The Dormition Cathedral of the Pochaiv Lavra: a church on a two-tier terrace

The Dormition Cathedral of Pochaiv can be seen from afar: a hill, on it a terrace, on the terrace a white church with two towers and a dome. But the conversation about it is best begun with what lies beneath it.

In brief

History

The monastery’s chief holy object is older than the cathedral: the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God was given in 1597 by the noblewoman Anna Hoiska. After the robbery of 1623 by Andrii Firlei, the icon was returned to the monks by a tribunal’s decision; according to the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy, in 1644, though the date differs in other sources.

The cathedral was built at a time when the monastery belonged to the Basilians — after the brethren went over to the Union at the beginning of the 18th century. Its founder was Count Mikołaj Potocki: he financed the construction, and after his death in 1782 he was buried within the walls of the church. The design was made by the Silesian architect Gottfried Hoffmann, and the work on site was led by the Lviv master Petro Poleiovskyi. Construction began in 1771; the main stage was completed in 1783, although a number of sources give 1791 as the completion date, and the decoration went on until the early 19th century.

The interior was painted by Luka Dolynskyi. A fire in 1869 destroyed most of his work — according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, four pieces survived. New wall paintings on the themes of the Pochaiv miracles were created by the St Petersburg academician V. Vasyliev; sources date them to 1874 or 1876. Alexander II gave the cathedral a new iconostasis in memory of his visit in 1859; it was installed in 1861.

Over the following century an ensemble grew up around the cathedral: monks’ cells, the bishop’s house, a bell tower of 1861–1871 that is 65 metres high, and the Trinity Cathedral designed by Aleksei Shchusev.

Timeline

The figures in square brackets are the numbers of the sources in the list at the bottom of the page. The note "according to …" means that the fact is confirmed by only one source. The section "Traditions" contains traditions and legends: they are recorded in the sources but not confirmed by documents.

An ancient monastery on the hill

1. According to tradition, 1240

   The first monks came to Pochaiv Hill from the Kyiv Caves Lavra, fleeing the Tatar-Mongol invasion. The Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia presents this "according to tradition" (1240–1241); a Suspilne article of 2023 notes that there are no official sources confirming it. ^{[1, 17]}

2. 1527

   A masonry Dormition church at the foot of Pochaiv Hill already existed; Ukrainian Wikipedia names this year as the year of the first mention in documents. ^{[1, 3, 12]}

3. 1597

   Anna Hoiska, the owner of Pochaiv, founded the monastery, endowed it with land and gave it the wonder-working Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God, which, according to tradition, she had received in 1559 from the Greek metropolitan Neophytos. Today the icon is placed in the cathedral above the Royal Doors. ^{[1, 3, 12]}

4. 1623

   Andrii Firlei robbed the monastery and carried the icon off to Kozyn. According to the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy, the icon was returned in 1644 by a tribunal's decision; NUOS writes that the monks got it back "after 25 years". ^{[6, 12]}

5. 1649

   At the expense of Fedir and Yeva (elsewhere, Yevdokia) Domashevskyi, a masonry Church of the Holy Trinity was built on the hill, over the imprint of the Theotokos's foot. ^{[1, 2, 3]}

   

6. 1675

   According to tradition, during the siege of the monastery by a Turkish-Tatar army a miracle of the Mother of God occurred, and the attackers withdrew. The event was depicted in an engraving by the hieromonk Nykodym Zubrytskyi. ^{[1, 3]}

The Basilian monastery and the building of the cathedral

1. 1712–1713

   The monastery passed to the Uniate Church, to the Basilian Order. The decision was taken by the brethren in 1712 (Suspilne, V. Moroz), while the transfer itself is dated to 1713 in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, Wikipedia and Destinations; the Russian "Vokrug sveta" gives 1720. ^{[1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 17]}

2. 1730

   A printing house was founded at the monastery; according to Destinations, it produced 187 books by 1831. ^{[3, 4, 9]}

3. 1759

   The magnate Mikołaj Wasyl Potocki took the monastery under his care and later became the chief founder of the cathedral. The story of the overturned cart and the three pistol misfires is a tradition. ^{[1, 2, 3]}

4. 1771

   According to Ukrainian Wikipedia, a contract for the new cathedral was signed with the architect Gottfried Hoffmann on 20 February, and the foundation stone was laid on 3 July; both old churches, the Dormition and the Trinity, were taken down. ^{[1, 2, 3, 9]}

5. 8 September 1773

   Coronation of the Pochaiv Icon with papal crowns; according to Ukrainian Wikipedia, the rite was performed in a wooden chapel. ^{[3, 6]}

6. 26 April 1780

   An agreement was concluded with Matvii Poleiovskyi for the final works; according to NUOS, the agreement for making the altars is dated 1781. ^{[5, 6]}

7. 12 April 1782

   Mikołaj Potocki died; he was buried in the crypt of the still unfinished cathedral. ^{[1, 2, 5]}

8. 1783

   The end of the main stage of construction: the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia and "Istoriia Volyni" date the formation of the ensemble to 1771–1783, and the interior works were completed only at the beginning of the 19th century. ^{[1, 4, 5, 11]}

