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Before the communists there were Christians and before there were Christians there were pagans. In about 1000 AD the lords of Kiev adopted Christianity and built the first Christian Church. They went to Constantinople for advice and came back and copied what they saw, including the name: Hagia Sophia. That grew and grew until a very impressive compound existed. Many hundreds of years later the communists came. Not liking religion — it was the opiate of the masses — they tore down many of the churches. Sometimes they offered plausible sounding reasons and sometimes, when they thought they could get away with being ruthless, they were ruthless. If anything good is to be said about them, it is that some of the finer churches were spared to become museums. Such was the case of the oldest, already mentioned.

Since 1991 and the fall of communism the churches are being reborn. In many places in the city the paint still seems fresh. And in many others it has not yet even been applied. On Sundays and holy days the churches are filled. We marvelled at the unexpected bounty of art. If you are familiar with Fabergé eggs, with their exquisite detailed art, you can imagine what the finest of these churches is like. Wonderful. Here are one or two photos of them that we hope you like and that we hope will convince you to pay Kiev a visit yourself.

Cathedral Museum of Hagia Sophia

Sadly we can't bring you photos of the interior of this lovely old church as they weren't allowed and anyway the lighting was too dark even for Gerry's camera which has no flash. It is a lovely church and we're glad it was preserved, but think its magic would be enhanced by restoring it to its original use.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

St. Volodimir's church

This was Jan's favorite church interior. It positively glowed. We were fortunate to happen into the church during a special ceremony that may have been the orthodox church's palm Sunday. We got to see the metropolitan (probably equivalent to a bishop) in all his brocaded glory presiding over a mass in a balustrade area in the nave of the church.

St. Volodimir's church

St. Volodimir's church

St. Volodimir's church

Saint Mikhail's Church

We have all seen the roofline of the Kremlin with the lovely onion domes of St. Basil's. Well, Kiev has its own onion domes, quite a lot of them, and they always looked lovely whether from near or far. The two churches closest to our apartments, St. Mikhail's and the Cathedral Museum of Santa Sophia were no exceptions.

Saint Mikhail's Church

Saint Mikhail's Church

Saint Mikhail's Church

Perchersky Church

This old church compound up on the bluffs above the Dnieper river could be seen from afar and always delighted. The compound itself was very interesting and we spent a pleasant afternoon here.

Perchersky Church

Perchersky Church

St. Andrevsky Church

This was Gerry's favorite Kievan church. The lovely deep green domes and exquisite interior, rich with oil paintings were a joy to behold. Once again we chose to visit during Sunday mass to see the church as it is meant to be used with all the pomp and circumstance that the orthodox church employs. Part of the service involved being greeted by the Metropolitan himself.

St. Andrevsky Church

St. Andrevsky Church

St. Andrevsky Church

Churches in Podil district

These lovely old churches were closed when we visited the district so we have no idea what they were like inside. But the outside we found charming and quite different from the elaborate onion-domed churches elsewhere in the city.

Podil district

Podil district