No. 6 JUNE 2012
National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve
Piaculum of Abraham. The Trinity Church. Prothesis. Apsis. 20–30th years of 18 century
2012, JUNE
No. 6 (176)
CONTENTS
The popular and scientific illustrated magazine has been published since 1969 FOUNDER The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine
PUBLISHING COUNCIL Olesia Bilash, Viktor Pasak, Maksym Budarin, Viktor Vechers’ky, Olena Voron’ko, Olha Darybohova, Oksana Ionova, Larysa Lebedivna, Ivan Mechkov, Lapysa Nikiforenko, Olena Cherednychenko, Mykhailo Shved, Ihor Hyrych, Liudmyla Hnatiuk, Olha Holynska, Alla Pidluzhna, Natalia Potushniak
EDITORIAL BOARD Viktor Akulenko Volodymyr Aleksandrovych Serhiy Bilokin’ Lesia Bohoslov Hennadiy Boriak Ihor Hyrych Andriy Grechylo Ivan Dziuba Antonina Zhykhors’ka Leonid Zalizniak Vira Karpenko Serhiy Kot Nadiia Nikitenko Yaroslava Pavlychko Leonid Prybieha Dmytro Stepovyk Oleksandr Fedoruk When publishing the problematic materials, the editorial board provides only the author’s view if not specified otherwise. The reproduction and copying of text and illustrative materials of ‘The monuments of Ukraine’ are only possible with written permission of the editorial staff.
© The monuments of Ukraine: hystory and culture, 2012. All rights reserved.
MUSEUM HERITAGE
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F und Collections of National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve Hryhory POLYUSHKO
MONUMENTAL ART
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rnaments of Lavra Refectory Interiors O Olena PITATELEVA
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L andscape Backgrounds in the Arched Compositions of the Refectory Church Olha LYATAVSKA
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ld Rus’ fresco ‘Christ’s O Appearance to His Followers on the Sea of Tiberius’ in the Church of the Saviour at Berestove Alina KONDRATYUK
PUBLISHER ‘National magazine and newspaper publisher’ Doughter Company
ICONOSTASES
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I conostases of Cave Churches Yaroslav LYTVYNENKO
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L ost Iconostases of Lavra Churches Yaroslav LYTVYNENKO
FOUNDRY MONUMENTS 46
ells of the Great Lavra Bell B Tower of 17–20 centuries Ihor FEDORYACHENKO
SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH 50
estruction of the Dormition D Cathedral in 1941: new materials Yevhen KABANETS
MUSEUM HERITAGE
Hryhory POLYUSHKO
FUND COLLECTIONS of National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve
1. Pyx. Silver, engraving, castings, gilt, 1787
2
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
MUSEUM HERITAGE
2. Wooden blessed cross in silver gilt binding. Silver, gilt, embossing, castings. According to the legend it belonged to the Holy martyr Metropolitan Galytsky and Kyivsky Macarius who was killed by Tatars in 1497. Athos, second half of 15th century 3. Chalice. Silver, embossing, castings, niello, gilt. Ukraine, second half of 18 century
T
he National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve is widely known for its architectural ensemble of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra as well as for the collections of ancient Christian relics. Recently we have celebrated the 85th anniversary of its foundation. Work on the formation of the Preserve historical and artistic collections had begun in the early 20th of the 20th century. It was carried out in very difficult period. The museum provided safety for an enormous number of monuments of history in the conditions of the Soviet atheistic ideology aimed at the destruction of churches and religious objects. The Preserve possessed one of the world’s best collections of icons in the prewar period. Lavra museum collections of vestments and the items of precious metals were no less artistically valuable than the museum collections of Moscow and Leningrad. Steps of the German occupation authorities during World War 2 harmed the monument protection case. The museum collections stayed in the occupied Kyiv were looted, partly exported to Germany and perished in the ex-
plosion of the Dormition Cathedral. Then the museum funds as a whole actually ceased to exist. Work on renovation of the collections had begun in 1944, just after the opening of Lavra Preserve. The most part of the precious fabrics collection was found during excavations under the Dormition Cathedral ruins. All of the items were strongly damaged. In 1941 the museum items of precious metals were evacuated to Ufa. In the postwar time they were returned to the museum. During the city occupation the Kyiv museums had got valuable items from Lavra, but later they returned them partly. Some of the exhibits were returned to the Preserve by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. In 1949 the Preserve collections already numbered more than 36000 items.
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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MONUMENTAL ART
Olena PITATELEVA
2. Fragment of the interior of the Refectory Church
ORNAMENTS of Lavra Refectory interiors I
1. Refectory and Refectory Church. General view
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n one of the most famous monuments of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the Refectory Church with Refectory, the major part of the interior decoration represents ornaments (il. 1). The ornamental patterns drape like a tapestry all the mural surface free of compositions. As a result the colouring of the Refectory paintings is peculiar and at first sight unusual: there are a lot of faint brown, green, lilac tones (il. 2). But on a sunny days these muted colors revive light and bloom golden patches, scattered on the walls and arches. The iconostasis and three pairs of icon-cases join the decorative harmony chorus. They are made of colored tiles, copper, cast iron and marble of several species. Every detail of décor was thought over by a young architect and painter Alexej Shchusev one hundred years ago, in the early 20th century. He came in Monastery at the invitation of the Spiritual Council and became the chief designer of the Church. The ensemble of the Refectory Church with Refectory, built shortly before this (in 1895) by an Academician V. Nikolayev, was designed by Shchusev and his creative «team» as something integral, artistic and organic. Shchusev looked for conformity in both the large-scale decorative elements and in minor details. His creative idea reached from layout of walls for paintings, from making drawings of structures, creating ornamental patterns of iconostasis and icon cases to design hangers, bars and door handles. What is this? Is it an arrogance of a young specialist, a zealous scrupulousness of an ambitious artist, or perhaps an underestimate of his own talent, the waste of precious time and efforts? No, it is an artistic approach to solve the decorative tasks when secondary and unimportant things do not exist for master. This is a creation of a new style (il. 3). Today the major part of Shchusev works are irrevocably lost, and it is impossible to restore completely the view of the Refectory interiors, intended by the author in the same tone. That is why it is important to look at the results of his work in the light of time, taking into consideration the artistic and stylistic searches that took place in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
3. Fragment of the interior of the Refectory Church
MONUMENTAL ART
Olha LYATAVSKA
LANDSCAPE BACKGROUNDS
A
The image of gospel Mark on the arch of the Refectory Church The image of gospel Matthew on the arch of the Refectory Church
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mong the twenty-seven subject compositions of Lavra Refectory ensemble (the Church and the Refectory) fourteen compositions have the landscape backgrounds. The geographical aspect is very interesting in the studying of the landscape backgrounds. The geographical scale of the landscape backgrounds continues from subtropics to the middle zone. Definition of topographic aspect of the landscape backgrounds in the ensemble of the Refectory is a fascinating and productive process. We will investigate only four compositions with the landscape backgrounds. These are the images of the gospels’ figures which are situated in the arches of the Refectory Church. Every evangelist is reflected by the author on the bend of the arch. Its configuration makes it possible to pay attention to the landscape backgrounds: the landscape in the plane of the arch is shown widely and scale right and left to the figure which should become the compositional dominant. Each of the four gospels’ images has the special landscape nuance, due to which there is decisive topographical identification of the composition. As it is known, Egypt was one of the places where the gospel Mark preached the Christianity. In Alexandria Mark became
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
MONUMENTAL ART
in the Arched Compositions of the Refectory Church the first bishop. Having considered in the details his images in the arch, we may see from the side of Mark the image of five pyramids - the symbol of Egypt. The fortress wall with the thick spitted date palms is situated ahead. Behind this wall, probably is located the town. Almost surely this town may be considered as Alexandria. The orange tree with the fully ripe fruit is depicted from the right side of Mark. In the right side of the arch the fig tree and blooming myrtle – the plants which are typical to the flora of Egypt are situated. Behind the gospel the viewer may see the mountain ridge with a gentle slope on the one side and the rapid slope on the other side. This rapid slope, in our opinion, symbolizes the Mount of Moses or ‘the sacred spire’ as it is called by the local monks (according to tradition, Moses received on its top the table of Ten Commandments). Considering the abovementioned artistic details we may affirm that Mark is in Egypt in this composition. The gospel Matthew is depicted in another way. The angel (who is the symbol of Matthew) is situated near the gospel on a gentle slope. Landscape in this composition is quite different from the previous one. In the composition with Mark we recognize Africa with its hot desert. The landscape back-
ground in the composition with Matthew is the country with a mild climate. The Apostle Matthew during his life traveled around many countries, preaching Christianity. Dymitry Rostovsky in his ‘Scenes of the Saints’1 says that Christ preached Christianity in Galilee and its surroundings. We see a path under the hill which is leading to the town. There are five poplar trees on the both sides of the path, the narrow strip of the sea the viewer may see on the horizon. At the top of the hill there are several trees which are very similar to olive. From below the grass and flowers fern, miramiya, hemlock, anemones, and crocuses are ‘planted’. We examined in the details ‘The Atlas of Plants of the World’2 and concluded that the author of this painting beared in mind Palestine, because all of the plants depicted in the arch, grow in this country. It follows that the town which is seen on the horizon is Jerusalem, the most famous
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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MONUMENTAL ART
Alina KONDRATYUK
OLD RUS’ FRESCO
‘Christ’s Appearance to His Followers on the Sea of Tiberius’
IN THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR AT BERESTOVE
S
The probe on the western wall of the inner narthex. Fresco of the end of 11-the beginning of 12 centuries (?)
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cientists of 19–first half of 20 centuries were not lucky to see in the interior of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove real Old Rus’ paintings. Researches of P. Lashkaryov, M. Sementovsky, M. Petrov and others scientists led to the conclusion that the frescoes of ancient days did not survive. M. Petrov has published his findings in a lecture, published in ‘Labor of 14 Archaeological congress’ in Chernigiv. He wrote about attempts to clear the art of 40th of 17 century and about useless efforts to find something. However, famous archaeologist P. Pokryshkin, who conducted the investigations during 1910–1914th years, believed that under stratifications of the 17 century the wall-paintings of 12 century should be found. However, he failed to prove it. Until 1970 it was not known for certain that the Church of the Saviour at Berestove has the unique painting of Kyivan Rus’. In 1970 the Church of the Saviour at Berestove became the source of unexpected sensation. Under the layer of plaster of Petro Mohyla epoch well-preserved fresco was found, which was dated by the most of researchers by the 11–12 centuries. Below we would like to tell the history of discovery, restoration and research of the monument on the materials of scientific and popular publications. In May of 1970, at the western wall of the former narthex of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove the exfoliations of the plaster were founded. The liquidation of emergency condition began with the preparatory work. Suddenly a layer of limy whitewashing was founded under the layer of 17 century. Under this limy layer restorers found green, grey, red, yellow and blue colors of fresco paint. At the Academic Council of the USSR State Construction Committee decided to make experimental probing that would finally confirm the presence of Old Rus’ paintings under the paintings of 17 century. The next meeting of the Council decided to open this ancient fresco.
