Assumption Cathedral in Kanev

A small city Kanev is located in the central part of Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Kanev is famous for the tomb of the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, Assumption Cathedral of St. George and the Kanev Reservoir.

History of the town started in 1078 by Prince Yaroslav the Wise. But long before there were settlements of Slavic people in the Kanev. The chronicled history of the city begins with 1144, when Prince Vsevolod erected St. George's Church. In 1240, it was destroyed by the Tatar-Mongol troops. Cossacks did their best to restore the church. Kanev was located in the heart of the Cossacks territories. Traditionally Cossacks came to Kanev to live out their days. Over time, the cathedral formed a monastery, which in the XVI century became a Cossack shrine.

Lviv Ataman Ivan Pidkova found eternal peace near the walls of St. George's Church. The autumn of 1678 was “black” in the history of Kanev and his spiritual shrines. City was plundered by the Turks, and monastery and church were burned. About a hundred years shrines were in ruins. In 1803-1805 the cathedral and monastery were restored by Basilian monks, a monastic warrant of the Greek Catholics. Features of classicism began to dominate in the external appearance. Two western towers were added and the semicircular windows were built over the portals of.

Only in 1833, St. George's Church became again Orthodox. And it was given a new, hallowed name - Kanev Assumption Cathedral. In its walls, in May 1861 the Ukrainians bade farewell to the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. The spiritual life of Assumption Cathedral was in full swing until the establishment of Soviet power. New monks came to the monastery. The spiritual center of Kanev was closed in Soviet times. In 1991, Assumption Cathedral passed to Cherkassy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, church service was resumed.

The architecture of the Assumption Cathedral repeats the type of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Unfortunately, time was ruthless to interior paintings. Those paintings that exist today – it is an attempt to restore the former look of the cathedral. But however that may be, the Assumption Cathedral is one of the spiritual centers of the Ukrainian Cossacks, which is worth visiting in order to get to know Ukraine better and feel the life and history of the country.