View source for Demolition of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

{{Short description|1935-1936 destruction of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Румовища собору Михайлівського золотоверхого монастиря після підриву 14 серпня 1937 року.jpg|thumb|alt=photograph of the monastery ruins |The ruins of the destroyed cathedral]]
The '''demolition of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery''' by [[dynamite]] took place on 14 August 1937. The [[bell tower]], the Economic Gate ({{lang|uk-Latn|Ekonomichna Brama}}) and the monastery's walls were also destroyed.
The [[Soviet]] authorities afterwards commissioned a competition how to best fill the empty plot. A new administration complex was planned, but only the building of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine]] was constructed, a building that now houses the Ukrainian [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]].
==Proposals==
[[File:Урядовий центр риоква.jpg|thumb|A submission by the Ukrainian architect {{Ill|Rykov Mykytovych|ru|Рыков, Валериан Никитович}} for the planned Government Centre (1935)]]
During the first half of the 1930s, various [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] publications questioned the known historical facts regarding the age of [[St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery]]. The publications stressed that the medieval building had undergone major reconstructions and that little of the original [[Byzantine]]-style [[cathedral]] was preserved. This wave of questioning sought to justify the demolition of the [[monastery]] and its replacement with a new administrative centre for the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]] (previously located in the city of [[Kharkiv]]). Before its demolition (8 June – 9 July 1934), the structure was carefully studied by {{Ill|T.M. Movchanivskyi|uk|Мовчанівський Теодосій Миколайович}} and K. Honcharev from the recently [[Great Purge|purged]] and re-organized {{Ill|Institute of Material Culture|uk|Український науково-дослідний інститут історії матеріальної культури НКО УСРР}} of the [[National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|Ukrainian Academy of Sciences]]. On the basis of their survey, the cathedral was declared to belong primarily to the [[Ukrainian Baroque]] style, rather than to the 12th century as was previously thought, and thus did not merit preservation due to its alleged lack of historical and artistic value. This conclusion backed up the Soviet authorities' plans to demolish the entire monastery. Local historians, [[archaeologist]]s, and [[architect]]s agreed to the monastery's demolition, although reluctantly. One professor, {{Ill|Mykola Makarenko|uk|Макаренко Микола Омелянович}}, who refused to sign the demolition act, later died in a Soviet prison.<ref name="Kyiv">{{harvnb|Malikenaite|2003|p=147.}}</ref>{{refn|1=There is a memorial plate dedicated to him, hanging on the monastery's walls.{{citation required|date=March 2023}}|group=note}}
In 1934 Soviet authorities decided to hold a competition for the project of the Governmental Centre with a place for parades.{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=111}} In all of the projects submitted for the location in the area of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Square, the St. Michael's Golden-domed Cathedral was demolished, except for one.{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=111}} The project of [[Joseph Karakis]] was the only one of four projects submitted for the competition with the location of the centre in this place, in which the St. Michael's Golden-domed Cathedral and the monument to Bogdan Khmelnitsky were preserved.{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=111}} However, at the end of the first round, the project of architect {{Ill|Peter Yurchenko|uk|Юрченко Петро Григорович}} was selected by the authorities as the most appropriate.{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=112}}{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=416}}
This project, according to the architect {{Ill|Boris Erofalov|uk|Єрофалов Борис Леонідович}}, "was repeating the general scheme of the Karakis, but was done in a more frontal approach, with the liquidation of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral. And if the location of the main volumes of the Karakis is asymmetric…"{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=112}} In March 1934, authorities decided to abandon the previous decision and announce a new competition, and at the end to choose the project of architect Joseph Langbard. {{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=112}} Meanwhile, according to Oleg Yunakov's research based on archive documents, it is clear that although there is no cathedral in the projects of J. Langbard and P. Yurchenko, that was not the reason for the demolition, since the decision to demolish the monastery was adopted by the resolution of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] in February 1934, and the dismantling of [[mosaic]]s began to be produced already in 1933.{{sfn|Yunakov|2016|p=112}}
==Removal of the mosaics prior to demolition==
[[File:Почти утраченные мозаики (4572904018).jpg|thumb|alt=photograph of mosaics |The Eucharist mosaic, installed on the second floor of the [[Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kyiv|Saint Sophia Cathedral]]]]
On 27 March 1934, the [[Politburo]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)|Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine]] made the decision to remove the most important mosaics and frescoes, and then demolish the monastery.<ref name="Vec">{{cite web |last1=Vecherskyi |first1=V. V. |title=Свято-Михайлівський Золотоверхий монастир |url=https://vue.gov.ua/%D0%A1%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%BE-%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B2%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%97%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%80 |website=Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia |publisher=State Scientific Institution "Encyclopedic Publishing House" |access-date=12 September 2023 |page=|trans-title= St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery}}</ref> On 26 June, under the supervision of {{Ill|lt=Vladimir Frolov|Vladimir Frolov (mosic artist)|ru|Фролов, Владимир Александрович}} of the [[Imperial Academy of Arts|Leningrad Academy of Arts]], work began on the removal of the 12th-century Byzantine mosaics.