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
Angel with sphere. End of the 11-the beginning of 12 centuries. (?) The painting of former pendentive of southern and western pylon of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove (today it is the space under the roof of the southern dome of the church) The Church of the Saviour at Berestove. Southern view
There were no works of that kind, which provide the separation of wall paintings and its transfer to the new basis in Ukraine. Kyivan artists-restorers (V. Babyuk, A. Marampolsky, G. Chesteyshy) together with members of the laboratory of Ukrainian Specialized Scientific Restoration Board developed a new method of separation of frescoes. On purpose to uncover frescoes of 11 – early 12 century, ten compositions of Petro Mohyla epoch should be removed and mounted on wooden boards. Simultaneously, the earlier paintings should be fixed with the special glue, because it turned out that these paintings somewhere began to exfoliate. Old Rus’ fresco should be opened in such way that the main parts of the image (face, hands etc) should not get into these lines. There were made 26 probes on the western wall of the inner narthex. The first probe made it possible to reveal the face of the Apostle Peter. The second probe made it possible to reveal another figure which was sandaled. The fishing net with the fish was revealed after the third probing. The brown
contours of fishing net and fish became visible. The following probes revealed more and more details of the painting, and now it is possible to see the part of composition – the fishermen pull out the fishing net. Finally the separate parts of the fresco merged together in the composition which was defined as ‘Christ’s Appearance to His Followers on the Sea of Tiberius’. Only the part of the paintings of Old Rus’ (17.4 m2) was opened. Total amount of fragments was ten: six figures of prophets and four subject compositions. Between the fresco plaster of 17 century and the fresco of the late 11 – early 12 centuries two layers of whitewashing were found (upper layer was brown and lower layer was white).
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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ICONOSTASES
Yaroslav LYTVYNENKO
ICONOSTASES
of Cave Churches
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1. St. Anthony Church in the Near Caves
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abyrinths of the Near and Far Caves of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra are unique. Their history starts from 1051. During all times scientists paid a lot of attention to them, thus thanks to the archeological, topographical and historical researches, we may observe a rather fundamental picture of Caves development. Iconostases are themselves the real treasure of Caves churches that is yet not explored enough. So let us try to demonstrate the process of iconostases creation, designing and their modification in Lavra underground churches in accordance to the epoch. There are only a few scientific studies which highlight this topic. Among them there are some guides on Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra1, an article of A. Reutov in the ‘Mysteries of Lavra Caves’2,
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
ICONOSTASES
2. Fragment of Diaconal Doors from St. Anthony Church iconostasis
where authors give a general characteristic mostly concerning the history of Caves churches foundation. We can find more serious studies regarding iconostases of the Near and Far Caves in works of O. Pytateleva ‘To issues of Ukrainian iconostases development. Images of iconostases at the underground churches of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the plan of A. Kalnofoyskyi book named ‘Teraturgima’3 and V. Shydenko ‘Iconostases of the Churches in the Far Caves of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’4. Let’s study the iconostases from the Near Cave labyrinth. The dates of iconostases creation, which still decorate interiors of the caves churches, as well as names of goldsmith masters, which made them, became known to us from the archive documents of the 19 century. It is significant that new iconostases appeared in all three churches at the same period of time, namely: in St. Anthony Church in 1814, in St. Barlaam Church in 1818, in the Church of Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple in 1819. The first church of the Near Caves which had changed its old wooden iconostasis to copper-casted one became the Church of St. Anthony (pic. 1). At the bottom part of the Deacon’s Gates of the existing copper-casted charter of the iconostasis there is a signing: ‘Blessing… The Kyiv and Galitsky Metropolitan Serapion… this iconostasis was designated for the church of the Near Caves of the St. Anthony of Pechersk. Dated the 1st September, 1814’ (pic. 2). As V. Shydenko states, brothers Zahariy and Yuriy Brezgunovy were the masters who produced this iconostasis5. We should mention that the date which was indicated on the