© Sophia Kyivska National Reserve
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine

Stepping back in time through pictures, from the period of the Grand Princes to the present day, to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.
Designed to rival the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev symbolizes the “new Constantinople”, as the capital of the Christian principality of Kievan Rus’, founded in the eleventh century.
The thousand-year-old cathedral is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Byzantine era and retains the most complete set of authentic mosaics and frescos from the early eleventh century.
This spiritual centre of the Eastern Slavs played an essential role in the development of science, the arts and education in Ukraine and worldwide. Today it is one of Kiev’s most famous monuments and the first cultural site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List (1990).