Saint Sophia Cathedral

About

The Saint Sophia Cathedral (Ukrainian: Софійський собор, romanized: Sofiiskyi sobor or Софія Київська, Sofiia Kyivska) in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kyivan Rus'. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kyiv Cave Monastery complex. The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO decided in June 2013 that Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, and St Sophia Cathedral along with its related monastery buildings would remain on the World Heritage List. Aside from its main building, the cathedral includes an ensemble of supporting structures such as a bell tower and the House of Metropolitan. In 2011 the historic site was reassigned from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. One of the reasons for the move was that both Saint Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra are recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Program as one complex, while in Ukraine the two were governed by different government entities. The cathedral is a museum. The complex of the cathedral is the main component and museum of the National Reserve...

The Saint Sophia Cathedral (often referred to as St Sophia's Cathedral) was built as a metropolitan cathedral for Kyiv during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise. An earlier wooden church with the same name may have existed. According to the historian Volodymyr Berezhynsky, the cathedral was founded on the site of the battlefield where Yaruslav's Kievan Rus' army defeated the nomadic Pechenegs in 1036 following the siege of Kyiv that year.

The limited and contradictory nature of the evidence for the cathedral's origins has caused its foundation and construction dates to be contested. The exact dates theorised by researchers have for many years been based on four sources—the Primary Chronicle (also known as The Tale of Bygone Years ), The First Chronicle of Novgorod, the Chronicle [ pl ] of Thietmar of Merseburg, and the Sermon on Law and Grace. The most reliable of these sources, The Tale of Bygone Years, states that the cathedral was founded in 1037, but some scholars have interpreted this as being the year of completion. The chronicle states that in 1037, “…Yaroslavl founded a great city... [he] also founded the church of St. Sophia, a metropolitan [church]." The Novgorod Chronicle gives 1017 as being the foundation year of the cathedral: “In the year Yaroslav founded a great city Kyiv, and put up golden gates, and founded the church of St. Sophia." This is in comparison with the Primary Chronicle ' s entry for 1017: “Yaroslavl entered Kiev, and churches burned down.” A third date is provided by Thietmar of Merseburg, who wrote that Prince Boleslaw was present at the cathedral in 1018.

An alternative theory for the foundation date has been proposed by the Ukrainian historian Nadiia Nikitenko. According to Nikitenko, the cathedral was founded in 1011, under the reign of Yaroslav's father, Vladimir the Great, the Grand Prince of Kyiv. Her hypothesis, which suggests that the cathedral was founded on 4 November 1011 and was consecrated on 11 May 1018, is based on a new interpretation of painted images and graffiti on the cathedral walls dated by Nikitenko to between 1018 and 1036.

The 1011 date has been accepted by both UNESCO and the Ukrainian government, which officially celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the cathedral during 2011.

The cathedral was designed as a burial place for Yaroslav the Wise and his descendants. He was interred in a marble sarcophagus [ uk ], now located in the northern inner gallery [ fr ]. It is probable that the metropolitan bishops of Kyiv were also buried in the cathedral (prior to the absorption of the Kyivan Rus' lands into the Mongol Empire ), the earliest known example being the burial of Cyril II in the 1280s. The tombs of other Grand Princes of Kiev known to have been buried in the cathedral have not survived, such as those of Vsevolod I (reigned 1078–1093), Vladimir II Monomakh (reigned 1113–1125), and Viacheslav I (reigned 1154).

In 1169, Kyiv was sacked after its capture by the troops of Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal, who looted the cathedral's relics and other treasures, and in particular the icon of the Mother of God. In November 1240, Kyiv was besieged by the Mongols under the leadership of Batu Khan. St Sophia was damaged but not destroyed by the Mongols; like other city churches, it was looted when Kyiv was plundered by the victors. The city did not recover its former importance or prosperity for centuries following the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. In 1203 the city was captured by Roman the Great, and the cathedral was robbed by Anna II of Kiev (the wife of Rurik Rostislavich ) and their allies.

During the decline of Kyiv, the cathedral continued as a metropolitan church, but the building slowly became dilapidated, and the western end in particular suffered from years of neglect.

Most modern scholars believe that the first chronicle from Kyivan Rus' emerged in the 1030s and probably originated from St Sophia. Only later did chronicle writing in Ukraine move to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The first Kyivan Rus' library [ uk ] was established in the cathedral by Yaroslav the Wise in 1037. It is known that there were over 1000 books in the collection, which was maintained by the cathedral's monks. According to one story, the monks hid the library's most valuable treasures in a secret underground passage when the city was being attacked—the hidden location has never been discovered, despite numerous attempts.

