The Architecture of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kyiv: Uniqueness and Universality in Historical Cultural Spaces

Abstract

The Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kyiv (from the beginning of 11th c.) is the largest, most complicated, most monumental architectural object that cross-links the Ukrainian architecture stylistic experience of all times. The purpose of the study is to identify the contemporary understanding and the multifaceted cultural content of this monument, which combines the logic of thinking of medieval Byzantium and the traditions of local pagan constructions, as well as European Baroque fashion in its regional variability. The square outside the cathedral was invariably fundamental to state-building cultural events, but its context also varied in each era according to urban fashion. Uniqueness and universality are combined in this building, creating endless space to reveal its cultural content. The new interpretation of this content in every scientific generation enriches and broadens the understanding of this object itself as well as hidden inside of it the genesis of the monumental architecture style-formation phenomenon’s in its historical and contemporary dimension. The publication demonstrates an up-to-date interpretation of the understanding of the content and form of Saint Sophia Cathedral. This is, in some meaning, a demonstration of the current state of development of Ukrainian fundamental science, which cannot have definitive answers to “eternal” questions, but aims to approach scientific truth through permanent refinements of knowledge. The article defines the planning, constructive, three-dimensional compositional, artistic-aesthetic and figurative characteristics of Sophia Kyiv’s architecture. There is also developed an innovative analysis of the genesis and sacral sense of Cathedral’s architecture based on the author’s original definition of archetypal (basic, initial) semantic models of world temples formed in different geographical and religious contexts. Cultural mutual influences and historical changes in the architecture of the monument are also noted. In the field of historical building experience, the acoustic features of Saint Sophia Cathedral are noted, which remain relevant in the modern design of temples. In conclusion, it is resulted that the Cathedral of Sophia in Kyiv is an outstanding example of combining the continental traditions of sacral construction of the Pre-Class Age with the context of the achievements of the monumental experience of Christian antique and Byzantine architecture. Sophia Cathedral, as the most monumental ideological achievement of the Kyivan Rus’ state, reflects the merger of these two lines, two traditions. That is why this monument is of utmost importance for deepening understanding of the evolution of Ukrainian and world architecture. In addition, the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kyiv became the basis for further historical forms of Ukrainian Orthodox temple construction – both folk (wooden multi-tower churches) and stylistic professional monumental architecture (Ukrainian temples of the Renaissance and Baroque, Art Nouveau). Therefore, we consider that the Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv is a key object for the scientific study of the development of Ukrainian architecture.