The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Kozelets: the Rozumovskys' mother church

This cathedral was built by a mother for her sons, and by the sons for their mother. Natalia Rozumovska gave the money and the idea, Hetman Kyrylo oversaw the works, and she herself lies in the lower church of a cathedral she did not live to see completed.

In brief

Address	centre of Kozelets, Chernihiv Oblast
Built	1752–1763; bell tower — 1766–1770
Type	two-storey, cross-shaped in plan, five-domed cathedral, Baroque
Architects	Andrei Kvasov, Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi; some sources link the design with Rastrelli
Material	masonry, stucco decoration; iconostasis of carved limewood
Status	architectural monument of national importance (protection No. 843)

History

Oleksii Rozumovskyi made his career at the St Petersburg court; his brother Kyrylo became hetman in 1750. The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God was commissioned by their mother, Countess Natalia Rozumovska. It was built in 1752–1763; according to Ukraina Incognita, the hetman controlled the works, and a universal of 1752 appointed Parfen Nabok as supervisor of the construction.

The authorship calls for careful wording. Andrei Kvasov came to the court of Kyrylo Rozumovskyi in 1748 to design residences and churches in Kozelets, Baturyn and Hlukhiv, and the Kozelets cathedral is considered his main surviving work. Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi is named alongside him. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine states that the cathedral was built to a design by Rastrelli, with Kvasov and Hryhorovych-Barskyi as builders.

Natalia Rozumovska died in 1762, before the construction was completed. In 1766–1770 a bell tower designed by Kvasov went up nearby. After the fire of 1848 its crowning was replaced with a spherical dome and a spire.

The cathedral served until 1934. During the Second World War horses were kept in it, then prisoners of war; the domes and the bell tower were damaged in bombing. After the war it was a warehouse. The first restoration work began in 1946, and the main restoration lasted from 1961 to 1982; on 14 August 1993 the cathedral was solemnly reopened after restoration and returned to the church; some of the iconostasis icons have been replaced with modern ones. The National Bank of Ukraine dedicated a commemorative coin to the cathedral in its “Architectural Monuments of Ukraine” series.

Timeline

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

I. Rozumovsky Kozelets and the building of the cathedral

1. 1098

   Kozelets is first mentioned as a fortified town of Kyivan Rus. ^[1]

2. 1656

   Kozelets received Magdeburg Law. According to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. ^[1]

3. 1708

   Kozelets became the administrative centre of the Kyiv Regiment. According to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. ^[1]

4. 1748

   The architect Andrei Kvasov came to the court of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovskyi to design residences and churches in Baturyn, Hlukhiv and Kozelets. According to English-language Wikipedia. ^[3]

5. 1750

   Kyrylo Rozumovskyi became Hetman of Ukraine. ^{[2, 18, 19]}

6. 1752

   Construction of the cathedral began at the expense of the mother of the Rozumovsky brothers, Natalia Rozumovska (Rozumykha). A hetman's universal entrusted the supervision of the construction to the znachkovyi tovarysh (banner fellow) Parfen Nabok. ^{[4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16]}

7. 28 January 1753

   The hetman's mother recommended issuing Nabok a travel permit to Tula "for iron". According to R. Liakina's article. ^[11]

8. 1756–1760

   Kvasov and Hryhorovych-Barskyi built the regimental office building in Kozelets (now the town hall). The dates differ: 1753–1758 according to Ukrainian Wikipedia, 1740–1760 according to the Travels in UA guide. ^{[1, 4, 15]}

9. 13 January 1757

   An order was issued for a thousand pine boards for the iconostasis; transporting them required 257 carts. The boards were made at a mechanical mill in Baturyn by the master Hirsh Berger. According to R. Liakina's article. ^[11]

10. 1762

    Natalia Rozumovska died; she is buried in the lower level of the cathedral, where the heated Church of Sts Adrian and Natalia was later arranged. According to Ukraina Incognita, the burial took place on 12 September 1762. ^{[8, 10, 14, 19]}

11. 1763

    Construction of the cathedral was completed. Range in the literature: 1752–1763 (most sources), 1753–1762 (LB.ua), 1752–1764 (ZN.UA). ^{[4, 5, 10, 13, 14, 16]}

12. 1766–1770

    A four-tier bell tower designed by Andrei Kvasov was built next to the cathedral; its height with the cross is 50 m. ^{[4, 6, 8, 16]}

II. The imperial era

1. 1782

   Kozelets became a district town of the Kyiv Viceroyalty, and in 1802–1917 of the Chernihiv Governorate. According to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. ^[1]

2. 1848

   The bell tower suffered a fire (according to sobory.ru, a lightning strike); its crowning was replaced with a spherical dome and a spire. ^{[6, 8, 12, 16]}

3. 1898

   The journal Kievskaya Starina described the cathedral in poor condition: paint and stucco were cracking, the gilding was flaking off. Retold after the author of castles.com.ua. ^[12]

III. Soviet years and the war

1. 1934

   The Soviet authorities stopped services in the cathedral and confiscated its valuables. ^{[8, 9]}

