КОМПЛЕКСНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ МИТРОПОЛИЧОГО САДУ КИЄВО-ПЕЧЕРСЬКОЇ ЛАВРИ
THE METROPOLITAN GARDEN OF KIEV-PECHERSK LAVRA: COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH

Summary/Abstract: Modern urban development in Ukraine can hardly be called controlled. Irrational, uncomfortable and even aggressive housing development poses a threat to historic buildings and urban ecology. The territories of the national preserves are legally protected from any arbitrary actions of developers. The Metropolitan Garden of the “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” National Reserve may serve as a striking example of a comprehensive study and a basis for sustainable development of the urban environment. For decades, this location has been the subject of interdisciplinary research.An archaeological study in this area began in the 1950s and, intermittently, has been continued. During that time, many archaeological monuments of different types and from different historical periods have been discovered. Some of them are researched more than others, but together they mirror the main stages of the Metropolitan Garden’s historical development and reflect the changes in the way it has been used. As a result of many years of research, more than 700 square meters have been surveyed; they can be divided into four main cultural and chronological layers: 1) the Early Iron Age (6th-5th centuries BC), 2) the period of Kievan Rus’ (9th-13th centuries), 3) the Russo-Lithuanian period of the 14th-16th centuries, 4) modern times (17th-19th centuries). The archaeological research has resulted in data on the Metropolitan Garden’s primary relief and identification of two periods of natural and anthropogenic development of the location. This was accompanied by an archaeological study, historical studies of the Archimandrit’s Garden and its transformation into the Metropolitan Garden as well as the peculiarities of its planning structure. The article also presents reconstructions of all the types of the flora that could have grown in the Pechersk Monastery since Kievan Rus’ and a the study of the vegetation of the existing garden since the 17th century.Today the authorities are considering creation of an Archaeological Park within the Metropolitan Garden of the National Reserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra”.

• Details
• Contents