Opening of St. Michael's Cathedral

March 29, 1998, Kyiv.

Video of the opening of the rebuilt St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and the head of the Kyiv City Council Oleksandr Omelchenko cut the ribbon, a solemn procession, Kuchma lays the capsule. Present at the opening: Head of the National Bank of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko (1993-2000); Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine (1995-2018).

For reference: St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery was founded in 1108 by Prince Sviatopolk Izyaslavych of Kyiv, grandson of Yaroslav the Wise. It was second only to the Kyiv Cave Monastery in popularity among pilgrims.

The majestic monastery complex, which included St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, stood for more than eight centuries, but in the 1930s it was barbarically destroyed and looted by the Bolshevik authorities. After the transfer of the capital of Ukraine from Kharkiv to Kyiv, more than 30 churches were destroyed in five years, and in total, more than 200 religious buildings were destroyed during the years of the communist regime.

Many of the monastery's unique frescoes ended up in special storage facilities in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).