Last week saw the beginning of the preservation of the foundation of the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin (a.k.a. Church of the Tithes). Taciturn workers are taking measurements under the guidance of archeologists. It will be recalled that the Church of the Tithes was built in 989-996 by Prince Volodymyr who allotted a tenth (tithe) of his incomes for this – hence is the name. This legendary story continues today – present-day Kyivites are raising funds for tracing the monument’s foundations. Moreover, the work itself began on the initiative of the capital’s community as part of the joint-action social project “Let’s do it together.”
“ALL WE CAN DO IS TRACE”
“When we were cleaning up Peizazhna Alley in April this year, we came up to the fence around the Church of the Tithes’ foundations and saw a very neglected area,” says Maryna Soloviova, head of the nongovernmental organization Andriivsko-Peizazhna Initiative and manager of the Church of the Tithe territory gentrification project. “We debated at length on how to change the situation. Finally, Andriivsko-Peizazhna Initiative requested the Ministry of Culture, the Kyiv City Administration, the National Museum of Ukrainian History, and the Presidential Administration to allow it to prepare a project report on preserving and tracing the foundations of the Church of Tithes. All the organizations supported this initiative. Soon after, the project report was submitted to the Kyiv City Administration, and coordinating actions began. The foundation tracing pattern was mapped out in conjunction with the Institute of Archeology of Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences. Hlib Ivakin, who had supervised excavations of the Church of the Tithes in 2005-11, approved this plan. Then the activists were officially allowed to begin gentrification, and specialists started to handle the foundation the other day.
The foundation walls of the Church of the Tithes are now preserved under a layer of sand and clay. Some more of these materials will be delivered to the compound to reinforce the “coat” that protects the monument. Then the foundations’ contours will be traced with stones. The tracing will stand 15-20 centimeters over the ground. The project report, drawn up together with archeologists, includes 10th- and 12th-century foundations. The activists want them to be faced with multicolored masonry and supplied with explanatory plaques. There will be a lawn between the foundations.
It is planned to finish the work in three months. “There were several opinions about the future of the Church of the Tithes. A few years ago there was an idea to put up 15-meter piles with a stone plate on top of them and thus re-create the temple. This runs counter to all charters and conventions on cultural heritage protection because there’s been no photograph or design of the monument left. All we can do is trace the foundation’s remnants,” Soloviova emphasizes.
KIOSKS WILL BE SHIFTED FROM THE CHURCH
The ambitious project costs an estimated 800,000 hryvnias. Andriivska-Peizazhna Initiative has opened a special account onto which all those who wish can remit funds. Now there is about 28,000 hryvnias on this account. Soloviova promises that, when work is finished on the monument’s territory, a plaque will be put up with the names of all those who took part in preserving the foundation walls.
Local authorities are also helping the activists. Oleh Hariaha, Chairman of Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Administration, comments: “The authorities have a lot of urgent things to do every day, so we needed a manager who could take up this project, come into contact with all the governmental bodies, etc. Maryna Soloviova became this manager. As a district, we are highly interested in such historic places being re-created and attracting tourists. We will help this project by supplying the equipment. I also personally promised Soloviova to remit a part of my salary for tracing the foundations.” Hariaha points out that the shopping area next to the monument will be put in order shortly. This will make it possible to reopen the central entrance from the steps to the Church of the Tithes. As for the shopkeepers, there will be an official City Administration instruction. Officials have also talked to the entrepreneurs who will have to give way – they seem to be ready to look for a different place.
The external view of the temple is still open to question. Oleksii Reznikov, Deputy Mayor of Kyiv, Secretary of the Kyiv Council, and member of the supervisory board of the project “Let’s do it together,” suggests enclosing the historic place with a glass fence. In his view, this will delineate better the monument’s bounds, and winds will carry less garbage to the compound. But there will be free access to the foundation walls. Soloviova is convinced that there should be no fences. So, this question is under discussion.
HISTORY IS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYBODY
Specialists and officials in various agencies stress the importance of the project and say that tracing is a nice idea. Yakiv Dikhtiar, chief of the Immoveable Cultural Heritage and Preserves Protection Directorate at Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, says: “The Church of the Tithes is a very significant object for Kyiv and Ukraine, for it was the first brick church in Kyivan Rus’. The monument was examined more than once, and interesting artifacts were always found. The foundations were preserved after the latest archeological work, but this makes it possible to quickly remove the ground and continue the research. But, maybe, it would be a good idea to leave everything as it is, preserved, for our descendants. People should see where the church was located and how majestic it was. What pleases me is that the preservation and tracing project is the initiative of a nongovernmental organization. Our ministry has helped in what we could. We found the foundation examination drawings, and activists, together with the Institute of Archeology, chartered them. What is left to do is to put this into practice.”
The compound, where the Church of the Tithes used to stand, with or without a fence, should be accessible to everybody, Reznikov believes. “Tracing the church’s foundations will let anybody imagine what the underground foundation walls really are,” Reznikov says. “It may take twenty years to discuss whether to restore the temple here, what it should be like, or whether to establish a museum. But, thanks to our project, our descendants will be able to know what used to be at the place of the Church of the Tithes. It is a sacral and a most important place in Kyiv.” Incidentally, tracing the Church of the Tithes’ foundations is only one of the projects of Kyiv officials and the initiative “Let’s do it together.” Some other projects will be carried out later.
You can support the project “Preservation of the Excavations of the Holy Virgin’s Church (the Church of the Tithes) Foundations” by remitting money with due account of the following details:
Recipient’s name: NGO Andriivsko-Peizazhna Initiative
Current account: 38404873
Bank: 26000550229103
MFO: UkrSibBank LLC
Purpose of payment: 351005 charitable contribution.
