Nicholas Church

Church of St. Nicholas
Rating 9110

5 july 2021Travel time: 23 june 2020
The only cult building in Kyiv, built in the Gothic style. Construction began in 1899. The church was built by Kyiv architect Vladyslav Horodetsky according to the design of SV Valovsky. In appearance it resembles the famous Viennese Votiv Kirche.

During the construction of the church, the architect had to use the talent of an innovator. The soils where the church was built turned out to be wet, and for their fixing in the foundation concrete stuffed structures, invented by the Kiev engineer AE Strauss, were installed. Then this method was used for the first time, after which it became widely used in Europe. The builders did not refuse to use concrete and reinforced concrete.

Concrete was also used to process and create artificial stone, and if you look closely, you can see lizards in the cracks of the building. By the way, the sculptures were made in the studio of Elio Sala.
All this "holy trinity" - Gorodetsky, Ostrich, Sala - will later create a masterpiece of decadent style - Kiev House of Chimeras.

The temple was built for 10 years on the donations of individuals. In the final version, which we see today, the church has a cruciform basilica in plan, two towers on the main, western, facade, smaller, the third - signature - a small tower above the cross with a bell. The main compositional attention is focused on the western facade - three portals, a huge stained glass round rose window, over which rises a triangular pediment. And on the sides of the openwork arrow towers burst into the sky.

In 1936, the Church of St. Nicholas was closed by the Bolshevik authorities, and since then the building has been used as a utility room. In 1978, by order of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, the church building was given to the House of Organ Music. To do this, the body of the company "Rieger-Kloss" was ordered in Czechoslovakia.
In 1981 the restoration was completed and in the same year a concert hall was opened in the church.

Currently, the Church of St. Nicholas is divided into the National House of Organ and Chamber Music of Ukraine as a concert venue, and the parish of St. Nicholas of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, which conducts services for the religious community.
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original

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