2. 1941

   Kozelets was occupied. The Germans set up a stable in the cathedral, later a prisoner-of-war camp; bombing damaged the domes and the bell tower. ^{[4, 6, 8, 9, 13]}

3. After the war

   The cathedral housed a procurement office and a store for vegetables and foodstuffs. ^{[4, 8, 13]}

4. 1946

   The first restoration work began; it proceeded slowly, for lack of funds. ^{[8, 9, 12]}

5. 1961–1982

   Restoration of the cathedral. ^{[4, 6, 8, 10]}

6. 14 August 1993

   Solemn reopening of the cathedral after restoration, with the participation of the Metropolitan of Chernihiv; the church was returned to the Church. ^{[4, 8, 9]}

7. 12 September 2002

   An icon of the Archangel Michael, painted by Ivan Hubrii, was handed over to the cathedral on the initiative of the local historian Petro Kysil. According to the cathedral's website. ^[9]

8. 16 December 2002

   The National Bank of Ukraine issued a silver 10-hryvnia coin "Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Kozelets" (series "Architectural Monuments of Ukraine", mintage 3,000, artist Volodymyr Demianenko). ^{[5, 9, 17]}

IV. Revival

1. 2003

   On 20 April (Palm Sunday) an icon of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (by Ivan Hubrii) was consecrated. The same year the rector brought from Athos a consecrated copy of the Iveron icon of the Mother of God. According to the cathedral's website. ^[9]

2. 2025

   According to the tourist portal Travels in UA (updated 3 March 2025), climbing the bell tower is not allowed: the stairs are in disrepair. ^[14]

Lost and recreated

Architecture

The cathedral has two storeys. The lower level is the heated Church of Sts Adrian and Natalia, originally the family burial vault. The upper level is the cathedral proper, reached on three sides by curved staircases with colonnades. The plan is cross-shaped, and in the wall decoration the Baroque meets the Rococo and the first notes of Classicism.

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

Five domes

The central dome dominates both outside and inside, accompanied by four smaller ones. The style of the cathedral is described as a combination of Ukrainian and Elizabethan Baroque — and it is in the silhouette of the domes that this combination is most visible.

The bell tower

The bell tower is square in plan, has four tiers and is about 50 metres tall with the cross. Each tier is treated differently: rustication, then the Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian orders — a textbook of classical architecture set upright. According to local tradition, Kyiv and Chernihiv can be seen from its top.

The iconostasis

The multi-tier carved limewood iconostasis, according to Etnosvit, reaches about 27 m in height. According to one version, the carving was done by Sysoi Shalmatov, and the icons are attributed to Hryhorii Stetsenko; of the former 72–80 icons, about 50 remain authentic. Rastrelli’s involvement in the design is only a supposition. According to tradition, the iconostasis was first intended for the Smolny Convent in St Petersburg and came to Kozelets thanks to the Rozumovskys. The iconostasis became the model for the modern iconostasis of St Catherine’s Church in Chernihiv. How to read the rows of such a wall of icons is explained in our article “Tiers of the iconostasis”.

Stone and material

The cathedral is built of masonry, and its expressiveness comes from the stucco decoration of the façades. The iconostasis is limewood, a soft wood that carvers love because it obeys the chisel. The Baroque used both materials as sculpture: the wall and the icon were meant to move, not just stand.

The most practical thing in Kozelets is the staircases. The curved flights that lead to the upper floor on three sides carry people, water and frost every day. Such details are worth thinking through at the design stage, not after the first winter: see our section on steps and floors. Another page of Rastrelli’s work in Ukraine is St Andrew’s Church in Kyiv.

Did you know

Legends

Figures

• Natalia Rozumovska (Rozumykha) — the patron and founder of the cathedral, buried in the lower church.
• Oleksii Rozumovskyi — a count, favourite of Empress Elizabeth; according to legend, her secret husband.
• Kyrylo Rozumovskyi — Hetman of Ukraine from 1750; according to Ukraina Incognita, he personally controlled the construction.
• Elizabeth Petrovna — empress; in legends linked with the idea of the cathedral and the iconostasis.
• Andrei Kvasov — architect (c. 1720 – c. 1770), author of the bell tower; worked for Kyrylo Rozumovskyi from 1748.
• Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi — architect, co-author of the cathedral, author of its decoration (according to Ukrainian Wikipedia).
• Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli — according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, the author of the design; other sources speak only of possible involvement.
• Parfen Nabok — supervisor of the construction, a znachkovyi tovarysh (banner fellow).
• Hirsh Berger — master of the Baturyn mechanical mill, who made the boards for the iconostasis.
• Sysoi Shalmatov — carver of the iconostasis according to one version.
• Hryhorii Stetsenko — court painter of the Rozumovskys, to whom the icons of the iconostasis are attributed.
• Ivan Hubrii — author of the icons of the Archangel Michael (2002) and the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (2003).
• Petro Kysil — local historian, initiator of the handover of the icon of the Archangel Michael.
• Taras Shevchenko — described the church in his novella “The Princess”.
• Kyrylo Tarlovskyi — a priest, linked in legend with the secret marriage of Oleksii and Elizabeth.

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