew of the Lithuanian Duke Olgerd, built a fortress (1363) against Tatar raiders on the banks of the Southern Bug [read more].
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