The Church of the Saviour at Berestove: three epochs in one wall

Part of this church’s walls is older than Moscow: they still hold the masonry of the Kyivan Rus church — its former narthex. Above it rise domes of the 17th–18th centuries, and beside it stands a bell tower of the 19th. The three epochs do not argue; they hold one another up.

In brief

Address	Kyiv, Pechersk district, by the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (outside its walls)
Built	late 11th – early 12th c.; rebuilt 1640–1642; bell tower 1813–1814
Type	originally a three-aisled, three-apsed cross-in-square church; now cross-shaped, with five parts in plan
Material	brick (plinthos), masonry transitional from mixed (opus mixtum) to even-coursed
Status	monument of national importance; part of UNESCO site No. 527 (on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2023)
Institution	National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve

History

Berestove was the country residence of Volodymyr the Great — he died here in 1015. A monastery on this site is first mentioned in the chronicle under the year 1072. The documents do not say exactly when the masonry church was built. Tradition links it to the reign of Volodymyr Monomakh (1113–1125), but on the evidence of the masonry and materials researchers lean towards the second half of the 11th century, probably the 1070s. An architectural and archaeological expedition of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine led by Hlib Ivakin obtained evidence in favour of the early date in the early 2000s.

The church became the burial place of the Monomakh dynasty. Buried here are Monomakh’s daughter Yevfymiia (1138, according to other sources 1139), his son Yuri Dolgoruky (1157) and Yuri’s son Hlib Yuriyovych (1171, according to other sources 1173).

In 1240 the church suffered during Batu Khan’s invasion; according to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia (VUE), a landslide later destroyed its eastern and central parts, and only the narthex survived, to about two-thirds of its height. In 1482 the ruins were damaged again during the raid of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, and the church lay in ruins until the 17th century. In 1640–1642 Metropolitan Petro Mohyla rebuilt it. The new church was smaller than the old one, but it incorporated the surviving narthex of the earlier building: three faceted apses were added to it on the east, and a wooden narthex (babynets) on the west. VUE links the rebuilding to the architect O. Mancini; the Polish scholar P. Krasny calls him Ottaviano Mancini. In 1644 Greek masters painted the interior with frescoes.

In 1813–1814 a bell tower designed by Andriy Melenskyi was added on the west; the carved and chased decoration of the altar table was made by the gold- and silversmith Fedir Korobka (according to the Ukrainian Wikipedia). In 1909–1914 Petro Pokryshkin removed the later plaster and exposed the Kyivan Rus masonry, and the foundations of the lost part were uncovered east of the church. In 1970 a 12th-century fresco, “The Miraculous Draught of Fishes”, was found beneath the 17th-century painting. The most recent restoration work took place in 2017–2019.

Timeline

Figures in square brackets are source numbers in the list at the bottom of the page. The note “according to …” means that the fact is confirmed by a single source only. The section “Legends and tales” contains stories and legends: they are recorded in the sources but not confirmed by documents.

Berestove and the princely church

1. 1015

   On 15 July Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych dies at his country residence of Berestove. The village of Berestove belonged to the grand princes of Kyiv, and their country palace stood there. ^{[4, 14, 19]}

   

2. 1072

   The Monastery of the Saviour's Transfiguration at Berestove is first mentioned in the chronicle (the English Wikipedia gives 1073). ^{[2, 6, 14, 1]}

3. 1095

   The Cuman khan Bonyak plunders and burns Berestove. According to ^[3].

4. Late 11th – early 12th c.

   The masonry Church of the Saviour is built. The chronicles give no date: tradition links the construction to the reign of Volodymyr Monomakh (1113–1125), but studies of the materials and the building technique make it possible to date it to the second half of the 11th century, approximately the 1070s. ^{[14, 15, 3, 11]}

   

5. 1138

   Monomakh's daughter Yevfymiia is buried here (1139 in VUE). The church becomes the burial place of the Monomakh dynasty. ^{[11, 15, 14]}

6. 1157

   Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince of Kyiv, dies; he is buried in the Church of the Saviour at Berestove. ^{[11, 14, 15, 3]}

   

7. 1173

   Dolgoruky's son Hlib Yuriyovych is buried here (1171 in ^[3]). ^{[11, 14, 3]}

8. 1231

   The last chronicle mention of the church: Hegumen Petro of the Saviour's is present at St Sophia's in Kyiv at the consecration of Kyrylo, Bishop of Rostov. According to ^[11].

Ruin and medieval rebuilding

1. 1240

   After the Mongol-Tatar invasion, a landslide destroyed the eastern and central parts of the church; only the narthex survived, to about two-thirds of its height. ^{[14, 15]}

2. 14th–16th c.

