St Andrew's Church, Kyiv

The church's pulpit, a construction rarely witnessed in Eastern Orthodox church architecture.

The current structure of the church began when Russian Empress Elizabeth decided to construct a summer residence for herself in Kyiv, consisting of a palace and a church.[7] The palace was to be located in the Pechersk neighborhood while the church was to be on the Andriyivska Hill.[nb 3] The commencement of construction took place during an official ceremony on September 9, 1744 which consisted of the Empress laying the first three founding stones herself.[7]

The Petersburg Building Chancellery first hired German architect Gottfried Johann Schädel and engineer Daniel de Bosquet to draft out the plans for the church. However, when Schädel presented his project in 1745, the Chancellery rejected it.[7] He was replaced by head architect of the imperial court, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who worked out a plan which was closely based on a church of a Saint Petersburg institute.[8]

The construction itself was conducted by a team of Ukrainian, Russian, and foreign masters[9] under the direction of architect Ivan Michurin, who was previously successful in replacing the older Church of the Resurrection, on the Women's Market Square (Babiy torzhok) in Moscow.[10] Michurin was responsible for carrying out all of the engineering and geological researches of the site and found out that a hard subsoil ground lies at a depth of 13–14 meters and above — made grounds penetrated by subterranean waters.[11] With this information, Michurin developed the construction of a stone foundation and connected it with the two-storied building of the Priest's apartments, planned by Rastrelli.

I. Vlasiev and the Kyiv Governor-General M. Leontev were placed in charge of hiring masons, carpenters, and carvers from territories now located in Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine.[12] White and red bricks for the church were made at the brick fields of the Sophia, Pechersk, and Cyril cloisters. The foundation stone was delivered by the Kyiv garrison soldiers from the neighboring towns of Rzhyshchiv and Bucha. The wood came from the nearby Pushcha-Vodytsia forests. Also, infantry regiments from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Starodub, and Poltava were involved in the church's construction. Apart from workers from the neighboring villages, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra sent 50 of its best masons to work on the church.[12]

Both the external and internal decoration on the church was carried out at the same time. Cast iron floor slabs were delivered from Moscow. Also, forms were made for the church's windows, doors, walls, and for space under the cupola. The planned iconostasis, designed by Rastrelli, was also added. The wood for the iconostasis, altar canopy, pulpit, and tsar's place were carved in Saint Petersburg in order to conserve time.[13] The iconostasis' icons were carried out by Petersburg artists. For gilding, 1,028 slabs of gold were used in the interior.[13]

The cast iron steps leading up to the church from the Andriyivskyy Descent.

Although the exterior work was finished in 1754, interior work and decorations were not finished up until 1767. Alexei Antropov and Ivan Vishnyakov painted the church's icons, and the frescoes were done by Ukrainian masters I. Romenskyi and I. Chaikovskyi.[8] A planned ramp that was to be installed to provide access to the church, was later changed to a wooden staircase due to the steepness of the hill. The wooden ramp was later (in 1844) changed to a cast iron one.

As the Empress planned to take personal care of the church, the church has no parish, and there is no bell tower to call the congregation to divine service. But she died before the construction ended, so the church was never cared for by Elizabeth. After her death, the imperial court took no interest in the church, and the church was left without any funding. For some time, the church existed off of private and voluntary funds, from people such as Andrey Muravyov.[14]

The baroque three-tier iconostasis designed by Rastrelli. The woodwork was done by carvers Joseph Domash, Andrey Karlovsky and Matvey Manturov.

Later on, the church was handed down to the Kyiv Council in 1768.[13] The Kyiv City Council took control over the church, and later reorganized into the Kyiv Council in 1785.[13] In 1815, a strong storm tore off the church's cupolas.[15][16] After the storm, the church was in need of a full restoration. In the next year, architect Andrey Melensky made a plan of the building's façade and sent them for consideration to Saint Petersburg.[15] In 1825–1828, the church was restored, based on Melensky's plans. The red mission tiles was replaced by metal, resulting in the fact that the cupolas lost some decor and changed their form.

From 1917 to 1953, many restorations were conducted on the foundations of the church.[17] In addition, the restoration of the church's façade, interior, and decor was also conducted. From the time of the church's opening until 1932, when the Soviet Council ordered that the church be closed down, regular services were held. In 1935, the St. Andrew's Church was included into the Historical and Cultural Conservation "All-Ukraine Museum Area." For some time after 1939, Saint Sophia Anti-religious Museum was located within the premises of the church. During World War II, regular church services were restored, only to be closed down again in 1961.

From time to time, the church's stylobate was rented to different organizations up until 1992, when the stylobate was taken up by the Kyiv Ecclesiastical Seminary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. On January 10, 1968, the church was included into the State Architectural and Historical Conservation area "Saint Sophia Museum." On September 10 of the same year, the church was opened as a historical and architectural museum.

During the early 1960s, original plans of Rastrelli's baroque cupolas were uncovered in Vienna, Austria.[14] In 1970, the St. Sophia Museum requested photocopies of the originals from the Albertina Museum located in Vienna.[18] In 1978, restorers headed by architect V. Korneyeva restored the church's domes based on drawings by Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Since 1987, the church is included into the National Conservation area "Saint Sophia of Kyiv." Nowadays it is Cathedral of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.[19] On the 255th anniversary of the construction, the Ukrainian Presidential Administration transferred the ownership of the building from the government to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.[20] In October 2018, the church was transferred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as a stauropegion.[1]