charter was the date of the first liturgy celebration after the new copper iconostasis installation. However the history of its fabrication began in December, 1809, when Mr. Peter Burnas, who lived in Ekaterynograd, donated 5 thousand of rubles for the creation of a new copper iconostasis designated for St. Anthony Church. After a few month, namely in March, the Spiritual Council conduct an order: ‘… for the fulfillment of the designated objective a person among the Lavra brethren mast be elected, who knows his business and obligations, who might find a silver-casting craft master and an experienced artist, as well as to make a deal with them. The control of the work fulfillment should be placed on the Head of those caves – Cathedral Elder German and on Hieromonk Aasson. Alexander Yakushin, the retired Captain, Lavra lay brother, should be set as the assistant of the mentioned above’6. The development of the project of a new iconostasis took more than one year as well as the search of a gold-smith master who would be able to execute the huge scale of works. Finally the contract was signed with Zahary Brezgunov, a gold-smith master, in May, 1811, where the following term was stated: ‘Under this Contact I am obliged to make and to gild a new iconostasis in St. Anthony Church in the Near Caves according to the attached project and drawing… the Royal Doors and old icons should be kept as they are, or reconstructed (optionally), and Me, Brezgunov, mast produce cornices, bases, capitals, etc. made of my own copper metal’7. Regarding the document, Brezgunov did not take part in designing works, but executed Contract work list. We consider, that
the possible designer might be Alexander Yakushin, who, under the Spiritual Council order, was chosen to be involved in the creation of a new copper iconostasis for St. Anthony Church. It is well known, that in 1809 the military engineer O. Yakushin, being a lay brother, and starting from 1811 being a Head of the Far Caves, had made a project of a new wooden iconostasis for the Church of Conception of St. Anna made by Moscow master Akim Yurin8. So O. Yakushin should be the author of the new iconostasis project. The fabrication of a copper gilt iconostasis was finished in 1812, as Zahariy Brezgynov informed the Lavra Spiritual Council. But the process of the iconostasis installation was not hastened, because the silver Royal Doors from the old iconostasis happened to be fully dilapidated and couldn’t serve any more, as it was written in the report of Hieromonk Arseniy, the Head of the Far Caves9. A decision was taken to re-cast the Royal Doors to new one with addition of extra silver if required. Anton Savitskiy was the executor of new silver Royal Doors according to his own drawings ‘… this master is reliable, talented and good-minded, it is difficult to find more deserving candidate’10, that was what hieromonk Arseniy said about him. Another reason of the iconostasis installation delay was the still going process of new icons painting. But as turned out, four of 13 iconostasis icons were from the old iconostasis and were just renewed. The rest of new icons were made by Leon Antonov, a famous artist, only for 105 Rubles11. All iconostasis works were finished in 7 months, as mentioned in the report provided to the Spiritual Council on 26 June 1814. Concerning the icons placed in the iconostasis, we may observe their full correspondence to the church destination. In regard with the church description dated from 1892, except the classical icons of Christ and Virgin and the Child, there are two another icons installed in the veneration tier, such as the icon of St. Anthony Dormition and St Anthony and St. Theodosy blessing the land for the Dormition Cathedral. At the top of the diaconal doors Illarion, the Metropolitan of Kyiv, is painted and at the bottom there was an icon with an interesting subject: ‘A praying Illarion while being a usual priest’12. Unfortunately, among all veneration icons, this one was not preserved.
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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ICONOSTASES
Yaroslav LYTVYNENKO
T
Fragment of the painting of the 17 century in the Near Caves
38
here were more than twenty churches in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the late 19 – early 20 century. Every church had its individual features in the interior ornamentation. Unfortunately, not all monastic churches retained the original architecture. Wall paintings, many icon-cases, iconostases suffered or even have been destroyed. We will focus only on one of the essential parts of the Orthodox Church – iconostasis, explore the temples of KyivPechersk monastery, which iconostases were lost completely. Our investigation is based primarily on archival descriptions and photos which are stored in funds of National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve as well as in the State Archival Fund of the National Art Museum of Ukraine and in the fund № 128 of Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine (CHAU).