{{sfn|Hewryk|1982|p=15}} They were apportioned among the [[State Hermitage Museum]], the [[Tretyakov Gallery]], and the [[State Russian Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2004/hm11_2_141.html|title=The Transfer to the Ukraine of Fragments of Frescoes from Kyiv's Mikhailovo-Zlatoverkh Monastery|access-date=5 April 2017|publisher=[[Hermitage Museum|The State Hermitage Museum]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040624120050/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2004/hm11_2_141.html | archive-date=24 June 2004}}</ref> The removals were done by the Mosaic Section of the Leningrad [[Imperial Academy of Fine Arts|Academy of Fine Arts]]. Specialists were forced to work in haste on account of the impending demolition and were thus unable to complete the entire project.<ref name="Hewryk-15">{{harvnb|Hewryk|1982|p=15.}}</ref> Despite the care and attention shown during the removal of the mosaics from the cathedral's walls, the relocated mosaics cannot be relied upon as being absolutely authentic.<ref name="Hewryk-16">{{harvnb|Hewryk|1982|p=16.}}</ref>
The remaining mosaics, covering an area of 45 square metres (485&nbsp;sq&nbsp;ft), were apportioned among the [[State Hermitage Museum]], the [[Tretyakov Gallery]], and the [[State Russian Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2004/hm11_2_141.html|title=The Transfer to the Ukraine of Fragments of Frescoes from Kiev's Mikhailovo-Zlatoverkh Monastery|access-date=5 April 2017|publisher=[[Hermitage Museum|The State Hermitage Museum]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040624120050/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2004/hm11_2_141.html | archive-date=24 June 2004}}</ref>
==Demolition==
[[File:St. Michael's Cathedral shortly before its demolition in 1935.jpg|thumb|The cathedral shortly before its demolition]]
During the spring of 1935, the golden domes of the monastery were pulled down. The cathedral's silver royal gates, Mazepa's [[reliquary]]—weighing two [[pood]]s of silver—and other valuables were sold abroad or simply destroyed.<ref name="Hewryk-16"/>
The monastery was then systematically demolished. During the spring of 1935, the golden domes of the cathedral were dismantled, and its [[iconostasis]] gates, the silver [[reliquary]] for the relics of [[St Barbara]], and other valuables were sold abroad or destroyed.{{sfn|Hewryk|1982|p=16}} The bell tower was destroyed between 1934 and 1935, followed by the Economic Gate and the monastery's outer walls (1936–1937). The bishop's house and farm buildings were dismantled in 1936.<ref name="Vec" />{{sfn|Hewryk|1982|p=16}}<ref name="Kyi">{{cite web |title=Київ. Дзвіниця Михайлівського монастиря (Михайлівська площа) |url=https://kpi.ua/kyiv-myhaylo |publisher=National Technical University of Ukraine "Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" |access-date=10 September 2023 |page=|trans-title=Kyiv. Bell tower of Mykhailivskyi Monastery (Mykhailivska Square) |language=uk}}</ref> The shell of the cathedral was dynamited on 14 August 1937.{{sfn|Klos|2013}}
After the demolition, a thorough search for valuables was carried out by the [[NKVD]] on the site.<ref name="Hewryk-16"/> The resulting empty plot was joined with Sofiyivska Square, renamed Uryadova Square (Governmental Square) and was designated as the new city centre and [[parade ground]]s.<ref name="Tuc">{{cite web |first =Svitlana |last =Tuchynska|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/109648/ |title=Forgotten Soviet Plans For Kyiv |access-date=6 April 2017 |work=[[Kyiv Post]] |date=28 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728225847/http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/109648/| archive-date=28 July 2011}}</ref> Soviet authorities then commissioned a competition how to best fill the empty plot; most architects, including {{Ill|Yakiv Shteinberg|uk|Штейнберг Яків Аронович}}, suggested a huge [[Lenin statue]].<ref name="Tuc"/> The square itself was planned as a rectangle with huge governmental buildings on the perimeter.<ref name="Tuc"/> Four pillars were planned with statues of workers, peasants and revolutionaries with flags standing on them.<ref name="Tuc"/> Some architects suggested demolishing the statue of [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]] in front of the [[Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kyiv|Saint Sophia Cathedral]] and the Cathedral itself.<ref name="Tuc"/>
== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}
== References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Hewryk |first=Titus D. |chapter=The Monastery Of St. Michael Of The Golden Domes |chapter-url=https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/18872/file.pdf |title=The Lost Architecture of Kyiv |publisher=[[The Ukrainian Museum]] |year=1982 |location=New York |asin=B0006E9KPQ}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Klos |first=Vitaly |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine]] |title=Київський Свято – Михайлівський Золотоверхий чоловічий монастир УПЦ КП |trans-title=Kyiv St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church |url=https://esu.com.ua/search_articles.php?id=6224 |access-date=10 March 2022 |language=uk |date=2013 |volume=13 |publisher=[[NASU Institute of Encyclopaedic Research]] |isbn=978-966-02-2074-4}}
* {{citation|last=Malikenaite|first=Ruta|title=Touring Kyiv|publisher=Baltija Dryk|year=2003|isbn=978-966-96041-3-2|language=uk}}
*{{cite book|last=Yunakov|first=Oleg|date=2016|title=[[:ru:Архитектор Иосиф Каракис|Architect Joseph Karakis]]|publisher=Almaz|isbn=978-1-68082-000-3|language=ru}}
==External links==
* [https://babel.ua/amp/texts/36195-80-rokiv-tomu-v-kiyevi-zaradi-novogo-uryadovogo-kvartalu-znosili-hrami-yak-zvodili-budivli-suchasnogo-mzs-kabminu-ta-radi-v-arhivnih-foto Information and photographs relating to Kyiv's proposed new government quarter] from the {{Ill|lt=Babel|Babel (online edition)|uk|Бабель (інтернет-видання)}} website.
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[[Category:Demolished churches in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Demolished Christian monasteries in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Anti-Christian sentiment in Ukraine]]