Church of the Tithes (Desiatynna Church), Kyiv
The first masonry church of Rus. What is left of it are foundations under the open sky.
Volodymyr the Great raised the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God as the first masonry building in Rus: cross-domed, with six piers, and, according to the ESU, 32 by 42 metres. It was called the Church of the Tithes after its upkeep: the prince gave it a tenth of his princely revenues. Sources differ on when building began — 986 in the ESU, 989 on Radio Svoboda, 991 in Ukraina Incognita; the consecration of 996 lies behind the anniversary that the National Museum of the History of Ukraine marked in 2021 as the 1025th. In December 1240, when Batu Khan's army was already in the city, the people of Kyiv gathered under its vaults with their belongings. The chronicle says the church fell under their weight; researchers say battering machines finished it off. Everyone inside died. Then came seven centuries of ruins: in 1633 Petro Mohyla began excavations and found sarcophagi, in 1824 the metropolitan of Kyiv ordered the remains taken apart, and Vasyl Stasov built a new church on the site, which the soviet authorities demolished in the mid-1930s. Today the foundations lie in the open beside the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, in the buffer zone of the UNESCO site. The finds — a mosaic floor, frescoes, stone coffins, and from a cache discovered in 1939 also a helmet, a sword and a battle axe — were shown by the museum in 2021 in an exhibition of more than a thousand originals. The wooden church put up on the plot in 2007 was dismantled on the night of 17 May 2024 by decision of the commercial courts: the land belongs to the museum.
The foundations of the Church of the Tithes lie in the open next to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine; the museum itself currently admits visitors only by advance registration (NMIU website, 11.09.2026). A 3D model of the church in augmented reality opens via the QR code on the information board by the foundations: it is an online exhibition of yeMuzei (Suspilne Kyiv, 23.01.2024).
Chronicle
- 986–996 — Construction of the first masonry church of Rus; consecrated in 996.
- December 1240 — The church collapsed during Batu Khan's assault, together with the people of Kyiv sheltering inside.
- 1633 — Petro Mohyla began excavations and found sarcophagi; in 1647 a restored church was consecrated nearby.
- 1824 — Metropolitan Yevhenii Bolkhovitinov ordered the remains taken apart; Lokhvytskyi's excavations began.
- 1828–1842 — Vasyl Stasov built a new church on the site.
- mid-1930s — The soviet authorities demolished Stasov's church: the ESU dates this to 1936, landmarks.in.ua to 1935.
- 1939 — In a cache inside the church, at a depth of 4.1 metres, a thirteenth-century helmet, a sword and a battle axe were found.
- 2021 — An exhibition for the 1025th anniversary of the consecration: more than a thousand originals at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.
- 17 May 2024 — The wooden church put up on the plot in 2007 was dismantled, by decision of the commercial courts.