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
ICONOSTASES
LOST ICONOSTASIS
OF LAVRA CHURCHES
Church of All Pechersk Saints at the Near Caves is one of little explored monuments of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In modern scientific literature there is no information about the interior decoration of this church. Only archival documents have some information. In CHAU we studied the documents relating to the history of churches of Kyiv-Pechersk monastery and found a correspondence of Spiritual Council and Filaret, the Metropolitan of Kyiv, which illustrates the first phase of the church interior formation. In 1839 a new building near the Near Caves was erected. Its first floor was intended for warm church. So the question arised about the installation of a new iconostasis in the church. P. Sparro was the architect who installed the iconostasis. As to the archival documents we may see that this iconostasis was made of wood, it had one tier and was decorated with the golden pilasters of the Corinthian order with the pedestal
and entablature. Except the royal doors and diaconal doors six icons were placed there. It is interesting that two of them are the extension of the veneration tier of the iconostasis. They were placed perpendicularly to it on the northern and southern walls of the temple. According to this we offer explication of this church iconostasis. According to the abovementioned documents the royal doors were made of wood, carved and gilded. Christ’s hierarchs such as ‘Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria’ and ‘Archbishop Athanasius of Alexandria’ were depicted at the diaconal doors. It should be mentioned that the description consists of six more icons, four of
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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FOUNDRY MONUMENTS
Ihor FEDORYACHENKO
BELLS OF THE GREAT LAVRA BELL TOWER OF 17–20 CENTURIES
T
here are many differences in data, which are being covered in different documents, guides and scientific publications, as for the general amount and the total weight of the last set of bells of the Great Lavra Bell Tower, before their partial destruction at the first part of the XXth century. Thus, following figures may be explored in different guides: the total weight of more than 6 thousand of poods1, more than 5 thousand of poods2 (the same figure is indicated in the monograph3), approximately 6 thousand of poods 4. Approximately 5 thousand of poods is the figure we find in the research of L. Korzh5.
46
The study of the chief architect provides the figure of 5.642 poods. There is no unity between specialists in the definition of the bells quantity as well – starting from 10 to 136 units. All these differences may be explained, in our opinion, by the following thing: usually there are 4 samples of documents by the analog content named ‘Publication…’7 (the copy of one of them is provided below) are being stored in the archive. The copy shows the list of applied costs for bells, dated on the 1758. Here, in the copy, one can find the exact sum of costs, but the weight was rounded off for tens of poods, what means that this document plays a financial role, but misleads researchers of the future generation as for the weight of bells. Probably because of this document data usage, by the Metropolitan Yevhen (Bolkhovitinov) while his study writing, we may find some differences in scale of one study 8 – the weight
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH
Yevhen KABANETS
The Dormition Cathedral. Summer, 1942
DESTRUCTION
OF THE DORMITION CATHEDRAL in 1941: new materials
Photo of Roman RATUSHNY
The Dormition Cathedral
50
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
Lavra views. Summer, 1942
Photo of Roman RATUSHNY
A barbarian destruction of the Dormition Cathedral on 3 November 1941 is considered to be one of the most mysterious pages of Ukrainian modern history. A painstaking suppression of the circumstances of the tragedy contributed to the emergence of the veil of secrecy around it. As a result different ‘artistic reconstruction’ of these events based on undisguised conjectures and unsubstantiated interpretations spread in local mass media over the last decades. Lately in German, British, American and Russian archives it was found out a lot of new materials that allow reconsidering radically the issue of instigators of the crime
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
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SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH
Lavra views. Summer, 1942
On
