Attractions of Sviatohirsk

The Sviatohirsk State Historical and Architectural Reserve unites the complex of buildings of the Sviatohirsk Holy Assumption Lavra of the 17th-19th centuries - one of the three most important Orthodox shrines of Ukraine.

According to one version, it was founded in the chalk caves of Sviatohirya on the high bank of the Siversky Donets by Byzantine monks even before the baptism of Rus.

The first written mention of the "Sviati hory" (Holy Mountains) area dates back to 1526, and the monastery was officially founded in 1624, when Tsar Mykhaylo Fedorovych presented the brothers with the land of Sviatohirya and assigned a state salary. At first, monks settled in caves on chalk spurs. The entire mountain is permeated with a labyrinth of passages and cells, which are open to visitors today. The high mountain is crowned by the Saint Nicholas church of the 17th century with a chalk altar carved directly from the rock. At its foot is the Assumption Cathedral (1859-1861, architect Oleksiy Hornostaev), a hotel (1877), the abbot's house (1900), a refectory with the Intercession Church (1847-1851, architect Andriy Ton), the towers of the monastery walls. In the caves there are the underground churches of Anthony and Theodosius (XVII century), Nativity of John the Baptist (XIX century), cave chapel, two tombs, cells. The Lavra was visited by Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Anton Chekhov, and Illia Repin.

The monastery was closed twice, during the Soviet times a rest house was located here. In 1992, it was transferred to the UOC community of the Moscow Patriarchate, in 2004 the monastery was granted the status of a Lavra.

Sviatohirsky state historical and architectural reserve was created in 1980. The historical museum of the reserve is located in Hostinny Dvir (Guest yard). In five exhibition halls, objects of the material and spiritual culture of the tribes and peoples that inhabited Sviatohirya since the Stone Age, models of the architectural ensemble of the Sviatohirsk monastery in different periods of its history, archaeological finds and documents from the history of the monastery from the 17th century, are presented. memorial expositions. The thematic excursion "Sights and memorials of the Sviatohirsk Lavra" also includes a visit to the Upper Lavra with the Saint Nicholas Church, the All Saints Hermitage, the monument to Artem (Fedir Serheev), created in 1927 by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze.

Entrance to the territory of the Lavra is free, but visitors are asked to observe a strict dress code - upon entry, women can receive a headscarf and a skirt.

Russian-Ukrainian war

In 2022, during the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Lavra was hit several times by shelling and bombing by Russian troops. People who were hiding on the territory of the Lavra from shelling were injured. Almost all the buildings of the Lavra were damaged - the cell blocks, the dormitory building, the hermitage of John of Shanghai, the Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs, etc. Saint George's Hermitage was destroyed, the church in honor of the "Joy of All Sorrowful" icon of the Virgin Mary Hermitage was destroyed, the main church of the All Saints' Hermitage was burned down.

A 22-meter statue of the famous revolutionary Artem (alias Fedir Serhyeyev) rises above the domes of the Holy Assumption Sviatohirsk Lavra on top of one of the chalk mountains above Siverskyi Donets.

The cubist monument was created in 1927 by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze. Most of the work on the construction of the 1,000-ton monument was carried out by hand: on the terrace of the monastery, parts were cast from reinforced concrete, which were lifted up the mountain by truck and installed in place with the help of an ordinary truck crane.

A new monumental complex to the heroes of the Second World War was built nearby.