Kyiv’s Saint Sophia older than believed, scholars say

The Tale of Bygone Years says that Kyiv’s Saint Sophia was built in 1037, in commemoration of Prince Yaroslav the Wise’s victory over the Pechenegs. Ukrainian historians recently established, however, that the cathedral was actually built earlier, in 1011, under Volodymyr the Great. Nadia Nikitenko, head of the Department for Historical Research at the Kyiv Sophia National Historical Preserve, says evidence of this are the graffiti discovered by researchers in St. Basil frescoes. Yaroslav’s father was baptized under this name.

Says Nelia Kukovalska, the preserve’s director: “The inscriptions date from 1022. If you subtract from this date the time needed apply the finishing touches to the structure, frescoes, and complex mosaic patterns, you will get the year 1011. So far no scholars specializing in Byzantine history, including those in Moscow and St. Petersburg, have refuted our assumption, although certain scholars at our Institute of Archaeology are skeptical, but haven’t been able to produce any evidence to the contrary. We recenty received a package of documents from UNESCO that confirm our finding that the cathedral was actually built in 1011. They suggest that we consider the possibility of celebrating the Saint Sophia’s millennium anniversary, for there is not much time left before the year 2011 comes.”

The Historical Preserve’s administration does not yet have a plan for festivities. A dramatized event involving Princes Volodymyr the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, and Princess Anna may take place on the preserve’s territory. At present, the scholars are busy with obtaining international recognition of their discovery and conveying to our society the idea that Ukrainian history has many mysteries to be solved.

COMMENTARY

Serhii KOT, Ph.D. (History), senior research fellow, Institute of History, Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences:

“We receive new historical data at every stage of our progress. Knowledge of culture means not only studying and discovering new historic sites — it also includes new facts about familiar relics. The discovery of the sensational graffiti on the walls of the Saint Sophia Cathedral allows a number of scholars to insist that this cathedral was built considerably earlier than previously believed. It will be some time, however, before this discovery becomes an internationally recognized fact, when everybody agrees that yes, this cathedral was built in 1011.

“This will force us to take a fresh look at the chronicle and the processes that took place in Kyivan Rus’ and its culture. If the assumption about the earlier date of the construction of Saint Sophia is finally proved, we will have to revise quite a few concepts related to the historical events and culture of the time.

“On the other hand, the cathedral is interesting in that its frescoes contain not only elements of canonical Christian images but also the characters and clothes that have an applied ethnographic character. Those who painted these frescoes depicted the people in the street and their outfits. This points to the high level of Kyivan Rus’ culture, for these frescoes were obviously made not by foreign artists commissioned to do so, but by representatives of a solid local school of art. It is important for us to realize that such dates are proved older than we assumed, certain processes began considerably earlier than we previously believed.”