28 September 1941 a regular ‘Report about events in the USSR’ (Ereignismeldungen UdSSR) was sent in Berlin for the personal information of Adolph Hitler. It contained the summary of news about the activities of task forces and commands SD on the occupied territory. This report informed about a number of extreme events that happened to the Wehrmacht command in the early days after the capture of the Ukrainian capital. In addition to the description of devastating fires and explosions in Khreschatyk street it mentioned a subversive act committed on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery: ‘On 20 September a citadel flew up into the air, having killed the Commander of artillery and his staff’1. The matter was a death of the ordinary German Oberst (Colonel) Hanz-Heinrich von Seidlitz-und-Golau. However a week later it became known that the death of this Officer was the most serious loss of Wehrmacht during several month of the Kyiv siege, because he was posthumously awarded the rank of General. This incident became public and was evaluated as ‘first demonstrative challenge of the enemy in the Bolshevik citadel already thrown down’. It should be made a small digression and explain what meant in fact the subversive act in Lavra. A high-powered remote land mine exploded on the Observation ground. It was set by field engineers of the Special Platoon Mining of General Military and Engineering Department of the USSR. They had mined in advance the place considered to be the most suitable for installation of an 52
observation point and artillery positions, and blew it up when a German garrison located there. The explosion was made in response to the firing on Red Army units on the Dnipro left bank and became a destructive moral and psychological strike for the invaders. But using the territory of Kyiv-Pechersk monastery, considered as a unique historical and architectural monument, for military operations, was a tactical error of the Soviet command. It gave to the occupiers a reason for the retaliatory actions using trophy Soviet weapons. Lately Germans affirmed to have found explosives in the basement of one of the exhibition space. However for some reason they didn’t film their discovery unlike they have already done this for propaganda in the centre of the city of Kyiv (taking of the mine clearing in Lenin museum in the newsreel ‘Deutsche Wochenschau’). Was such discovery false with defective detonator, made for the purpose of intimidation or distraction? Can we trust the witness who reported the incident? This information was mentioned as a gossip in the report of Dr. Ditrich Roscamp. He was an art critic sent to Kyiv for some weeks for the inspection of the work of ‘Sonderstab of fine art’. He was just a civil person and didn’t know much about military technics. In any case, any credible testimony (that is documents and not stories of doubtful witnesses) on the mining of Museum buildings and the Dormition Cathedral by the Soviet sapper haven’t been presented yet. In general a hypothesis that the Dormition Cathedral was mined by remote land mine with the aim to postpone the explosion to the later date in expectation of an appropriate opportunity doesn’t stand up to a serious criticism. The independent power supply of this device was enough only for 40 days and the major part of this time usually passed in expectation of enemy. It is evident that this term had to expire already in early – mid October 1941. Besides this the mine had some important constructive defects, was sensitive to the temperature extremes and humidity, needed very long decamouflage antenna and what is the most important was vulnerable to the radio jamming station. It should be noted that the Germans before the capture of Kyiv had a trophy sample
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
View of the North wall of the Observatory ground after the subversive act of 20 September 1941
of the remote land mine and the list of frequencies on which its receiver worked, and created an effective service of radio jamming2 . The successful subversive act on the Observation ground became possible only because of short-sightedness and negligence of occupiers, which being in euphoria simply ignored the basic security measures. German reports deny finally all the controversy around ‘mines not detected timely’ in Lavra. According to these reports the Sapper units neutralized successfully the action of ‘explosive shells with distant ignition’, that is radio-controlled mines in the monastery’s territory, and partly in Citadel3. Of course it is about radio jamming and not about detection of real mines that weren’t sufficient for the Soviet command even for mining military target. So the threat to the Museum town from subversives was probably exaggerated. Not without reason the Germans stubbornly ignored