Foto: Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (bron: Ronald van der Veer)
Ukraine - The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv is one of Ukraine’s most famous monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The church's name is derived from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. It was built in the 11th century and served as the burial place of the rulers of the Kievan Rus. After being plundered by the Mongols in 1240, the church fell into decay until 1633, when it was taken over by the Metropolitan of Kyiv. Under the anti-religious (Bolshevik) policy of the Soviet Union, there were plans to demolish the cathedral. However, after protests from historians, it was confiscated and converted into a museum of architecture and history. Since the 1980s, the government has considered returning the church to the Russian Orthodox Church, but different factions are in dispute over the building, including the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. As a result, the cathedral remains a museum, occasionally used for religious ceremonies.
The Chernobyl reactor
Ukraine - The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was a major accident involving one of the reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which occurred in 1986 near the town of the same name in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), close to the Belarusian border. ...
The SpasoPreobrazhensky Cathedral of Odessa
Ukraine - The Cathedral of the Holy Transfiguration is a Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. Empress Catherine the Great, the founder of Odessa, commissioned the construction of a church dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord. Construction ...