HOME | DD

Description
Location: Kyiv (Kiev) Ukraine

Flor's Ascension Convent

This is the only Convent (Female Monastary) in Kyiv. I accidentally wandered into it, and was soon gently ushered out. But I was allowed to enter the main church before leaving. (without my camera)

The Ascension Convent in the Kievan neighbourhood of Podil, also known as the Florivsky, originated in the 16th century as the wooden church of Sts. Florus and Laurus. Its buildings occupy the slopes of the Zamkova Hora. Address: vulytsia Frolivska, 8.

The convent greatly expanded at the time of the Great Northern War, when Peter the Great ordered the demolition of the old Ascension Convent on Pechersk Hill with the aim of building an arsenal there. When run by Ivan Mazepa's mother, the older convent had amassed much property. Its riches and nuns were transferred to the Florovsky Convent.

The main church, or katholikon, is a notable example of Ukrainian Baroque architecture. Its first stone was laid in 1722. Ten years later, the three-domed building was dedicated to the feast of the Ascension of Christ. Its Neoclassical bell-tower is of later construction.

The wooden buildings of the monastery were entirely destroyed by fire in 1811. Only the katholikon and a 17th-century refectory were left standing amid the ashes. It was Andrey Melensky, a Neoclassical architect from Kiev, who was in charge of the convent's reconstruction.

The convent's notable residents included Princess Natalia Dolgorukova, one of the first Russian women writers. It was closed in 1929 but reopened after the Germans entered the city in 1941.

The Nazi invaders gave a permission to find the support among the population. The nuns were constantly under risk. When the underground workers secretly brought hungry children to the monastery the nuns looked after them and helped to survive. After the war a lot of rescued children returned to thank the nuns. When the Nazi invaders were forced to leave the city they were trying to throw the nuns out of the place. During the battles for Kiev the nuns hid and protected the Kiev inhabitants.

Description
Location: Kyiv (Kiev) Ukraine

Flor's Ascension Convent

This is the only Convent (Female Monastary) in Kyiv. I accidentally wandered into it, and was soon gently ushered out. But I was allowed to enter the main church before leaving. (without my camera)

The Ascension Convent in the Kievan neighbourhood of Podil, also known as the Florivsky, originated in the 16th century as the wooden church of Sts. Florus and Laurus. Its buildings occupy the slopes of the Zamkova Hora. Address: vulytsia Frolivska, 8.

The convent greatly expanded at the time of the Great Northern War, when Peter the Great ordered the demolition of the old Ascension Convent on Pechersk Hill with the aim of building an arsenal there. When run by Ivan Mazepa's mother, the older convent had amassed much property. Its riches and nuns were transferred to the Florovsky Convent.

The main church, or katholikon, is a notable example of Ukrainian Baroque architecture. Its first stone was laid in 1722. Ten years later, the three-domed building was dedicated to the feast of the Ascension of Christ. Its Neoclassical bell-tower is of later construction.

The wooden buildings of the monastery were entirely destroyed by fire in 1811. Only the katholikon and a 17th-century refectory were left standing amid the ashes. It was Andrey Melensky, a Neoclassical architect from Kiev, who was in charge of the convent's reconstruction.

The convent's notable residents included Princess Natalia Dolgorukova, one of the first Russian women writers. It was closed in 1929 but reopened after the Germans entered the city in 1941.

The Nazi invaders gave a permission to find the support among the population. The nuns were constantly under risk. When the underground workers secretly brought hungry children to the monastery the nuns looked after them and helped to survive. After the war a lot of rescued children returned to thank the nuns. When the Nazi invaders were forced to leave the city they were trying to throw the nuns out of the place. During the battles for Kiev the nuns hid and protected the Kiev inhabitants.