One of Kyiv’s most exciting sightseeing experiences is to climb the Lavra belfry and then to descend into the monastery’s famous caves. Few contrasts quite compare with a walk along dark, cool subterranean corridors, candle in hand, minutes after surveying the landscape from 90 meters above ground.
Visiting the Pecherska Lavra caves is a must‑do for most visitors to the capital, but few know that Kyiv boasts other caves. The city’s asphalt and soil obscures an important part of Kyiv’s rich history – a history unlike that found elsewhere in Europe.
“Cave monasteries are widespread in Ukraine, but are unique in the European context,” said Vladyslav Tsilitsky of the Kyiv History Museum. Tsilitsky and his colleague’s in the museum’s Underground Kyiv department are experts in the caves, old culverts, cellars and other largely forgotten underground spots that are scattered around the area.
Tsilitsky said that Europe’s cave monasteries tend to be located in natural rock grottos. Kyiv’s were principally excavated by hand. The tradition of cave monasteries began in Egypt and spread to Turkey and later Greece. In 1051, Antony, a monk, founded the cave monastery that is today known as the Pecherska Lavra.
“In Kyiv, monks settled in caves to imitate the earliest hermits,” said Oleksy Kurmaz, another Underground Kyiv historian. “They intended to tame their flesh by refraining from exposing themselves to sunlight and warmth.”
But, Kurmaz said, there were also economic motivations for building caves: Churches required money for building materials, whereas caves required only shovels and hard work.
“Digging a cave was the least costly way to begin a monastery,” Kurmaz said. Once the monks developed a congregation and raised some money, they could afford to build above‑ground.”
Several of Kyiv’s monasteries, including Kyrylivsky, Kytayevsky and the Lavra, evolved this way. The Lavra’s name, in fact, is derived from “pechera,” the Ukrainian word for “cave.” Its first monks lived in what today are known as the Far Caves. As the Lavra’s monastic community grew, Antoniy moved to a neighboring hill and began to excavate what is now known as the Near Caves. Together, the Near and Far caves stretch for about a half‑kilometer.
While they initially provided dwellings for the monks, the caves eventually became burial places for the most revered monks, some of whom have been declared saints by the Orthodox Church.
Many of the Orthodox faithful visit the caves to pay homage to the monks’ bones, which they believe to be endowed with miraculous healing properties, and to pray in the underground chapels.
Volodymyr Antonovych, a 19th‑century archaeologist, discovered 45 caves on the Dnipro’s right bank, seven of which are known to be monastic caves. Most of the caves described by Antonovych have been traced, but only four are open to visitors: the Lavra, Kytayevski, Zvirynetski and Hnyletski caves.
The Lavra’s caves, which are the most popular with tourists and the best known of the group, have regular hours and guides available.
Visiting the other three, though, requires advance planning. Unless visitors can arrange to tag along with a church group, special arrangements need to be made with the Kyiv History Museum’s Underground Kyiv department.
Underground Kyiv is the country’s only group making a regular study of the area’s underground architecture. In addition to monastic caves, the department also explores subterranean areas associated with old fortifications, culverts and even cellars. After the historians locate and enter caves, they clean the passageways of debris and begin the process of cataloging and preserving the artifacts. Few caves yield true treasures – many have collapsed or have been vandalized, making it difficult to determine when they were built and by whom.
The most common artifacts include human remains and inscriptions placed on the walls by monks. Several years ago, in a rare discovery, museum workers found a previously unknown 18th‑century cave among the Kytayevski caves. The cave appeared to have been carefully closed by its inhabitant, rather than abandoned, and had not been entered until the Underground Kyiv employees found it. Inside, they found a wooden cross, an unfinished carving of a wooden spoon and numerous inscriptions.
“It was shocking to realize that we were the first to enter the cave in 200 years,” Kurmaz said. “I felt a bit like Sherlock Holmes, trying to picture how the person lived and to understand his perception of comfort.”
Kurmaz said that the Hnyletsky cave monastery, located south of Kyiv, is the most interesting. Parts of the cave, which is still being explored, have been untouched since the 11th century.
Historians believe that Feodosy Pechersky founded the Hnyletsky cave. Church records suggest that during the fast, Feodosy walked 50 kilometers between the Lavra and the Hnyletsky cave to pray in seclusion.
The Zvirynetski caves, located on Zvirynets hill in Pechersk, raise more questions for archaeologists. The caves were first excavated in 1911, but any artifacts that were discovered were lost during Soviet times. Today, the explorations are complete, but nobody knows who built the caves or why they were abandoned.
Legend has it that monks living in the caves were killed during the Tatar‑Mongol conquest in the 13th century. But Underground Kyiv historians hold the less romantic view that the monks, facing economic decline, simply abandoned the caves.
While similar to those in the Lavra, the Zvirynetski caves are considered plainer and less interesting for tourists. Narrow cells along the walls of the 200 meter‑long corridors are filled with human bones. The walls bear occasional inscriptions and contemporary icons.
While Kyiv’s caves are not as spectacular as many of the city’s churches or museums, stories told by the Underground Kyiv historians give life to the caves.
Like monks, soldiers also had an interest in building caves. Kyiv’s fortresses may be long gone, but many of the underground tunnels that were built with them remain. Some tunnels were built for storage, some to facilitate escape and others as defensive measures. They range from utilitarian underground passages to the elaborate 18th century countermine galleries used to detect and thwart enemy invasions. Unlike the vague history of the monastic caves, the fortification caves’ history is militarily straightforward.
The caves have given rise to many legends. While colorful, the historians say few have any basis in fact. For example, there is no underground tunnel built during Kyivan Rus to link Kyiv with Chernihiv.
But the Lavra’s chronicle records the discovery of a Viking treasure discovered in the Varengian caves, which were the site of a Viking camp on the trade route to Greece.
Pecherska Lavra
history and tours see
www.kplavra.kiev.ua, also in English.
Lavra caves open daily 9 a.m.‑ 4 p.m.
For tours of Kyiv caves, call Underground Kyiv 293‑7457 or Oleksy Kurmaz 216‑1112.
Tour prices vary depending on the route.
