St Sophia of Kyiv is founded
The metropolitan cathedral of Kyiv, dedicated like the great church of Constantinople to Holy Wisdom, was built by architects from Constantinople as a five-aisled church with thirteen domes and galleries, adorned with mosaics and frescoes. The Primary Chronicle dates its foundation to 1037, on the field of Yaroslav’s victory over the Pechenegs; the Novgorod First Chronicle gives 1017, and some historians date its construction to 1011–1018.
- Date
- between 1011 and 1037exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- St Sophia Cathedral, Kyivtoday: Saint Sophia of Kyiv national reserve, Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Yaroslav the Wise, Kievan Rus’, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Rus (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Saint Sophia Cathedral; Sophia of Kyiv; St Sophia of Kiev; Virgin Orans; Софийский собор; София Киевская; Нерушимая Стена
The date of the foundation is disputed. The Primary Chronicle records under 1037 that Yaroslav laid out the ‘great city’ with the Golden Gate and founded the church of St Sophia, the metropolitan see, and under 1036 that the battle with the Pechenegs had been fought on the very spot, then a field outside the town. The Novgorod First Chronicle gives 1017, and Thietmar of Merseburg mentions in 1017–1018 a monastery of St Sophia in Kyiv, the residence of the metropolitan, where the archbishop received Bolesław I in August 1018. On this evidence and on that of the oldest dated graffiti in the cathedral, from 1018 to 1036, Nadezhda Nikitenko and V. V. Kornienko argue that it was built in 1011–1018, at the turn of the reigns of Vladimir and Yaroslav. The date 1011 has been adopted by UNESCO and the Ukrainian government; many historians keep to the chronicle.
The cathedral, about 29 metres high, had five aisles, thirteen domes rising in a pyramid around the central one, and an inner two-storey and an outer one-storey gallery; it has no close parallel in Byzantine architecture of the time. Inside survive about 260 square metres of mosaics, with the Virgin Orans in the conch of the main apse, and some 3,000 square metres of frescoes, including a group portrait traditionally identified as Yaroslav’s family (Nadezhda Nikitenko sees in it the family of Vladimir). More than 7,000 graffiti of the 11th–18th centuries have been found on its walls, among them a note on Yaroslav’s death in 1054. Yaroslav was buried here in a marble sarcophagus, and his son Vsevolod in 1093. Rebuilt in the Baroque style from the 17th century onwards, St Sophia has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.
Connections
Related events
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolialike the cathedral of Constantinople, the cathedral of Kyiv was dedicated to Holy Wisdom
- Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europethe first stone church of Kyiv, built for Vladimir by Greek masters in 989–996
- Reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv1019 – 20 February 1054 · Eastern Europe
- Hilarion, the first metropolitan of Kyiv from Rus’1051 … February 1052 · Eastern EuropeHilarion was installed in St Sophia
Same participants
- Battle of Kleidion and the conquest of Bulgaria29 July 1014 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- The war of Vladimir’s sons (1015–1019) and the murder of Boris and Gleb15 July 1015 – 1019 · Eastern Europevia Yaroslav the Wise
- The Pravda of Yaroslav, the oldest part of the Russkaya Pravdabetween 1016 and 1039 · Eastern Europevia Yaroslav the Wise
Same place
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
- Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
- Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
- Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europe
- Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe
- The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Balkans and Anatolia
- Battle of Kleidion and the conquest of Bulgaria29 July 1014
Middle East and Egypt
- Ibn Sina's ‘Canon of Medicine’between 1020 and 1025
- The caliphate of al-Mustansir and the ‘Mustansirite hardship’13 June 1036 – 29 December 1094
Africa
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
- The Almoravids: from a desert reform movement to an empirebetween 1039 and 1046 – 1147
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
Central and Northern Asia
- Al-Biruni writes his Indiabetween 1030 and 1031
- Reign of Mahmud of Ghazni998 – 30 April 1030
South Asia
- Mahmud of Ghazni’s raid on Somnath18 October 1025 – 2 April 1026
- Reign of Rajendra I Chola1014–1044
- The Kandariya Mahadeva temple is built at Khajurahobetween 1017 and 1050
- Rajaraja I completes the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur1010
East Asia
- Battle of Gwiju: Goryeo routs the Khitan army10 March 1019
- Li Yuanhao proclaims the Great Xia (Western Xia)10 November 1038
- Murasaki Shikibu writes The Tale of Genjic. 1000 – c. 1012
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Rajendra I’s naval expedition against Kadaram and Srivijayac. 1025
- Reign of Suryavarman I at Angkorbetween 1002 and 1010 – between 1049 and 1050
- Airlangga restores the kingdom of East Java1019–1037
- Lý Thái Tổ moves the capital to Thăng Longbetween August and September 1010
- Polynesians settle the Society Islandsbetween 1025 and 1120
North America
- Pueblo II: stone pueblos and the Chaco worldc. 900 – c. 1150
- Classic Mimbres: the painted bowls of the Mogollonc. 1000 – between 1130 and 1150
- Plum Bayou Mounds: a planned ceremonial centre in the Arkansas valleyc. 650 – c. 1050
Latin America
- Tula and the Toltecs: the leading city of central Mexicoc. 900 – c. 1150
- Middle Sicán: the Lambayeque culture at its height at Batán Grandec. 900 – c. 1100
- Collapse of Tiwanakuc. 1000 – c. 1150
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv
- Wikipedia (Russian): Софийский собор (Киев)
- Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.
- Лазарев В. Н. Мозаики Софии Киевской. — М.: Искусство, 1960.