Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine

The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus' which is also inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kive
The Saint Sophia Cathedral was built on orders of Yaroslaw I the Wise in 1037-57 by Old Russian and Byzantine art masters and presented besides religious also a social, political and cultural center of Kievan Rus'.

In the next years the Cathedral of Saint Sofia was repeatedly ravaged by Cumans, Pechenegs, and especially seriously by Tatar Mongols. After the 1595-96 Union of Brest the Cathedral of Saint Sophia fell under jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church until 1633 when it was claimed by the Ukrainian Orthodox metropolitan Peter Mogila (Mohyla).
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kiev 1900
Mogila commissioned the restoration in the distinct Ukrainian Baroque style but preserved the byzantine interior so the Cathedral is now famous for its mosaics and frescoes by Byzantine masters that date back to the 11th century. The restoration continued under the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa and in 1740 the Cathedral of Saint Sofia was completed to its present form.

In the 1920's Soviet authorities planned to destroy the Saint Sofia Cathedral but it was saved from destruction primarily with the effort of many scientists and historians. in 1934 Soviet authorities confiscated the structure, including the surrounding seventeenth–eighteenth century architectural complex and designated it as an architectural and historical museum.

Designed as a rival to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev symbolized the 'new Constantinople' and capital of the Christian principality of Kiev and had a great impact on the spread of Orthodox faith in the Russian world.
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