Dusty Buildings

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When a civilization ends, it does not leave behind a tombstone. Instead, it leaves stackings of stones (i.e. buildings.) We lose the remembrance of individual people, the things they said, did, and wrote, but we remember what they built because those things endure for much longer. The Ancient Greeks and Romans tell us about themselves through their Classical Architecture. We remember the Medieval period in Europe from its castles and Gothic Cathedrals. We remember the early 20th century from the Art Deco buildings it left behind. The style tells us something about their priorities, what they believed, what they knew, and what their hopes were. In a sense, the buildings that a culture leaves behind are a kind of epitaph.

Let’s look through the structural epitaphs of our ancestors.

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Saint Sophia Cathedral (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Dedication	Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia)
Architecture
Style	Byzantine architecture, Ukrainian Baroque
Years built	11th century
Specifications
Length	41.7 m (137 ft)
Width	54.6 m (179 ft)
Dome height (inner)	28.6 m (94 ft)

If you are familiar with the Western architectural tradition, looking at Byzantine architecture is fun. It’s like seeing the cousin of the things with which you are familiar. Both styles of architecture share Roman grandparents, so they share some aesthetic similarities with your own home country’s heritage. But there are key differences too that jump out.

I really love this cathedral and the Byzantine style more generally. You might wonder how that style is defined, so I’ll try to explain. (via wiki)

Characteristics

When the Roman Empire became Christian (after having extended eastwards) with its new capital at Constantinople, its architecture became more sensuous and ambitious. This new style with exotic domes and richer mosaics would come to be known as “Byzantine” before it traveled west to Ravenna and Venice and as far north as Moscow. Most of the churches and basilicas have high-riding domes, which created vast open spaces at the centers of churches, thereby heightening the light. The round arch is a fundamental of Byzantine style. Magnificent golden mosaics with their graphic simplicity brought light and warmth into the heart of churches. Byzantine capitals break away from the Classical conventions of ancient Greece and Rome with sinuous lines and naturalistic forms, which are precursors to the Gothic style.

In the same way the Parthenon is the most impressive monument for Classical religion, Hagia Sophia remained the iconic church for Christianity. The temples of these two religions differ substantially from the point of view of their interiors and exteriors. For Classical temples, only the exterior was important, because only the priests entered the interior, where the statue of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated was kept. The ceremonies were held outside, in front of the temple. Instead, Christian liturgies were held inside the churches.

So what makes a thing Byzantine? (A lot of it is the domes.)

One of the most famous and beautiful examples of Byzantine architecture is the 11th century Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. We should pray that it survives the on-going war being fought in its country.

(more on the cathedral, via wiki)

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. 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 “Sophia of Kyiv” which is the state institution responsible for the preservation of the cathedral complex as well as four other historic landmarks across the nation.

History

Medieval period

The cathedral is named after the 6th-century Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) cathedral in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom rather than to a specific saint named Sophia. The first foundations were laid in 1037 or 1011, but the cathedral took two decades to complete. According to one theory, Yaroslav the Wise sponsored the construction of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1037 to celebrate his decisive victory over the nomadic Pechenegs in 1036 (who thereafter were never a threat to Kyiv). According to Dr. Nadia Nikitenko, a historian who has studied the cathedral for 30 years, the cathedral was founded in 1011, under the reign of Yaroslav’s father, Vladimir the Great, the Grand Prince of Kyiv. This has been accepted by both UNESCO and Ukraine, which officially celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the cathedral during 2011. The structure has 5 naves, 5 apses, and (quite surprisingly for Byzantine architecture) 13 cupolas. It is surrounded by two-tier galleries from three sides. Measuring 37 to 55 m (121 to 180 ft), the exterior used to be faced with plinths. On the inside, it retains mosaics and frescos from the 11th century, including a dilapidated representation of Yaroslav’s family, and the Orans.

Originally the cathedral was a burial place of the Kyivan rulers including Vladimir Monomakh, Vsevolod Yaroslavich and Yaroslav the Wise, although only the latter’s grave survived to this day (see picture). After the pillaging of Kyiv by Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1169, followed by the Mongol invasion of Rus’ in 1240, the cathedral fell into disrepair.

Early modern era

Following the 1595–96 Union of Brest, the Cathedral of Holy Sophia belonged to the Greek Catholic Church, but after the enthronement of Petro Mohyla as Metropolitan of Kyiv it returned under possession of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Under Mohyla’s leadership in 1633-1637 it was reconstructed by the Italian architect Octaviano Mancini in the distinct Ukrainian Baroque style, while preserving the Byzantine interior, keeping its splendor intact. According to contemporary witnesses, Paul of Aleppo and Abraham van Westerveld, during the mid-17th century the church had 70 altars, and 36 crosses installed on its cupolas. The reconstruction work continued under the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa and lasted until 1767. During this period the bell tower, a monastery canteen, a bakery, the Metropolitan’s residence, the western gates (Zaborovsky Gate), a monastic inn, a Brotherhood campus and a bursa (seminary) were erected around the cathedral. All of these buildings, as well as the cathedral after the reconstruction, have distinctive features of Ukrainian Baroque.

Modern period

After the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia and during the Soviet anti-religious campaign of the 1920s, the government plan called for the cathedral’s destruction and transformation of the grounds into a park named in honour of the “Heroes of Perekop” (after a Red Army victory in the Russian Civil War in Crimea). The cathedral was saved from demolition thanks to the efforts of many scientists and historians, meanwhile the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery located nearby was blown up in 1935. Nevertheless, in 1934, Soviet authorities confiscated the building and the surrounding 17th–18th-century architectural complex from the Orthodox church and designated it as an architectural and historical museum.

Since the late 1980s, Soviet, and later Ukrainian, politicians promised to return the building to the Orthodox Church. Due to various schisms and factions within the Orthodox Church the return was postponed as all Orthodox churches and the Greek-Catholic Church lay claim to it. While the Greek-Catholic Church has not been permitted to use the cathedral, all the Orthodox churches have sometimes been allowed to conduct services at different dates, and other times they were denied access. A serious incident occurred at the funeral of Patriarch Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in 1995, when riot police were forced to prevent the burial on the premises of the museum and a bloody clash took place. After events such as those no religious body has yet been given the rights for regular services. The complex now remains a secular museum of Ukraine’s Christianity, with most of its visitors being tourists.

On 21 August 2007, the Holy Sophia Cathedral was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine, based on votes by experts and the internet community.

In September 2023, Kyiv was listed as a World Heritage “in danger” because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. This move by the United Nations was an effort to produce aid and protection for the site. Relatedly, the cathedral received minor damage from a blast wave in June of 2025 due to Russian airstrikes on the capital.

In culture

In 1885 a folk Christmas song (koliadka) telling the story of the construction of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv was recorded by Ukrainian ethnographer Mykhailo Zubrytskyi in the village of Mshanets (now part of Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast). In 1889 the song’s text was published by Ivan Franko in Kievskaia starina magazine, and was later noticed by Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Hrushevskyi. The song contains a precise depiction of the cathedral’s architecture before its later reconstruction, which allows to date it to the 17th century.

Saint Sophia Cathedral has served as the backdrop since 2018 to Bouquet Kyiv Stage, the annual outdoor arts festival started by entrepreneur Evgeni Utkin drawing top Ukrainian artists and musical acts, including the Kyiv Chamber Choir, DakaBracka, and concert pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi.

For a great tour of this building, which will give you a better look at its beauty and scale, I definitely recommend that you watch the following video: