Natalie Yurchak
(NGO ‘Architect Council’ Kiev, Ukraine)
Abstract:
Kiev’s necropolis, as it is conceived by the author, ‘is a comprehensive guide to the history of the city, the region, which in terms of volume coverage of the Ukraine history material so far has no equal’ (L.Protsenko History of Kiev’s necropolis, 1995).
Famous scientist researches of the necropolis Lyudmila Protsenko whole her life devoted to work on drafting the necropolis. Kiev’s necropolis is one of the little-known pages of history.It was conducted since 1966, card index of persons included in the survey has 65 000 units, from the time of Kievan Rus till nowadays. In a process of historical researches were used materials of all Russian and Ukrainian state and specialized archives in Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Manuscript Department of Libraries, archives of universities, institutions, factories, as well as private documents from the family archives. The author fundamentally studied about two dozen cemeteries in Kiev, as well as the cemetery of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and the major monasteries and hermitages.
‘Omnia tempus habent…’ (all in good time), and today most comprehensive, detailed, multicultural (Greek, Armenian, Jewish, non-orthodox, Lutherans and many more) Kiev’s necropolis open its resources to wide audience.
Ukrainian land for centuries is host to our deceased ancestors – grand and glorious, unknown and ordinary people of all nationalities and faiths. It is well known in what turned out to be uncivilized state of our cemetery, and especially the burial of previous years. Throughout such pantheons as the Askold Grave in Kyiv, burial of the great princes of Kievan Rus, Cossack burials were demolished or simply razed to the ground.
Kiev’s necropolis is a rare chance to connect people, to correct and supplement some historical data, for research and educational purposes and also for the recovery of memory and justice.
Keywords: Kiev’s necropolis, Kievan Rus, cemetery, Ukraine