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5/13/2009
Ch 207K Church in Kiev Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv
I obtained a print from engraving made by professional artist Richard Britell who was an college house mate at Syracuse University in 1965. I'd wanted something from those co-op days and he suggested this would be appropriate as described it in his blog .
Richard's engraving was inspired by a black and white photo he had found by chance at a vacant apartment prior to his interview at our co-op. The only thing he knew was the simple label"Kiev" . Perhaps he was drawn to the image by the closeness of contrasting values; light and dark, good and evil, beauty and beast. This site was developed a thousand years ago, but Google Earth opened a whole new world of information regarding this scene.
The wide dome on the left is the Cathedral of St Antoniy and Fedosiy with adjoining refectory church or monastery dining hall in the Pecherska Lavra. On the right are the remnants of the Dormition Cathedral destroyed by Russian mines November 3, 1941 as part of Stalin's scorched earth policy after the German Army over took the city. The last remaining alleged Nazi criminal collaborator, Ukrainian John Ivan Demjanjuk , is currently facing trial in Germany after deportation from the US.
The prominent Great Lavra Bell Tower on the left anchors this beautiful site and overlooks the gold domes of the Dormition Cathedral and the scene engraved in the co-op. The Dormition was rebuilt in 1998 by this now independent country of Ukraine, freed in 1991 from prior USSR domination.
Rare video Kyiv under German occupation. Terrible pictures of ruins of buildings after the explosion by the Soviet authorities. Scenes of criminal destruction of the Soviet army's Cathedral of the Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. 1941.
Pete and I viewed some Britell paintings at the lovely Carrie Hadad Gallery in Hudson but ended up as we usually do.
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