Church of the Savior on Berestove

The village of Berestovo was the country residence of the great Kiev princes. The first mention of it is contained in the " Tale of Bygone Years " and refers to the year 980 ^[1] . In 1015, Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich , the baptist of Russia, died here ^[2] . His descendants, Princes Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise , Svyatoslav Yaroslavich , Vsevolod Yaroslavich and Vladimir Monomakh , lived here and conducted state activities ^[3] . Under the year 1051, the church of the Holy Apostles in Beresto is mentioned, where priest Hilarion served, the first of the Russians to be set up by the Kiev metropolitan ^[4] . In 1096 the princely palace was burned, but restored under Prince Vladimir Monomakh ^[5] .

It was precisely at the time of the Kiev reign of Vladimir Monomakh that the construction of a new stone Spaso-Preobrazhensky church, which had become the patrimonial tomb of Monomakhovich, could be referred. His daughters Euphemia (in the monastic style Eupraxia) and Sophia, as well as the son of Prince Yury Vladimirovich Dolgoruky with his son Prince Gleb Yuryevich were buried here. In 1947, to the 800th anniversary of the founding of Moscow , a monument was set up over the supposed burial place of Prince Yuri, stylized as an old Russian sarcophagus ^[6] .

The Savior Transfiguration Church was destroyed in 1240, together with the princely residence during the capture of Kiev by Batu . It was restored only in 1640–1643 by the Metropolitan of Kiev, Pyotr Mohyla . In this case, only the western part of the temple, which has become two times smaller, was recreated. The church was completed in the style of the Ukrainian Baroque of the XVII century. In 1813, Kiev architect A. Melensky from the west to the church was attached to the bell tower in the style of classicism . As such, the temple has survived to the present day ^[7] .

The restoration of the church under the leadership of P. P. Pokryshkin , carried out in 1909, revealed that a narthex with a baptismal and staircase tower, included in the building of the 17th century, survived from a building of the XII century almost to full height. In 1914, during the archaeological excavations, Pokryshkin discovered the foundations of the destroyed part of the temple, which allowed him to completely reconstruct his plan ^[8] .

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Church was built in the Byzantine technique of plinth with a hidden row, characteristic of the pre-Mongolian architecture of Kiev, with a hidden row creating the decorative surface of the wall from alternating rows of brick and pinkish mortar ^[7] . The temple was originally a three- nave , four-column with a narthex in the west and three altar apses in the east ^[9] . Most likely, it ended in a single dome . A feature of its architecture was the surviving narthex, wider than the temple itself. In the northern part of the narthex was a baptismal , in the southern spiral staircase leading to the choir . Another feature of the temple was adjacent porches on three sides with a rare three-blade arch shape. Low volumes of the vestibules gave the composition of the building speed ^{[10] [11]} .

Immediately after the construction of the temple was painted. At present, the fresco of 1113-1125 " The Appearance of Christ at the Sea of ​​Tiberias " is unfolded in the narthex. Her painting is distinguished by its laconic methods, simplified modeling of forms, the predominance of the contour pattern and local color spots. This indicates the spread of the ascetic trend in art wider beyond the limits of the monastic milieu ^[12] .

After the restoration of the temple in 1643, it was again painted by Greek artists from Mount Athos , invited by Metropolitan Peter Mogila ^[13] . Among these frescoes, there is an image of Metropolitan Peter himself ^[14] .

• The pavement of G.M. The three-blade covering of the Church of the Savior on Berestove (on the issue of the artistic image of temples of the second half of the 11th - early 12th century) // Monuments of Culture. New discoveries. Yearbook 1980. - L .: Science, 1981. - p. 534-544.

• 3D-model "Church of the Savior on Berestove" for Google Earth