St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral, Kyiv

Our last post on Ukraine …

St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral (Володимирський кафедральний собор) is situated on Tarasa Shevchenko Blvd across the botanical garden and about 2 blocks from our hotel. It is one of Kiev’s major landmarks and the main cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchy.

This neo-Byzantine monument was our first stop in downtown Kiev. It was late afternoon and many office workers were leaving for the weekend and coming in to say a prayer. Ladies have to wear a scarf.

The cathedral was completed in 1882, however, the paintings were fully completed only in 1896.

The interior is quite dark which enhances the gold-accented fresco-lined walls and columns, and giant chandeliers.

The colorful mosaics were executed by masters from Venice. The frescoes were created under the guidance of a professor and by a group of famous painters, including Viktor Vasnetsov and Mikhail Vrubel.

The cathedral is dedicated to Vladimir the Great who in 989 AD accepted Christianity, leading the abandonment of paganism among the Kievan Rus’ people.

The Christianization of Rus people (Русь ) firmly allied it with the Byzantine Empire. The Greek learning and book culture was adopted in Kiev and other centers of the country. Churches started to be built on the Byzantine model.

We do not have a description of the body who is displayed and revered. It is not Vladimir.

St. Volodymyr’s is a beautiful church and in our opinion, more so than those in the site of the cave monastery. See earlier post here.

Inside the church is a few stands that sell religious art and souvenirs. They were not obtrusive and did not dilute the atmosphere. The church was really busy and not a tourist attraction, which is heartening to see. 

In the news at the time this post was drafted, Ukraine created the biggest schism in Christianity in centuries, as it breaks from the authority of a Moscow-based patriarch and formally gain recognition for its own church (“autocepaly”) from Constantinople (Istanbul), taking tens of millions of followers and church properties. Ukraine’s Parliament voted in December 2018 to force the Moscow-affiliated church, currently known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to instead call itself the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

See New York Times article here.

This cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchy will probably become more prominent as a result.

Due to the lack of time, we did not get to see the other even more prominent church in Kiev – St. Sophia’s Cathedral (Софійський собор). Well, next time.

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Києво-Печерська лавра), also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kiev.

Since its foundation as the cave monastery in 1051, the Lavra has been a preeminent center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe. Together with the Saint Sophia Cathedral, it is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kiev Pechersk Lavra is essentially a complex split into two parts. One above ground and one below. It is very spread out with numerous buildings.

Built in 1073-8 AD, the main church of the monastery was destroyed during the World War II after the Nazi Germany troops occupied the city of Kiev. The reconstruction of the cathedral began in 1998 and was completed in time for its reconsecration during the Ukrainian Independence Day ceremonies in August 2000.

Great Bell Tower –  it was the tallest free-standing belltower at the time of its construction in 1731–1745.

It is an active monastery. Monks dressed in black walk around the complex. The monastery has a very informative web site in English – including information for local churchgoers and pilgrims – https://lavra.ua/en/

The caves were the beginning of a detailed excavation in which monks created a labyrinth of underground caves and catacombs. Below ground, this network takes on a greater meaning as it is full of mummified monks, religious relics, and icons.

We were so distracted by the above-ground complex that we left it too late to explore the caves. Too bad as it would the most unique sight.  Well, next time.

In the news at the time this post was drafted, Ukraine created the biggest schism in Christianity in centuries, as it breaks from the authority of a Moscow-based patriarch and formally gain recognition for its own church (“autocepaly”), taking tens of millions of followers and church properties. Ukraine’s Parliament voted in December 2018 to force the Moscow-affiliated church, currently known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to instead call itself the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

See New York Times article here.

The cave monastery is owned by the Ukrainian state but occupied by followers of the Moscow patriarch under a long-term lease, could become a point of contention. What an ugly mix of geopolitics and religion.

View of the monastery garden

A view of the monastery from the River Dneiper. Due to the camera angle, the statue appears next to the monastery, but in reality they are actually quite far apart.

On our way out, we noticed these brand new copper tops of church spires. The monastery apparently has a shop that supplies the parishes with this essential architectural element.

We really missed out a lot of sights on this short tour. If this is interesting to you, the monastery has a wonderful 3D tour online at https://lavra.ua/3dtour/index.html.  Go take a look.