A Princely group portrait (south wall of the nave ) The cathedral's interior by the central dome The Jude the Apostle mosaic A view of the exterior brickwork

From 1497 until 1577, the cathedral was left abandoned, until in that year Bogusz Gulkevych-Glibovsky renovated the cathedral at his own expense. In 1596, following the Union of Brest, ownership of the cathedral was transferred to the Ruthenian Uniate Church. From the formation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 1596 until the official re-acceptance of Orthodox Christianity in 1632, St. Sophia’s Cathedral was used as place of worship for Greek Catholics; as a result of the acceptance of the union by Metropolitan Michael Rohoza, St Sophia was under the jurisdiction of the Union Church.

On 2 July 1633, Mohyla regained authority over the cathedral and founded a monastery, after which the cathedral became the property of the restored Orthodox Metropolis of Kyiv of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1786 the monastery was abolished, and its lands were confiscated. In 1697, the wooden buildings were all destroyed in a fire.

During the reign of Petro Mohyla (1633–1647), restoration work was begun on the cathedral. Its appearance in the mid-17th century is known from the drawings of Abraham van Westerveld and the description of Paul of Aleppo. According to their contemporary accounts, the church had 70 altars, and 36 crosses installed on its cupolas. Mohyla had a new iconostasis built, and two side altars in the external galleries installed. Mohyla involved the Italian architect Octaviano Mancini in the restoration work on the cathedral, which he carried out by Mancini in collaboration with the Ukrainian brothers Timish and Ivan Zinoviev, the gilder Yakym Evtykhiev, the icon painter Joachim, and carvers, carpenters, and masons from Moscow. Instead of maintaining a Byzantine style of architecture for the exterior of the cathedral, Mohyla and his architects were influenced by western European ideas, transformed St Sophia to give it the outward appearance of a Baroque church. The reconstruction work was continued after Mohyla's death in 1647 by Metropolitan Sylvester Kosiv, until his death in 1657.

Between 1690 and 1707 a major renovation of St Sophia was overseen by the Metropolitan Varlaam Yasinsky [ uk ], with the financial assistance of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. The cathedral's galleries were raised, four new domes were added, and the tops of the towers were rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style. In 1699, a new domed bell tower was built—the dome was gilded at Mazepa's expense. The other new buildings in the complex were completed by 1767. The remains of the west gallery, the arcade, and part of the choirs were dismantled. By 1695, an outer gallery had been added, along with six new domes. The fire of 1697 led to destruction in the recently restored west end, and new work had to be undertaken to repair the damage caused.

The next major restoration to the cathedral took place between 1843 and 1853. Between 1882 and 1889, a number of the Baroque pediments were removed, and a narthex was built on the site of the western gallery.

In 1917, the Central Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Antiquity and Art in Ukraine [ uk ] began research into the cathedral. During the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 1920s, the government called for the cathedral to be demolished and the grounds to be transformed into a park named in honour of the heroes of Perekop. The cathedral was saved from demolition. St. Sophia was the cathedral of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church from 1921 until 1930. In October 1921, Vasyl Lypkivsky was consecrated as the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine of the Ukrainian Apostolic Church. In 1921, the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences created the Sophia Commission [ uk ], which was able to save the cathedral from being demolished.

The National Reserve "Sophia of Kyiv", a state architectural and historical reserve containing the cathedral and other historic buildings, was established in 1934. This enabled research and restoration work to be carried out on the cathedral and other buildings in the complex. The last acting vicar of St Sophia, Yuri Mikhnovsky [ uk ], was the incumbent from 1931 until his expulsion in 1934, after which the authorities banned services in the cathedral. Gold and silver items (including the royal gates, icons, candlesticks, vestments, and books) were confiscated, and the iconostases were dismantled and stripped of their gold. The reserve opened to visitors in the spring of 1935.

During the Second World War, Kyiv was occupied by the German Wehrmacht from 19 September 1941 until its liberation on 6 November 1943. According to a previous director of the Sophia Museum, Alexei Povstenko [ uk ], German sappers prevented the NKVD from blowing up the cathedral, who had mined the building in September 1941. Church services were resumed in October 1941. In January 1942 the occupation authorities established a short-lived museum (it closed in October 1943 as the Germans were about to retreat from Kyiv). The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce listed the cathedral's remaining valuables. The Nazis expropriated some of the remaining historical pieces, and only a small proportion were returned after the end of the war.

Politicians have promised during the 1980s onwards to return St Sophia to the Orthodox Church, but a final decision has been postponed. Both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Greek-Catholic Church lay sole claim using the cathedral for worship. Catholics worshippers have not been permitted to use the cathedral; the Orthodox churches have sometimes been allowed to conduct services at different dates, and other times they have been denied access. [ citation needed ] In 1995, riot police attacked mourners during the funeral of Patriarch Volodymyr Romaniuk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. The patriarch was buried in a makeshift grave after the situation was brought back under control. Representatives of five Orthodox churches read the first joint prayer for Ukraine in the cathedral in 2006.

On June 10, 2025, as a result of a blast wave caused by shelling of Kyiv by the Russian Federation during the Russo-Ukrainian War, part of the central apse on the eastern facade was damaged.