St Michael's Cathedral, Kiev

St. Michael's Golden-Domen Cathedral is at the top of the funicular and also a short walk from St. Andrew's. Originally built by Prince Sviatopolk in 1108, this cathedral was destroyed by the Soviet regime in the mid-1930s in keeping with their anti-religion programme. The sky blue exterior and glittering golden domes are certainly stunning, even though up close it all seems a bit too new and shiny for this ancient city.

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Originally built in 1108, by Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych, the complex comprises the Cathedral itself (Mykhaylivskyi Zolotoverhyi Sobor), the refectory of St. John the Divine, built in 1713, the Economic Gates (Ekonomichna vrata), constructed in 1760 and the monastery's bell tower, which was added circa 1716–1719. The original St Michael's Cathedral was destroyed by the communist regime in the 1930s. It was rebuilt in the 1990s and reopened as a church in 2000. It has a beautiful sky blue and white exterior capped with golden domes.

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Admission is free but there is a small fee to go into the museum... and a little old lady standing outside telling oyu how great it is to go in. (You go through the museum to get to the bell tower which affords nice views acorss the square, down to St. Sophia's Cathedral).

The monastery you see today dates to 2001. The origianl which dated back considerably longer (1108) was unforgivingly torn down by the Soviets in 1937!

My Lonely Planet book says, of the museum, it 'explains the sad history of the neighbouring Tryokhsvyatytelska Church, destroyed by the Soviets in 1934' I was unable to find any explanations in English so, I shall take their word for it!

I visited the monastery late in the day when it was dark and this was a beautiful time to be there and thenight views from the tower were lovely.

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Think of churches in Kyiv and the Lavra and St. Sophia obviously spring to mind. Or maybe St. Michael's Cathedral. You wouldn't want to miss any of these but how about something completely different? There is another (modern) St. Michael's close to the Central Clinical Hospital but the pictures show its predecessor - a painted, wooden church of 1895.

St Michael's golden domed monastry is one of the most famous churches in Kyiv and absolutely stunning!. It is located on the right bank of the Dniper River and isn't far from Independence Square and St Sophia's Cathedral. The monastry was originally built in 1713 but was destroyed by the soviets many years later. Following Ukraine's Independence in 1991 the monastry was rebuilt in 1999 and has since become one of the most famous landmarks in Kyiv.

There are some lovely gardens around the back of the Cathedral where you can have a stroll around or sit and absorb the atmosphere.

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St. Michael Cathedral is a functioning monastery which was designed during Byzantine and Baroque periods.

No matter when I visit it, there is always service. You have to be quite, women cover their hair and just stand there and observe the traditions.

St. Michael the Archangel of Kyiv
St. Michael Golden Domes Cathedral in Kiev was an outstanding architectural esemble erected by Sviatopolk, a grandson of Yaroslav the Wise in 1108-1113. During communist dictatorship St. Michael Cathedral was barbarously destroyed in 1935.
It was finally reconstructed in late 1990s.

Visit St Michael Cathedral. It was rebuild couple of years ago.
Everything is golden. Too much gold I would say

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St. Michael's Cathedral (Mikhaylovsky Gold Domed Monastery) was originally built in 1113, but have been rebuilt many times. It is in my opinion one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe.