Looking from St Sophia’s past the Bohdan Khmelnytsky statue, it’s impossible to ignore the gold-domed blue church at the other end of proyizd Volodymyrsky. This is St Michael’s, named after Kyiv’s patron saint. As the impossibly shiny cupolas imply, this is a fresh (2001) copy of the original (1108), which was torn down by the Soviets in 1937. The church’s fascinating history is explained in great detail (in Ukrainian and English placards) in a museum in the monastery’s bell tower.Originally built in the Middle Ages by Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych,the monastery comprises the Cathedral itself, the Refectory of St. John the Divine, built in 1713, the Economic Gates, constructed in 1760 and the monastery’s bell tower, which was added c. 1716–1719. The exterior of the structure was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 18th century while the interior remained in its original Byzantine style. The original cathedral was demolished by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, but was reconstructed and opened in 1999 following Ukrainian independence in 1991.