   The church was rebuilt. Research in 2002–2003 revealed a previously unknown reconstruction of the 14th–16th centuries. ^{[14, 15]}

3. 1482

   The Crimean Khan Mengli Giray plunders Kyiv; the surviving remains of the church are damaged. ^{[14, 15, 1, 2]}

   

Petro Mohyla's rebuilding and modern times

1. 1640–1642

   On the initiative of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla the church is rebuilt: to the preserved part a masonry sanctuary in the form of three faceted apses is added on the east, and a wooden narthex (babynets) on the west. According to VUE, the architect is O. Mancini; the Polish scholar P. Krasny also names the Italian architect Ottaviano Mancini. ^{[14, 15, 18]}

   

2. 1644

   Greek masters invited by Mohyla paint the interior with frescoes. In the composition “The Supplication” (“The Gift of Petro Mohyla”) is a donor's portrait of the metropolitan, made in his lifetime, with the church in his hands. ^{[14, 15, 7]}

   

   

3. 1713–1714

   According to VUE, a masonry narthex is built in place of the wooden one, and the church becomes cross-shaped with three tops. According to ^[14].

4. 1751–1752

   A porch is added to the west wall; the church takes the form of a five-part, five-domed cross-shaped church. ^{[3, 1, 15]}

5. 1813–1814

   To a design by Andriy Melenskyi, a bell tower in Classicist forms is added to the narthex on the west. ^{[14, 15, 1, 3]}

The Old Believers, Pokryshkin and the Soviet museum

1. 1889

   The Church of Alexander Nevsky is built in Lypky, and the Pechersk parish is moved there. According to ^[3].

2. 1897

   The church passes to a community of Edinovertsy (Old Believers). According to ^[3].

3. 1908

   The church is transferred to the ownership of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. According to ^[3].

4. 1909–1914

   The architect and restorer Petro Pokryshkin removes the later plaster from the original part of the church and exposes the outline of the foundations of the lost eastern part. Of the 3,000 roubles allocated by the Lavra, about 1,700 were spent; the war stopped the work. ^{[14, 15, 11, 3]}

   

5. 30 October 1914

   The restoration council of the Imperial Archaeological Commission decides to backfill the excavations. According to ^[11].

6. 1918, January

   A trace of artillery shelling remains on the south-eastern corner of the façade. According to ^[9].

7. 1926

   The church is included in the “All-Ukrainian Museum Town” (now the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve). According to ^[3], from 1932 it was open to visitors as a museum site. ^{[14, 15, 3]}

8. 1947

   During the celebration of Moscow's 800th anniversary, a cenotaph in the form of a sarcophagus of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky is installed in the northern room of the church (the burial chamber). According to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, it is made of Ukrainian labradorite, and the architect is P. Ostapenko. ^{[14, 15, 5]}

9. 1970

   During work on the 17th-century painting on the west wall of the narthex, a 12th-century fresco, “The Miraculous Draught of Fishes” (“The Appearance of Christ to the Disciples at the Sea of Tiberias”), is discovered and made a museum exhibit in situ. ^{[14, 15, 11, 1, 2]}

10. 1989–1990

    According to ^[5], excavations revealed 63 burials, three of them in Kyivan Rus slate sarcophagi; the burial of Yuri Dolgoruky could not be identified.

Independence, restoration, war

1. 1990

   As part of the site “Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” (No. 527), the church is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. ^{[14, 15, 3]}

2. 2001–2004

   A grant from the Getty Conservation Institute (2001); in 2002–2003 an expedition of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine led by Hlib Ivakin confirmed the early date of the foundation and revealed an unknown reconstruction of the 14th–16th centuries; restoration research continued until 2004. ^{[15, 14]}

3. 2012–2014; 2017–2019

   Work on the monument took place in two stages; among other things, the foundations were waterproofed. ^[3]

4. 2017, July

   Restoration begins. According to the Ukrainian and English Wikipedias, the patron is Viacheslav Moskalevskyi, who allocated UAH 50 million; according to Shapiro, the client is the NGO “Andriivsko-Peizazhna Initiative”. ^{[15, 1, 12, 9]}

5. 28 September 2019

   The church is reopened after two years of restoration; a documentary film was shown at the opening. According to Shapiro — “in autumn 2019”. During the work on the necropolis, more than 420 burials of the 15th–19th centuries were found. ^{[13, 9, 3]}

6. 2023

   On 15 September the UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribed the site “Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” on the List of World Heritage in Danger. ^{[17, 20]}

7. 16 April 2024

   Ceremonial opening of the church to visitors. ^[3]

