Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople,
Kiev's Saint-Sophia Cathedral symbolizes the 'new Constantinople',
capital of the Christian principality of Kiev, which was created in the
11th century in a region evangelized after the baptism of St Vladimir in
988. The spiritual and intellectual influence of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and the Orthodox faith in
the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century.