Snapshots from Kiev, Ukraine

We spent a few days in Kiev (Kyiv) in Ukraine to see the 2018 Champions League final in June 2018. We knew little about Kiev or Ukraine, here are a few things we saw and learnt.

Metro stop nearest to our hotel – Universytet (Університет) – the style of “M” is the same as in Moscow – all Soviet state’s metro probably have the same logo

The National Opera House (Національний академічний театр опери та балету України ім. Т. Г. Шевченка) – opera.com.ua –  we saw a ballet there

Independence Monument located on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) built in 2001, and to its right, the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) – Ukraine has been independent since 1991, splitting from the Soviet Union (USSR).

Orange Revolution started here in late 2004 where hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in the square and nearby streets, and pitched tents for several weeks, protesting against electoral fraud. It led to an additional round of presidential elections which were won by the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko. Victor Yanukovych who lost the election served as Prime Minister.

The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 was Ukraine’s fifth presidential election since declaring independence and was won by Viktor Yanukovych beating the then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The square was the site of Euromaidan (Євромайдан) protests beginning in November 2013, progressing to violent clashes, fires, and ending in the ousting of the elected Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. We created an earlier post (click here) on the extravagant residence of this ex-President just outside of Kiev.

The next presidential election is set for 31 March 2019.

TsUM (ЦУМ), a high-end Russian department store – tsum.ua

Champions League Final celebratory street fair on Khreshchatyk street next to Independence Square

NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium where the final game was played – Read Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1

Stalin empire style built between 1930-1955 – one of the “Stalinkas” on Khreshchatyk street – the star is no longer red – it is now in blue and yellow – colors of the national flag

Museum “Memorial to Holodomor victims” (Музей «Меморіал жертв Голодомору») – opened in 2008 on the right bank of the Dnieper river adjacent to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Holodomor literally translated from Ukrainian means “death by hunger” – up to 4 million Ukrainians died between 1932-1933.

Actions by the Soviet Union such as rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement confer intent, defining the famine as genocide.

The Kiev Pechersk Lavra (the cave monastery) stocks copper roof top crosses for churches around the country. See later post for details.

The Motherland Monument (Батьківщина-Мати) – built by the Soviets, now controversial in modern independent Ukraine, allowed to remain standing because it is a part of a Museum on the history of Ukraine in World War II.

St. Andrew’s Church (Андріївська церква) next to a large and lively street market where we spent a nice afternoon.

Ukrainian driving licenses of the famous – in case you cannot read the names – E Macron, Mr Bean, Tom Cruise are there.

More posts on Kyiv to come.

Our trips 2018, part 2

Dear Readers,

It has been a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. In Part 1, we posted photos of places we visited in the second half of 2018. Here are the places we visited in the first half.

Click on the links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

In reverse chronological order:

Entrance to Harbor of Lindau, on the shore of Lake Constance in the summer

Red carpet area in St Gallen, Switzerland

Champions League Final in Kiev, Ukraine

Real Madrid scored against Liverpool and went on to win the title 3-1 –  Marcelo, Bale (2 goals – 64′ and 83′), Benzema (1 goal at 51′), Modric and Ronaldo

The Lavra, Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine

Neues Rathaus at Marienplatz, Munich

Late night Ginza, Tokyo, in April

Zhengyang Gate, Qianmen, Beijing – 正阳门箭楼

Wanchai, Hong Kong in April

WYK, Hong Kong

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Dead sea resort, Jordan

Petra, Jordan

Oslo, Norway where we spent the beginning of the new year

Nobel Peace Center, Oslo

Let’s see where we will go in 2019.

Our trips 2018, part 1

Dear Readers, Happy 2019 !

It is a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. We traveled more in 2018 than 2017, at least in terms of distance traveled. Chris had been to Hong Kong and Tokyo twice and went to the Middle East.

Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

In reverse chronological order:

London – Regent Street, an early Christmas for us

Covent Garden, London

Hong Kong  – on Star Ferry in October

Taipei, Taiwan

The new Eslite – 誠品行旅

The old Grand – 圓山大飯店

Beitou –  just outside Taipei – 少帥禪園

Los Angeles – wedding at NeueHouse in Hollywood

Col de la Croix de Fer, 2067m in the Alps, France

Albertville, France

Tokyo, in June – Hie Shrine 日枝神社

First half of 2018 in our next post.