First published: 04/10/21.

Tsunami

Kyiv: St. Cyril's And St. Andrew's Churches

Kyiv: St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches (On tentative list)

Kyiv: St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches by Tsunami

So Ukraine wants to add 2 more churches to the existing Kyiv WHS: St. Andrew's Church and St. Cyril's Church.  

St. Andrew's Church is located only a few minutes walk from St. Sophia Cathedral, creating a sort of triangle with St. Sophia and St. Michael's, and well within the popular tourist area of Kyiv. So most likely any visitors to Kyiv have been to St. Andrew's, another neutral museum like St. Sophia. 

On the other hand St. Cyril's Church is located somewhat out of the way and may even seem difficult to get to by public transportation, as there is no metro station nearby.  This means that you need to know how to take those mini bus, ubiquitous in Kyiv, unless you want to walk. 

But Kyiv is rapidly changing. 

First, while the city was in lockdown and the public transportation was in halt in 2020, they installed a system with metro card for the first time, with which you can now take metros and minibuses. To my amazement, most of those run-down minibuses are now equipped with the electrical card readers.

Second, perhaps deserving even more amazement, the Google Map Direction now works almost perfectly with all the minibuses.

So all you need to do is, wherever you are in Kyiv, to check the Google Map Direction, and it shows you which metro and/or minibues to take to get where you want to go. Just scan your card with the card readers at the entrance of metro or on minibuses. One ride still typically costs 8 UAH or 0.30 USD. 

As you get off minibuses at the Muzei Kyrylivska Tserkva (Museum Cyril Church) bus stop, you will see a large arrow pointing to the church. Yes, the church is also now a museum. 

This church (photo) was built in 1140, some 130 years after St. Sophia, by the prince of Chernihiv. The importance of the church has to do with its origin in the time of Kyivan Rus. Like most of the historic churches in Kyiv this one also has the restored exterior in the Ukrainian Baroque style from 18th century, with what some call pear cupolas, instead of onion cupolas. So it is the interior where you see the Kyivan Rus remnants, including frescos. The most famous of these is supposed to be "Angel Rolling the Heaven into a Scroll," which an English-speaking caretaker here immediately pointed out to me as soon as I entered the church. 

Although these 2 churches are not yet inscribed within the Kyiv WHS, they are already grouped together and promoted as "National Conservation Area: St. Sophia of Kyiv," which includes St. Sophia, St. Cyril's, St. Andrew's and the Golden Gate of Kyiv.  

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