all warnings about mining of the Dormition Cathedral or strongly denied this fact. However, the question of the searching and punishment of people responsible for the explosion on the Observation ground on the 20th September remained open for them, judging from the fact that its effects were still discussing in the informational reports to Berlin. The report of 7 October 1941 had so great impact on Adolph Hitler that in few days, namely on the 9th October, he sent for Reichsfuehrer SS Henrich Himmler for a confidential conversation about ‘the destiny of the monastery in Kyiv’4. The contents of the conversation becomes clear from a secret radiogram sent to Kiev by the subordinate of Hitler, Head of the Ordnungspolizei, the imperial police of the public order, Oberstgruppenfeuhrer SS Curt Daluge, responsible for security of Hitler and leaderships of Nazi Reich. This message was addressed to the Head of SS and of the police of South Russia and to the police order commander in Ukraine Oberstgruppenfeuhrer Fridrich Ekkeln. It contained a following direction: ‘Secretly. Fuhrer gave an order that priests, monks, that are local clerics, couldn’t have an access to the Monastery located in the Citadel of Kyiv. In no case the Monastery can’t be something like a place of pilgrimage or religious sanctuary. The pro-
tection (of the Monastery) must be handed over to the police and after the delegation it must be destroyed. Wehrmacht Supreme Command, Headquarters of the Operational Management, Department of National Defense (4-QU) № 02316-41, signed Orpo Chief Commandant G 2 (01) № 526-41 (G)’5. The execution of Hitler order required very important technical and organizational preparation and interaction with different military and civilian Reich organizations, so it was impossible to fulfill it secretly. On 13 October 1941 Dr. Otto Broytiham, liaison officer from the Ministry of Occupied Eastern Territories in OKH (High Command of the land forces), known for his restrained recommendations on German policy in Russia, made a special memorandum on the negative consequences of the destruction of Pechersk Monastery: ‘The Monastery in Kyiv Citadel that must be destroyed’, probably means the famous ’Lavra ‘, the oldest monastery in Russia and Ukraine ‘Lavra’ is one of the oldest monuments of Ukraine, and has a particular importance for every Ukrainian. Golden domes of the monastery churches raise highly, shine far above the ground and provide a unique view of the city of Kyiv. The most valuable and most interesting architectural monuments of Ukraine would disappear with it. [...] The destruction of the Monastery territory would strike national feelings as well as religious and in this way would be a hard blow to our policy in Ukraine. Due to the fact that a lot of monks are buried there such actions would be considered as blasphemous desecration of cemeteries. The Communists didn’t dare to touch Lavra and it was even opened for monks till 1935. So it should be thought about conservation of Lavra as a cultural monument of the important cultural and historical value without regenerating it as a monastery. Berlin, 13.10.1941’6 . However the Broytinham warnings didn’t stop the sinister preparations. In the middle of October by the order of F.Ekkeln all the inhabitants of the Upper Lavra were evicted, while the SS units and auxiliary police garrisons located in the monastery buildings7. An active export of the museum collections of Dormition Cathedral began.
The monuments of Ukraine / histor y and culture
53
2012 HISTORY AND CULTURE
No. 6 (176)
The popular and scientific illustrated magazine PUBLISHER ‘National newspaper and magazine publishing house’ Daughter Company Vasylkivska Str., 1, Kyiv, 03040 Ukraine Phone/fax:+38(044) 498 23 67 General Director Olesia Bilash
Editor-in-Chief Lesia BOHOSLOV Compliting Viktoriya LISNYCHA Releaser Ihor HYRYCH Editing and proofreading Vira KARPENKO Design and composition Nataliya KOVAL Translated from Ukrainian by Olha LYATAVSKA, Daryna NEDZELSKA
ABOUT AUTHORS Yevhen Kabanets – Leading Research Worker of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve (NKPHCP). Alina Kondratyuk – Leading Research Worker of NKPHCP, Candidate of Fine Art. Yaroslav Lytvynenko – Leading Research Worker of NKPHCP. Olha Lyatavska – Senior Research Worker of NKPHCP. Olena Pitateleva – Leading Research Worker of NKPHCP. Hryhory Polyushko – Main Curator of NKPHCP. Ihor Fedoryachenko– Historian.
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The Adoration of the elders and angels to the Holy Lamb. The Trinity Church. Southern nave. Southern wall. 20–30th years of 18 century
ISSN 0131-2685
The monuments of Ukraine: history and culture. – 2012. – No. 6. – P. 1–56.