Old_Cathedral_of_St._Sophia,_Kyiv
Old Cathedral of St. Sophia, Kyiv
Church in Kyiv, Ukraine
The Old Cathedral of St. Sophia (Polish: Katedra św. Zofii w Kijowie, Latin: Sancta Sophia, Capitulo et Canonicis Cathedralis Ecclesiae Kioviencis ) also called Catholic Cathedral of St. Sophia is the name given to a Catholic cathedral that was in the city of Kyiv, the capital of the European country of Ukraine.[1][2] It was transformed into an Orthodox church and later demolished during the Soviet era. The current main Catholic cathedral is now dedicated to St. Nicholas.
_in_Kiev_Podole_1890_Florowska_street.jpg){kind=link}
It is the oldest and historical Latin cathedral in Kyiv, the seat of the Bishop of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Kyiv which was part of the metropolis of Lviv since 1412.
It began as a wooden chapel burned down in the year 1017.[further explanation needed]
A brick church was built only between 1614 and 1633 on efforts of Krzysztof Kazimirski within a Dominican monastery. With start of the Khmelnytskyi Uprising, the local Dominican Order was liquidated and the cathedral was robbed. Since 1650s it was used by the Muscovite voivode as a guard house.
In 1691 Metropolitan Varlaam of Kyiv consecrated as the Eastern Orthodox temple, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. At first it did not have own staff and was assigned to the Saint Sophia's Cathedral. It was rebuilt in 1724 and in 1784 it was transformed into a separate temple. In 1744-50 the church was restructured and Ivan Grigorovich-Barsky built a three-story belltower next to the church.[3] In the spring of 1786, Empress Catherine II secularized monasteries, which resulted in the closure of five Kyiv monasteries, including St. Peter and Paul's,[4] where it was planned to open a primary public school, but at the request of Metropolitan Samuel Myslavsky, the monastery was transferred to the community of the Greek Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine in 1787, which allowed the monastery to continue functioning as a Greek Orthodox monastery.[3][5]
The Sts. Peter and Paul Church was damaged during the 1811 Great Podil fire and top level of belltower was taken apart.[6]
In 1832, at the court of the church compound was built the Kyiv-Podil Theological School.[7]
In 1920, the church was closed to worship and its building was planned to be used as a warehouse for the Central Archives of Ukraine. However, around 1935 the church together with its belltower was destroyed.[8][9]