• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

Ukraine Travel

  • Home
  • Photos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Shopping
  • Food
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Featured / Monastery of the Caves (Lavra)

Monastery of the Caves (Lavra)

By Helen Page Leave a Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Kievo-Pecherska Lavra – a World Heritage Site:

Monastery of the Caves (Lavra), Kiev

Monastery of the Caves (Lavra), Kiev

The word Lavra is used to describe high-ranking monasteries for monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Kyiv’s World Heritage Lavra is the city’s most extensive and amazing sightseeing attraction. Locally called Kievo-Pechersk Lavra, the name of the monastery is also translated as Kiev Cave Monastery, Kiev Caves Monastery or the Kiev Monastery of the Caves. The word Pechera means cave.

The Lavra or Monastery of the Caves was founded by its inhabitants at the beginning of the 11th century.

It’s believed that Antony, a Greek Orthodox monk from Monasteriki returned to Rus and settled in Kiev as a missionary of monastic tradition to Kyivan Rus. He chose a cave at the Berestov Mount that overlooked the Dnieper River and a community of disciples soon joined. Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev gave the whole mount to the Antonite monks who founded a monastery built by architects from Constantinople.

The architectural expansion to the part of the monastery above the ground began under the monastery’s first abbot, Fedossi. The caves then served as subterranean tombs for the monks. The monastery has been divided into two parts since that time. The Upper Lavra on the mountain and the Lower Lavra consisting of the so-called Near and Far Caves.

Belltower, Monastery of the Caves, Kiev

Belltower, Monastery of the Caves, Kiev

The Mongolian-Tartar attack did a lot of damage to the monastery and the first attempt to rebuild the monastery dates back to the second half of the 15th century. The subterranean labyrinth of the near Caves is more than 500m long and the single caves are connected with one another through passageways. The mummies of the monks are laid out in the passages.

The Kiev Pechersk Lavra contains numerous architectural monuments, ranging from bell-towers and cathedrals to underground cave systems and strong stone fortification walls. The main attractions of the Lavra include the Great Lavra Bell-tower, a landmar k feature of the Kiev skyline, and the Dormition Cathedral – destroyed in World War II and fully reconstructed in recent years.

Other churches and cathedrals of the Lavra include: the Refectory Church, the Church of All Saints, the Church of the Saviour at Berestove, the Church of the Exaltation of Cross, the Church of the Trinity, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, the Church of the Conception of St. Anne, and the Church of the Life-Giving Spring. The Lavra also contains many other constructions, including: the St. Nicholas Monastery, the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary, and the Debosquette Wall.

The walk to the caves is along a long, steep and uneven road downhill so good walking shoes is recommended. No photography is allowed inside and you can buy a candle to light your way through the caves. Torch lights are frowned upon.

The Refectory Church, Monastery of the Caves

The Refectory Church, Monastery of the Caves

The caverns are a very complex system of narrow underground corridors (about 1-1.5 metres wide and 2-2.5 metres high) and in some spots you do have to bend a little to pass through. Because it’s a busy place, you also have to keep moving along and can’t linger around.

We are told that there are coffins of 120 monks in the caves, although these days they no longer bury monks down there. It seems that the bodies of the monks were naturally mummified and we were told that the temperature in the caves is about 15C.  We’re here in summer and it’s actually quite hot in the caves and definitely not the 15C temperature that we were told about.  It may be that with so many tourists going through the place and the burning candles, it’s got much hotter these days.

To get a adequate appreciation of the complex will require at least a half day visit and we’ve only just scratched the surface during our visit here.

See Travel Signposts Monastery of the Caves Photo Gallery HERE.

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Featured, Sightseeing Tagged With: caves monastery, dnieper river, dnieper river cruise, dormition, kiev attractions, kiev city, kiev perchersk lavra, kiev photos, kiev tourist, kiev tours, kiev travel, kyiv, kyvian rus, lavra, lavra pechersk, monastery of the caves, rus kiev, sightseeing attractions, sightseeing kiev, ukraine travel

avatar

About Helen Page

Helen Page is a prolific blogger and ardent traveller; she runs Travelsignposts with her professional writer and photographer husband Tony.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • Find a Phone Number or Phone Code in Ukraine
  • Shopping on your Ukraine Holiday
  • Livadia (White) Palace, Yalta Conference, Yalta
  • Varenyky or Pierogi – Delicious Ukrainian Dumplings
  • Swallow’s Nest or Castle of Love in Yalta

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Devon & Cornwall
  • England
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2022 ·Lifestyle Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address