9. 1791

   A number of sources (Svitohliad, Destinations, "Vokrug sveta", Ukrainian Wikipedia) give this year as the completion of construction; it probably refers to the completion of the monastery complex. ^{[2, 8, 9, 10]}

   

10. 1807–1810

    Luka Dolynskyi created the oil paintings of the interior: the icons of the iconostasis and altars, and the "Miracles of Christ" on the pilasters. ^{[1, 2, 6]}

11. 1825

    The bishop's building was built in Classicist forms. ^{[1, 3]}

The imperial Lavra

1. 1831

   After the Polish uprising of 1830–1831 the monastery was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church; the exact day differs among the sources, so it is not given here. ^{[1, 3, 4, 10, 17]}

2. 1833

   The monastery received the status of a lavra (according to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, the title "lavra" was granted in 1838). ^{[1, 3, 9, 10, 12]}

3. October 1846

   Taras Shevchenko made watercolours in Pochaiv, including "The Dormition Cathedral of the Pochaiv Lavra. Interior view" (10–20 October; Shevchenko Scientific Society, inv. g-401), "The Pochaiv Lavra from the South" and "from the East". They are used to picture the original Rococo altar. ^{[7, 8]}

   

4. 1859–1861

   Emperor Alexander II gave the cathedral a four-tier iconostasis in memory of his visit in 1859; it was installed in 1861. According to NUOS, the design belongs to the architect H. Bosse, and the 32 icons on copper plates were painted by M. Lavrov, I. Horbunov and Ye. Vasyliev (Ukrainian Wikipedia gives 33 icons). ^{[2, 6, 11]}

5. 1861–1871

   A four-tier bell tower 65 m high was built; the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia dates it to 1861–1869 and names the architect K. Rastrukhanov, while the KUBH study gives the laying of the foundation on 25 June 1861 and completion in 1871. ^{[1, 3, 30]}

6. 1869–1876

   In 1869 the main altar in the cathedral burned down, and only a few of Dolynskyi's paintings survived. A new altar was made in 1870; the wall paintings on the themes of the Pochaiv miracles were created by the St Petersburg academician V. Vasyliev (NUOS dates them to 1874, the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia to 1876). ^{[1, 4, 6]}

7. 1906–1912

   The Trinity Cathedral was built to a design by Aleksei Shchusev (1906–1911 according to the KUBH study). ^{[1, 3, 30]}

Wars, borders, bans

1. 1914–1916

   During the First World War the bells and the archive were taken out of the Lavra, and the icon and the relics of Iov were evacuated to Zhytomyr (until 1918), according to Ukrainian Wikipedia. According to KPBA, in 1915–1916 Austro-Hungarian troops converted the cathedral into a Roman Catholic church. ^{[3, 12]}

2. 10 September 1933

   The Pochaiv demonstration: according to an estimate by P. Kraliuk (Radio Svoboda), about 20,000 participants demanded a Ukrainian church and a Ukrainian liturgical language. ^[13]

3. 1959–1966

   According to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, during the persecutions a large part of the Lavra's buildings was confiscated and given over to a museum of atheism and a psychiatric hospital. "Vokrug sveta" dates the opening of the museum to 1959; according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, in 1964 an attempt to close the Lavra was stopped by protests. ^{[1, 4, 10]}

4. 15–16 July 1965

   According to Yu. Pomaz, the local authorities dispersed pilgrims who were spending the night in the Lavra cemetery. ^[15]

Independent Ukraine

1. 14 December 1990

   The abbot Yakiv (Panchuk) was consecrated Bishop of Pochaiv; he introduced services in Ukrainian. ^[14]

2. 1991–1994

   The pastoral courses and the theological school resumed, and from 1994 a seminary. ^{[3, 9]}

3. 1992

   Yakiv (Panchuk) was removed from the abbacy; according to P. Kraliuk's account (Radio Svoboda), pro-Russian monks drove him out of the Lavra. ^{[3, 14]}

4. 2003

   On 17 July the Cabinet of Ministers (the Yanukovych government) withdrew the Lavra from the Kremenets-Pochaiv Conservation Area; on 13 December the State Construction Agency and the Lavra signed a free-use agreement running until 1 January 2052. ^{[3, 18]}

5. 28 November 2018

   The government repealed the order of 2003 and returned the buildings to the Conservation Area; according to Glavkom, the free-use agreement remained in force. ^{[3, 18]}

6. March 2023

   The Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that the agreement on one of the churches on the Lavra's territory had expired and that a UOC (MP) priest had not allowed representatives of the Conservation Area in. ^[19]

7. 30 November 2023

   The SBU and the National Police searched the Lavra within proceedings under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; according to the SBU, the grounds were a publication on the monastery's website. The Lavra's position is not given in the Suspilne and Ukrinform materials. ^{[23, 24]}

