St. Volodymyr Cathedral

St. Volodymyr's Cathedral is another one of Kiev's major landmarks and the "Mother Cathedral" of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchy. One of two major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, it is, however, viewed, uncanocical by the Eastern Orthodox Communion. It is one of the three greatest Orthodox churches built in the 19th century, on par with St Isaac's in St Petersburg and Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

In 1852, metropolitan Philaret of Moscow suggested a large cathedral should be built in Kiev to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Rus. People from all over the Russian Empire started donating to this cause, so that by 1859 the cathedral fund had amassed a huge sum of 100,000 rubles. The Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) produced 1 million bricks and donated them to the cathedral as well. The design was executed in a delightful Byzantine style by architects Ivan Schtrom and Alexander Beretti. Being stymied by numerous technical problems, the construction work lagged on for three decades. On August 20, 1896, the cathedral was finally consecrated to St Volodymyr in the presence of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna.