The history of this consummately beautiful sa-
cred building goes back
to the 11th century and the heyday of the Old Russian empire. As the principal church in the metropolis it served as a model for many other Russian churches. Destroyed by the Monmassigols in the 13th century, it was later rebuilt. This incomparable monument with its 19 golden domes owes its present design in Ukrainian Baroque, a combination of Eastern and Western European architectural traditions, to reconstruction work in the 17th and 18th centuries.