8. June–July 2024

   A Ministry of Culture commission inspected the property from 3 to 29 June. According to the Ministry, it found unauthorised additions (a vestibule at the central entrance of the Dormition Cathedral, an attic above the cells, an extension to the Gate Complex) and the absence of a significant part of the icons from the inventory list of 1967; six objects were handed over for free use, and the other immovable property is not covered by the agreement. ^{[20, 21, 22]}

9. 8 October 2025

   Law enforcement officers searched the monastery cemetery and the All Saints Church; according to the police, the proceedings under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code (fraud) concern the registration of ownership of the church. The director of the Conservation Area spoke on Facebook of a "provocation"; the Lavra's official position is not given in the article. ^[25]

10. 22 and 27 July 2026

    On 22 July DESS published its conclusion on signs of the Lavra's affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church (an inspection of 24 June), and on 27 July, according to Radio Svoboda, it issued an order with a 30-day deadline: a decision to leave the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC and to sever ties with the ROC. According to DESS, failure to comply may lead to a lawsuit to terminate the Lavra's activity. ^{[26, 27, 28]}

11. 3 September 2026

    At the request of the Lavra's lawyers the order was extended by 60 days; the Lavra, according to LB.ua, explained this by the need to convene a church council and to translate evidence from Russian. The outcome as of October 2026 was not found in the sources checked. ^[29]

Lost and restored

Architecture

The cathedral is a three-nave basilica with a transept under a central dome; the sources disagree on its dimensions, so we do not give them. Above the crossing of the naves rises a dome with a lantern; according to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia, the gilded dome with its finial rises to a height of 45 m, while Ukrainian Wikipedia gives the height of the cathedral as 56 m. Outside, the church combines late Baroque and Rococo with features of Classicism: half-columns, pilasters, cornices, plant-motif stucco. Inside there are semicircular vaults on transverse arches.

The drawings show the form, not exact dimensions.

Towers set at an angle

The two corner towers of the main façade are turned at 45° to the axis of the building. Because of this the façade does not stand as a flat wall: from any side of the hill at least two of its planes can be seen.

The substructure-terrace: engineering above the caves

Beneath the cathedral lies a three-tier cave complex of the 15th–16th centuries and underground churches. The cathedral stands on a high three-storey substructure, which forms a broad terrace in front of the south façade; beneath it, in the thickness of the hill, survive the cave complex of the 15th–16th centuries and the underground churches. It is at once a foundation, a retaining wall and a plinth from which the cathedral looks down on the valley.

The reliquary over the footprint

The stone with the footprint is the cathedral’s chief holy object alongside the Pochaiv Icon. Above it is a gilded reliquary behind a brass railing, with a bronze bas-relief of the Apparition beside it. Here the stone is not a building material but an object of veneration — and that is a different level of responsibility for anyone who works with it.

Stone and material

Stone in the Pochaiv cathedral is first of all a foundation. The three-storey stone substructure carries the church and forms the terrace on which the cathedral stands; beneath it, in the thickness of the hill, the cave complex has been preserved. The sources describe the material of the walls and decoration only in general terms, so details must wait for an on-site inspection.

The cathedral’s iconostasis has four tiers; according to the sources, its drawings were made by the architect Harald Bosse, and the icons were painted by St Petersburg artists. What the tiers of an iconostasis are and how they are put together we explain in the articles “What is an iconostasis” and “Tiers of the iconostasis”. How an iconostasis is realised in stone is shown on the page of the line “Iconostases”.

Did you know

Traditions

Key figures

• Anna Hoiska — owner of Pochaiv; in 1597 she gave the icon and estates to the monastery.
• Iov of Pochaiv (Ivan Zalizo) — abbot 1604–1651, canonised in 1659 (according to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia).
• Andrii Firlei — a nobleman who in 1623 robbed the monastery and carried off the icon.
• Fedir and Yeva (Yevdokia) Domashevskyi — founders of the masonry Church of the Holy Trinity in 1649.
• Mikołaj Wasyl Potocki — chief founder of the cathedral, buried in its crypt in 1782.
• Gottfried Hoffmann — Silesian architect who prepared the design of the cathedral in general outline; died in 1771.
• Petro Poleiovskyi — architect who led the subsequent building works.
• Matvii Poleiovskyi — sculptor, author of the altars, Petro’s brother.
• Franciszek Ksawery Kulchytskyi — architect who took part in the layout and construction (the refectory, the terrace with a parapet).
• Luka Dolynskyi (1745–1824) — Lviv painter, author of the interior paintings of 1807–1810.
• Vasyl Bernakevych — master craftsman, co-author of the original altar.
• V. Vasyliev — St Petersburg academician, author of the wall paintings of the 1870s.
• Alexander II — gave the iconostasis in memory of his visit in 1859.
• Harald Bosse — architect, author of the iconostasis design (according to NUOS).
• Aleksei Shchusev — architect of the Trinity Cathedral.
• Taras Shevchenko — the artist who recorded the cathedral’s appearance in watercolours in 1846.
• Yakiv (Ivan Panchuk) — bishop and abbot 1990–1992.
• Volodymyr (Moroz) — abbot of the Lavra from 1996.

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