Autumn is the perfect time to visit museums. Metropolitan Peter Mohyla with a smile of Mona Lisa, a golden jewel of Alexander the Great, an unusual view at St. George’s icon, four most rare icons on the planet and the secret room of the Kyivan knyaz’.
Scythian pectoral, 4th century B.C
The decoration with animal decor is made by contemporaries of Alexander the Great. Most likely, it is made in Greece on order of the Scythian nobility.
How to find: 9, Lavrska Str., building 12
Early Byzantine icons, 6-7th century A.D
At the end of the 19th century, Bishop Porfiriy Uspenskyi visited one of the most ancient Christian monasteries – St. Catherine in Egypt – and received four icons as a gift. They were transferred to the Kyiv Theological Academy, and today they are located in a separate hall of the Museum of Arts named after Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko.
In total, preserved 12 early Byzantine icons – iconoclasts from Constantinople did not reach Egypt.
How to find: 15, Tereschenkivska Str.
Frescoes and graffiti of Sophia of Kyiv, 11th century
Sophia of Kyiv is a temple of the pre-Mongol era, which has never been destroyed. But apparently it does not look like an ancient one: in the 18th century with funds of hetman Ivan Mazepa, masonry was plastered and whitewashed and the interior was painted with oil in the style of the Cossack baroque. In the 19th century a piece of plaster fell off, revealing an original fresco made by Byzantine painters.
How to find: 24, Volodymtrska Str.
The first secular portraits of Ukraine
17th century – the flowering of the Baroque in European painting. Art becomes more dramatic, raises social problems, becomes secular. The transition to secular art is delayed on the lands of the Hetmanate – Orthodoxy resists change. This does not stop many Cossacks and church leaders in their desire to be photographed.
But some of the original portraits of the Cossack elite are valued above – it’s the Ukrainian Renaissance. The iconic half-mistress of Leonardo da Vinci on the face of the Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mohyla is worth a lot.
How to find: 6, Hrushevskoho Str.
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Read the blog about interesting places in western Ukraine.