8. 15 June 2026

   In the night of 15 June the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra came under a Russian attack; the Church of the Saviour at Berestove was damaged. On 17 June it reopened to visitors, and from 19 June the Lavra reported operating as normal. The extent of the damage to the church is not described in the publications. ^{[7, 16]}

Lost and recreated

Architecture

According to the English Wikipedia, the old church was larger than most Kyiv cathedrals of the 12th century: three-aisled, three-apsed, cross-in-square, with a narthex. To the south a tower with a spiral staircase to the gallery adjoined the narthex, and to the north a baptistery, beneath which the Monomakhs were buried. All three entrances, according to the English Wikipedia, had projecting porches with steep three-lobed roofs — the first such solution in Rus.

Mohyla turned the ruin into a church in the spirit of 17th-century Ukrainian Baroque: three faceted apses were added to the surviving narthex on the east, and a wooden narthex (babynets) on the west. Today the church has five domes: according to VUE, blind, flattened, two-tiered, with massive lanterns and gilded finials (the English Wikipedia calls them pear-shaped). According to VUE, after the rebuilding of 1713–1714 the church was cross-shaped with three tops. In 1751–1752 a porch was added to the west wall, and the church took the form of a typical five-part cross-shaped church.

Below are two elements of the church, in a photo and a drawing. The drawings show form, not exact dimensions.

Five domes

The domes with lanterns and gilded finials are a legacy of the rebuildings of the 17th–18th centuries. Their silhouette makes the small church stand out on the hill beside the Lavra.

Melenskyi’s bell tower

The bell tower has two tiers and is Classicist in spirit: the upper tier is cylindrical, topped with a spherical dome and a spire. The English Wikipedia calls it ill-matched with the rest of the church. One may argue — but it is precisely the bell tower that lets you read the building like a textbook: Kyivan Rus masonry, Mohyla’s Baroque, late Classicism.

Stone and material

The walls of the church are brick. The old part is laid in plinthos, in a technique that VUE calls transitional from mixed masonry (opus mixtum), typical of 11th-century Kyiv, to even-coursed masonry, which spread from the 1130s. Red stone appears where the foundations of the lost eastern part are marked. And in 1947, for Moscow’s 800th anniversary, a cenotaph in the form of a labradorite sarcophagus was installed in the northern room of the church (the burial chamber) in honour of Yuri Dolgoruky.

Pokryshkin, when he removed the plaster, did a simple thing: he let the wall show itself. Masonry, like handwriting, betrays its time better than any inscription. This is worth remembering today, when new iconostases or flooring appear in a church: the new need not shout over the old. Another Kyiv church where an ancient base has survived many rebuildings is the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Did you know

Legends and tales

Figures

• Volodymyr Sviatoslavych (the Great) — prince, died in 1015 at Berestove; depicted in the fresco “The Supplication”. ^{[4, 14, 19]}
• Volodymyr Monomakh — by tradition, the founder of the masonry church (1113–1125), which became the family burial place of the Monomakhs. ^{[14, 15, 6]}
• Yevfymiia Volodymyrivna — Monomakh’s daughter, buried in 1138 (1139 according to VUE). ^{[11, 14, 15]}
• Yuri Dolgoruky — Prince of Kyiv, died in 1157; buried in the church; cenotaph of 1947. ^{[11, 14, 5]}
• Hlib Yuriyovych — Dolgoruky’s son, buried in 1173. ^{[11, 14]}
• Petro Mohyla — Metropolitan of Kyiv, rebuilt the church in 1640–1642; depicted in the fresco with the church in his hands. ^{[14, 15, 7]}
• Ottaviano Mancini — an Italian architect whom VUE and P. Krasny connect with Mohyla’s rebuilding. ^{[14, 15, 18]}
• The Greek painters (1644) — their names have not survived; the wall painting was executed according to Athonite canons. ^{[14, 15]}
• Andriy Melenskyi — architect of the bell tower of 1813–1814. ^{[14, 15, 1]}
• Fedir Korobka — gold- and silversmith, author of the carved and chased decoration of the altar table. According to ^[15].
• Petro Pokryshkin — architect, archaeologist and restorer, researcher of the church in 1909–1914. ^{[14, 11]}
• Viktor Kharlamov — archaeologist and researcher of the monument; together with Yu. Aseev and V. Vecherskyi he prepared a reconstruction of its original appearance. ^[14]
• Hlib Ivakin — archaeologist, head of the research of 2002–2003. ^{[15, 14]}
• Tetiana Kulyk — architect; emphasises that the church was never part of the Lavra. ^[6]
• Oleksandr Alforov — historian who suggested a trident in the masonry. ^[8]

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