Attractions of Liadova

Liadova Useknovenskiy Cave Monastery is located on high chalk cliffs with healing springs, from which a stunning panorama of the Dniester valley opens.

According to legend, it was founded in 1013 by Saint Anthony Pechersky, who was returning from Mount Athos to Kyiv at that time. It was the first cave hermitage founded by Anthony Pechersky and the first Christian monastery in this region (the cave church of Anthony Pechersky and his cell, the holy spring have been preserved).

The monastery played an important role in the political life of Ukraine. Thus, in 1649, the abbot of the Liadova monastery, Pavlo, together with the hieromonk Nikifor, became the first ambassadors of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi to the Moscow Tsar Oleksiy Mykhaylovych.

Until 1745, the Basilian monastery was located here. In the 19th century, the cave church of the Beheading of John the Baptist with a bell tower, the church of Saint Paraskeva-Pyatnytsia, and a hotel were built. Some of the buildings were blown up during the Soviet era.

In 1998, the monastery was revived by the monks of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, and many shrines were restored. A steep path leads to the monastery. Visitors must observe traditional formalities in clothing: men in trousers, women in skirts and headscarves.

On October 31, 2022, the Liadova Useknovenskiy Cave Monastery was damaged by a Russian missile attack during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. One novice died.