First published: 30/04/25.

Andrew_Kerr 1

Kyiv: St. Cyril's And St. Andrew's Churches

Kyiv: St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches (On tentative list)

Kyiv: St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches by Andrew_Kerr

Coming from the UK, where all our great cathedrals and abbeys are built of stone with no colour on the exterior save for the stained glass windows, the cathedrals and churches in Ukraine are opulent by comparison, particularly the baroque churches such as St Andrew's (pictured). Beautifully painted in pastel colours and finished with gold leafing it's a truly sumptuous example of rare Elizabethan Baroque.
Within a very short distance there are the equally impressive, St Michael's Monastery and St Sophia's Cathedral (already a UNESCO WHS listing) so I don't quite see why there should be a separate listing, in fact it's a little confusing, just include them in the existing one.
I've been lucky enough to visit all the buildings on the list apart from St Cyril's Church and I was impressed by all of them. At the time of writing, Ukraine is still under attack by Russia and I hope that these magnificent sights in Kyiv manage to escape serious damage.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, some way outside the city centre, covers a large area and is made up of multiple churches, bell towers, a cathedral and the monastic caves where the name comes from. If anything the site is even more impressive than the buildings in the city centre and I have no doubt they are all worthy of inclusion.

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