On 18.05.2026 in Kyiv was opened Museum Gate Church and Kyiv of X-XIII centuries - the archaeological place which is located above the remains of the Gate Church of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

In the XV–XVI centuries the remains of the gate were dismantled and during archaeological research in the 1990s, foundations, an apse and two crypts were discovered here. Later the excavation was covered with a pavilion-rotunda and a museum was planned but the monument was forgotten for a long time.

The modern Museum Gate Church and Kyiv of X-XIII centuries on the territory of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery was carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Ancient Kyiv Regional Institute of Archaeology and the Kyiv Scientific and Methodological Center for Monument Protection as well as with the participation of numerous volunteers.

The foundations were re-cleared and conserved and new finds were not without their merit. In particular an ancient Kyiv-Rus brick-plinth was found.

An exhibition with archaeological finds will also appear here in the near future and their arrangement and final attribution are currently underway. In addition the museum-archaeological space will also become a base for thematic exhibitions.

Archaeological research on the monument was conducted in 1998-1999 under the direction of Doctor of Historical Sciences Gleb Ivakin. At that time the remains of a XIIth-century brick gate on the territory of the monastery were studied. The collected materials were added to the funds of the Institute of Archeology and the Ancient Kyiv State Archaeological Museum and the foundations and lower parts of the walls themselves were preserved and covered with a protective pavilion.

The following key points were established according to the research results:

1. There was a burial ground on the site of the future gate in the X-XI centuries.
2. The first structure was a wooden gate, which existed until the XII century, after which it was replaced by a brick structure.
3. In the second half of the XIII-XIV centuries, the gate suffered destructive events and was later, in the XV-XVI centuries, finally dismantled.

The foundations of the gate were made of rubble stone on lime-clay plaster with the addition of sand. The brick walls supported the gate church 10.82 meters long and 8.4 meters wide. Stairs led to the church, located in two chambers on the sides of the gate. The interior of the temple was decorated with frescoes, although only their individual fragments have survived today. The outer walls were plastered and the floor was laid with bricks and ceramic tiles. More than a thousand smalt cubes found by archaeologists indicate the existence of a mosaic icon that once decorated the temple walls.

Organizers

Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ancient Kyiv Regional Institute of Archaeology. Kyiv Scientific and Methodological Center for Monument Protection
St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery
Kyiv, Ukraine

Pavel Korsun
Tour Guide
Ukraine tours and Kyiv tours

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