Gymnasia#31
Editors: Slavik Kokoulin and Ann Shevchenko
The construction of St Sophia Cathedral was begun in the first half of the 11th century, probably in 1037 by Yaroslav the Sage. It was meant to replace Kiev's very first church, the Dessiatinnaya (Our Lady of the Tithes), built by his great-grandmother Duchess Olga in 952
By the icon painters working in Kiev. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
is of outstanding significance in the Ukrainian national heritage, and the ancient monastic foundation plays a very important role in the spiritual and intellectual life of the Russian world. Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Kiev's Saint-Sophia December 14, 2014 Cathedral symbolizes the 'new Constantinople', capital of the Christian principality of Kiev, 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 Kiev-Pechersk Lavra contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and the Orthodox faith in the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century.
Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral