St. George's Cathedral, Kaniv

St. George's Cathedral
Dormition Cathedral
Location	Kaniv
Address	Heroiv Nebesnoi Sotni Street, 62[1]
Country	Ukraine
Denomination	Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Previous denomination	Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
Architecture
Years built	1144 (original) 1805–1810 (reconstruction)
Immovable Monument of National Significance of Ukraine
Official name	Успенський (Георгіївський) собор (Dormition (St. George's) Cathedral)
Type	Archaeology, History
Reference no.	230014-Н
Immovable Monument of National Significance of Ukraine
Official name	Успенський собор (Dormition Cathedral)
Type	Architecture
Reference no.	230065

Dormition St. George's Cathedral (Ukrainian: Успенський собор Святого Георгія) or St. George's Cathedral (Ukrainian: Георгіївський собор) is a church in Kaniv, Ukraine, originally built in the pre-Mongol period, making it the oldest building in Cherkasy Oblast.[2][3]

History

An underground monastery may have existed in Kaniv in 1090s.[3] However, the first church of the city, St. George's Cathedral, was built in 1144. The construction was carried out by the order of Vsevolod II during the Kievan Rus' era. It was damaged in 1240 during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. The cathedral stood partially ruined until its limited restoration in the 16th century when Kaniv was under the Cossack Hetmanate. During the Cossack period, the church was turned into a monastery.[4] The cathedral was burned and damaged during a Crimean Tatar raid on September 4, 1678.[3] St. George's Cathedral was rebuilt in 1805–1810 in a neoclassicist style, incorporating parts of the original building. The cathedral belonged to the Order of Saint Basil until 1833, when it was returned to the Orthodox church.[1] In 1846 it was re-consecrated as the Dormition Cathedral.[4] In 1861, Taras Shevchenko's remains were stored in the cathedral for two days before his re-burial on the Monk's Hill nearby.[5]

The Dormition Cathedral was closed in 1935 under the Soviet Union and turned into a storehouse. Restoration works were carried out in 1966–1970, after which the building became a museum of folk art. After the independence of Ukraine, the ownership of the cathedral was transferred to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.[4] In 2003, the executive committee of the Kaniv City Council allowed UOC-MP to extend the ownership. In 2024, the court ruled that the privatization of the building was illegal, and the cathedral was transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine soon after.[6]

Architecture

St. George's Cathedral has one dome, three naves, six columns, and three apses. The walls of the Kievan Rus' period are made of brick, but are plastered from both inside and outside.[4] The original cathedral is of the Byzantine type, while later additions introduce neoclassicist elements to the building.[3] Two rectangular sections of the wall are devoid of plaster on the outside to demonstrate the original brick structure, similarly to the walls of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv or the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv.

Gallery

• 
  Front view
• 
  Side view. Note the two exposed parts of the original wall.
• 
  The cathedral complex from above
• 
  Front door
• 
  Interior

References

1. Канів. Місця Сили. [Kaniv. Places of Power.]. Knyazha Hora (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 10 February 2025.
2. Andrii, Kushchenko (14 August 2024). До ПЦУ перейшов найстаріший собор Черкащини [The oldest cathedral of Cherkasy Oblast transferred to OCU]. Patriot Donbasu (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 10 February 2025.
3. Успенський собор до Канева “приплив по Дніпру” із Царгорода [The Dormition Cathedral "swam along the Dnieper" to Kaniv from Constantinople]. Pro Vse (in Ukrainian). 7 June 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
4. Vecherskyi, Victor (6 April 2020). Успенський (Георгіївський) собор у Каневі [Dormition (St. George's) Cathedral in Kaniv]. Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 10 February 2025.
5. Malyon, Oleksandr (4 August 2023). Тисячолітній Успенський собор у Каневі опинився у приватній власності УПЦ МП [Thousand-years-old Dormition Cathedral in Kaniv ended up in the private ownership of UOC-MP]. Ukrinform (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 10 February 2025.
6. Успенський собор в Каневі належить українському народу, – рішення Верховного Суду [The Dormition Cathedral in Kaniv belongs to the Ukrainian people—the decision of the Supreme Court]. 18000.com.ua (in Ukrainian). 6 September 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2025.