St. Cyril’s Church, the 12th century architectural monument 
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Photo1. St. Cyril’s Church, Kiev |
Photo2. The Virgin by Mikhail Vrubel. |
Photo3. Altar in St. Cyril's Church, Kiev |
The unique thing about this temple is its authenticity. St. Cyril’s Church is the second temple in Kiev after Sophia Cathedral that has been preserved in the original forms since Rus's epoch. You can see ancient Russian wall paintings there too. Many tragic events of Rus’s history took place in the vicinity of St. Cyril’s Church in previous centuries. The most terrible events happened there during World War II as Babiy Yar was situated nearby. You can see St. Cyril’s Church up on the hill. You will be amazed with its temple-fortress style silhouette. The church is still there on the same site as centuries pass by.
There you can see Old Russian Masters’ frescos as well as frescos painted by Mikhail Vrubel. Vrubel’s Virgin is compared with the Sistine Madonna. The church wall paintings were made by outstanding Ukrainian artists I. Izhakevich and M. Pimonenko. The synthesis of various cultures and schools of painting is one of the specific features of the St. Cyril’s Church artistic decoration.
The church was the burial site of one of the ancient princes’ families. Later the monastery was founded there. The monastery was closed by Catherine the Great. Many monastery buildings were destroyed by Bolsheviks. Now there are plans to rebuild the monastery.
The very typical style of Old Russian architecture can be found in the temple. As the result of restoration in the 17th – 18th centuries outside St. Cyril’s Church was given new Ukrainian baroque forms. But the original 12th century inner planning of St. Cyril's Church has been preserved. You will be amazed with the grandeur of inner space of the church because of style and size of the fresco paintings as well as the correct scale of inner planning.
There are 800 square meters of ancient frescoes in the church. These are unique frescos. There is nothing of that kind in any of the monuments of the Orthodox world. The Last Judgment fresco was made there for the first time in the 12th century churches in Rus. Some special attention must be paid to frescos dedicated to the saints Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria. The real masterpiece is the original “Sky Swaddling Angel” fresco.
The images of the apostles Peter and Paul, the image of the Virgin as well as "The Descent of the Holy Spirit," "Eucharist," Christ's Entry into Jerusalem ","Annunciation” and "Candlemas" frescos were painted by Mikhail Vrubel. These works are considered the real masterpieces of the great artist.
