Pokrovskyi Monastery, Kharkiv

Pokrovskyi Monastery
Собор Покрова Пресвятої Богородиці
The cathedral in 2020
Location	Kharkiv
Country	Ukraine
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox church
Architecture
Style	Ukrainian Baroque
Years built	1659-1689
Completed	1689

The Pokrovskyi Monastery Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in Kharkiv, Ukraine, built in 1689. The complex includes the seminary, Pokrovskyi Cathedral, Kharkiv episcopal residence and the Temple of the Mother of God Ozerianska.

History

The first wooden church was built in the first half of the XVII century and consecrated in the honour of Intercession of the Theotokos. In 1659 local Cossacks decided to construct a stone temple. It was finished by 1689 and consecrated by the bishop Abraham Ukhov [ru]. The stone church was designed in a traditional Russian way — three-domed basilica placed on a warm ‘winter’ temple. The upper part was connected to the bell tower with a narthex gallery.^[1]

In 1726 the bishop Epiphanius Tikhorsky [ru] and the field marshal Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn established the Kharkiv Pokrovskyi Monastery [pl]. The monastery complex included a collegium, the first higher education establishment in Kharkiv.

The Pokrovski church was restored in 1729 and equipped with new church ware. In 1732 the bell tower received a 1.6 tonn new bell. In 1799—1846 the church had a status of a cathedral. It was closed in the 1920s and decayed for more than 30 years. In 1992 it was returned under management of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.^[2]

Gallery

• 
  Postcard from the 1910s
• 
  The monastery in 2016
• 
  Engraving from the 1840s

References

Sources

• Denisov, Leonid (2019). 1100 православных монастырей Российской империи [1100 Orthodox monasteries of Russian Empire]. ISBN 9785041532109.