About Chernihiv

The oldest section in Chernihiv is the Val, a shady series of park-like spaces perched above the Desna River. The Val is littered with churches, most dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries, when Chernihiv was the wealthy capital of a huge principality.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the XI century was ordered by prince Mstyslav, Chernihiv’s golden age ruler. Back then it was a major social center, these days, and especially on summer season it’s a dim, cool, gorgeous place.

You will easily recognize the Cathedral because of its Golden towers resembled up-ended ice-cream cones.  The Cathedral is located immediately next to the Cathedral of Sts. Boris and Hleb.

You’ll also want to see the Cathedral of Sts. Boris and Hleb (Borisohlebsky Cathedral). It was built in the 12th century and belongs to the oldest cathedrals in Europe. It’s a great example of the famous Chernihiv architecture of the period, and now a museum. Several renovations took place after severe pillages in the 13th and 17th century and also after World War Second.

The Collegium was built in the early 18th century and was one of the first secular learning establishments in the region. The students were mostly sons of priests and Kozak officials who learned general education. During the rule of Catherine II of Russia, the school was turned into a theological seminary, which it remained until its closing in 1917. Nowadays the building houses a little museum. It resembles a vertically elongated wedding-cake. 

Dytynets (Fortress) is located on the site of settlements dating to the beginning of the first millennium. From the 7th century, these early settlements grew into a succession of fortified towns. By the early 12th century Dytynets was a mighty fortress containing royal chambers and living quarters of the boyars.  Today the Dytynets is called the M. Kotsyubynsky Central park of culture and recreation.

Twelve cast-iron cannons of the 18th centuries were presented by Petr the First, as a sign of heroism Chernihiv’s Cossacks in the struggle against the Swedish army.  This is a good place to take a stroll and look at the famous sightseeing of the Val.

St. Catherine Church was built between 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. It is used to be a symbol of Chernihiv. The Church is built in Ukrainian Baroque style by Yakov Lisogub, representatives of Cossacks. The museum of Ukrainian decorative arts is located here.

Troisko-Ilyinsky Monastery (1069) was founded by Antoniy Pechersky, who also founded the famous Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. One of Chernihiv’s best sights is the St. Anthony monastic cave complex. The largest underground church in Ukraine is located in Antoniy caves, which are 316 meters long. The monastery also has Ilyinska church, Troitsky Cathedral was constructed in Ukrainian Baroque stile in the second half of the 17th century, Vvedenska church with the refectory, 58 meter Bell-tower and cells. The Bell Tower was built between 1774 and 1778. The yellow white tower can be climbed for magnificent views of Chernihiv and the Troitsky Cathedral.

Troisko-Ilyinsky Monastery is located on the highest place in the city called Boldyn Hill.

One of the most famous pagan mounds of the Old Russian time is The Black tomb (X century), corner of Proletarska and Vorovska Streets. According to the legend, the prince-founder of Chernihiv was buried there.

About Chernihiv

Chernihiv is one of the most ancient cities in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv region. The current population is around 295,500 (as of 2004). Best place to visit for tourists who are interested in historical monuments and ancient sights. Chernogiv is famous for its monasteries, cathedrals and other ancient buildings.

History
Chernihiv was first mentioned in chronicles in 907, but is considered to have existed at least in the 9th century, as uncovered by archeological excavations of a settlement which included the artifacts from the Khazar Khaganate. Towards the end of the 10th century, the city probably had its own rulers. The famous Black Grave, one of the largest and earliest royal mounds in Eastern Europe, was excavated these in the 19th century.

The city was the second in importance and wealth in the southern part of the Kiev Rus. In the early 11th century it became the heart of powerful Grand Principality of Chernigov, whose rulers at times vied for power with Kievan Grand Princes, and often overthrew them and took the primary seat in Kiev for themselves. The grand principality was the largest in Kievskaya Rus and included not only the Severian towns but even such remote regions as Murom, Ryazan and Tmutarakan. The golden age of Chernigov, when the city population peaked at 25,000, lasted until 1239 when the city was occupied by Batu Khan hords, which started a long period of relative obscurity.

The area fell under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1353. The city was seizes again by Crimean khan Meli I Giray in 1482 and 1497 and in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries it changed hands several times between Lithuania, Muscovy (1408–1420 and from 1503), and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1618–1648), where it was granted Magdeburg rights in 1623 and in 1635 became a seat of Czernihiv Voivodship. The area's importance increased again in the middle of the seventeenth century during and after the Khmelnytsky Uprising. In the Hetman State Chernihiv was the city of deployment of Chernihiv Cossack regiment (both a military and territorial unit of the time).

Downtown
Chernihiv's architectural monuments chronicle two most flourishing periods in the city's history - those of Kievan Rus (11th and 12th centuries) and of the Cossack Hetmanate (late 17th and early 18th centuries). The Saviour Cathedral of Chernihiv (1030s) is the oldest in Ukraine. Marble pillars of the Savior Cathedral provide the only glimpse to the Byzantine opulence of the original 1036 interior.The 5-domed Saviour Cathedral, commissioned in the early 1030s by Mstislav the Bold and completed several decades later by his brother, Yaroslav the Wise. The Cathedral of Sts Boris and Gleb, dating from the mid-12th century, was much rebuilt in succeeding periods, before being restored to its original shape in the 20th century. Built in brick, it has a single dome and six pillars. The crowning achievement of Chernigov masters was the exquisite Church of St Paraskeba (Pyatnitskaya), constructed at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. This graceful building was seriously damaged in the Second World War; its original medieval outlook was reconstructed to a design by Peter Baranovsky.

The earliest residential buildings in the downtown date from the late 17th century, a period when a Cossack regiment was deployed there. Two most representative residences are those of Polkovnyk Lyzohub (1690s) and Polkovnyk Polubutok (1700s). The former mansion, popularly known as the Mazeppa House, used to contain the regiment's chancellery. One of the most profusely decorated Cossack structures is undoubtedly the ecclesiastical collegium, surmounted by a bell-tower (1702). The archbishop's residence was constructed nearby in the 1780s. St Catherine Church (1715), with its 5 gilded pear domes, traditional for Ukrainian architecture, is thought to have been intended as a memorial to the regiment's exploits during the assault of Azov in 1696.

Monasteries
All through the most trying periods of its history, Chernigov retained its ecclesiastical importance as the seat of bishopric or archbishopric. At the outskirts of the modern city lie two ancient cave monasteries, formerly used as the bishops' residences.

Eletsky monastery cathedral was modeled after that of Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Thre is a contrast between its austere 12th-century walls and baroque 17th-century domes. The caves of the Eletsky Monastery are said to predate those of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Its magnificent 6-pillared cathedral was erected at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries; some traces of its 750-year-old murals may still be seen in the interior. After the domes collapsed in 1611, they were augmented and reconstructed in the Ukrainian baroque style. The wall, monastic cells, and bell-tower all date from the 17th century. The nearby mother superior's house is thought to be the oldest residential building in the Left-Bank Ukraine. The cloister's holiest icon used to be that of Theotokos, who made her epiphany to Svyatoslav of Chernigov on February 6, 1060. The icon, called Eletskaya after the fir wood it was painted upon, was taken to Moscow by Svyatoslav's descendants - Princes Boryatinsky - in 1579.

The nearby cave monastery of St Elijah and the Holy Trinity features a small eponymous church, which was constructed 800 years ago. The roomy Trinity cathedral, one of the most imposing monuments of the Cossack baroque, was erected between 1679 and 1689. Its refectory, with the adjoining church of Presentation to the Temple, was finished by 1679. There are also the 17th-century towered walls, monastic cells, and the 5-tiered belfry from the 1780s.