Hagia Sophia in Kyiv

The elaborate Baroque exterior of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv conceals a well preserved Byzantine church from the 11th century, among the oldest churches in the Slavic world.  Byzantine artists and craftsmen from Constantinople built the cathedral as the crowning monument of a campaign by the Orthodox church to evangelize the Slavic peoples in what would eventually be Kievan Rus followed by Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.

Some of the original 11th century brickwork made visible on the Cathedral's exterior.

A model of the original 11th century cathedral concealed by additions from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The interior of the Cathedral little changed since the 11th century.  Most of the mosaics are 11th century originals.

Christ Pantocrator in the dome with four archangels.

The Virgin Orans in the half-dome of the apse.

Details from the mosaic of The Communion of the Apostles

 Various fathers of the church.

So far as I know, no provision was made to spare or protect this church from the fighting currently going on in Kyiv.  It will eventually pass again into Russian ownership.  This building saw many sieges and invasions over the centuries from Mongols to Tatars to Tamerlane to Stalin, to Hitler, and now to Putin.  In the midst of what historian Timothy Snyder calls the Bloodlands sandwiched between the ambitions of the 20th century's two worst tyrants stands ancient Hagia Sophia, a durable testament to the hope of a glorious fulfillment at the end of a long and dark history.