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In the year of 1852 has stated the idea to construct in Kiev a cathedral, devoted to the 900 anniversary of christening of Russia. Russian Emperor Nikolay The First liked this idea, so the gathering of the donations began around the country. And up to September of 1859 the huge sum of money (about 100 rubles) was gathered. Kievo-pecherskaya Lavra monastery donated 1 million of bricks manufactured on its own factory.
The authors of the original project are architects I. Strom (Saint-Petersburg) and P. Sparro (Kiev). Later it was thoroughly processed by the architect A. Beretti. The cathedral was dedicated to the "Baptist Of The Russia" the Saint Prince Vladimir. The exterior and the interior of the cathedral is conducted in Byzantian style as the ancient Russian churches in the time of St. Vladimir and Yaroslaw Mudriy were. The Cathedral was founded in the year of 1862 ãîäó, but it's building lasted about 30 years due to the technical problems and was finished in. Solemn consecration of a cathedral has happened on the 20th of September 1896 at the presence of emperor Nikolay the second and empress Elizabeth.
Vladimirskiy cathedral is the traditional for Russian architecture six-columned temple with seven domes. The facade is decorated with mosaics (work of the artist A. Frolov). On the massive bronze doors there are relief images of the princess Olga and the Saint Vladimir. The Saint Vladimir cathedral is the great example of synthesis of art and architecture. It is famous mostly due to its unique paintings. The outstanding Russian and Polish painters such as V. Vasnetsov, M.Vrubel, M. Nesterov, P. Svedomskiy, V. Kotarbinskiy.
The history of Russian Orthodox Christianity is immortalized on walls of the Cathedral. The iconostasis is made of smoky-gray karrara marble. The interior is decorated with multi-colored marbles from Italy, France, Belgium, Russia and Spain. The mosaic floor is also made of marble. The Vladimir cathedral at once has drawn an attention of the contemporaries. There were a lot of disputes about Its art advantages, but nobody challenged that it is a great treasure of Russian art and architecture.
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