Mezhyhirya Monastery
The Mezhyhirya Savior-Transfiguration Monastery (Ukrainian: Межигірський Спасо-Преображенський монастир, Mezhyhirskyi Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Monastyr) was an Eastern Orthodox female monastery that was located in the neighborhood of Mezhyhiria outside of the Vyshhorod city limits.
The Mezhyhirya Monastery, located on the right bank of the Dnieper. Fyodor Solntsev, 1843. | |
Monastery information | |
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Other names | Mezhyhiria Monastery |
Denomination | Orthodox |
Established | 988 |
Disestablished | 1935 |
Controlled churches | Gate Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Transfiguration Cathedral |
People | |
Founder(s) | Rurik dynasty |
Site | |
Location | Novi Petrivtsi, Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast |
Coordinates | 50°37′7″N 30°27′55″E |
Visible remains | Water well |
Public access | Restricted |
The monastery served as a historic Princely residency of Rurik dynasty during the Medieval times located just 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the north of Vyshhorod. Today, the territory is part of the Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The location is situated in the Mezhyhirya ravine, on the right bank of the Dnieper River in close proximity to the Kyiv Reservoir.
Founded in 988 AD, the Mezhyhirya Monastery was one of the first monasteries established in the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus'. Throughout its existence, it was destroyed, and then restored numerous times, yet it was not spared destruction by Soviet authorities in 1935. At the time of its height, the Mezhyhirya Monastery was considered a spiritual center of Rus royal Rurikid house and later Cossacks. Currently, the area of the former monastery is located on a fenced-in woodland territory next to Novi Petrivtsi village and is now a museum.
As an important monastery of the Zaporozhian Host, the Mezhyhirya Monastery left a rich legacy behind it. The monastery was mentioned in one of Taras Shevchenko's poems, "Chernets," written in 1847, and was the subject of a drawing by him. Nikolai Gogol's novel, "Taras Bulba," published in 1835, also mentions the monastery.