Kiev Ukraine Church of the Holy Cross

overview

The plan repeats that of the Church of St Elijah in Podol, the only difference being that it has a semicircular apse, a square porch, and three cupolas. Attention should be paid to the south portal with its rich stucco decoration and the angels' heads worked in high relief on the tympanum.

The iconostasis was made by the carver Karp Shverin in 1769. The mural paintings uncovered during restoration in 1973-1975 belong partly to the eighteenth and partly to the nineteenth century.

Kiev Ukraine Church of the Holy Cross

Kiev Ukraine Church of the Holy Cross Bell-tower

The bell-tower of the Church of the Holy Cross is square in plan, with two tiers, crowned by a gilded cupola in two sections. In the central bay of the lower tier is an archway leading to the Nearer Caves. The facades, with banded rustication on the first floor and Corinthian columns on the second, as well as other details of the decoration, are typical of Grigorovich-Barsky's work and suggest his authorship.

Kiev Ukraine Church of the Holy Cross Further Caves

This ensemble consists of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1696) and the Church of the Conception of St Anne (1679, rebuilt in 1810-19), and a bell-tower (1754-61).