Description of the attraction
The Church of Nicholas Naberezhny is one of the churches of Kiev Podil dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker. This temple is one of those masterpieces to which the famous architect Ivan Grigorovich-Barsky had a hand. The Church of Nicholas Naberezhny is made in the typical style of a Cossack temple, which combines the features of Ukrainian baroque and classicism. The only thing that somewhat smears the impression of the temple is the bell tower, erected according to the common St. Petersburg model, and therefore unremarkable.
The temple has been known since the 11th century, but the first accurate mentions of it date back to 1543. In the 17th century, the temple burned down and a new church, also wooden, was erected in its place. In its present form, the church of Nikolai Naberezhny appeared in 1775. Just near the place where her predecessor once stood. The model for the new building was the Church of Three Saints from the village of Lemeshi, in addition, the temple was painted with original paintings. However, during the Kiev fire of 1811, the temple was badly damaged by fire, and the painting of the 18th century was destroyed. For this reason, in the 30s of the 19th century, the church had to be painted again. The final decoration of the interior of the temple took place in the 50s, at the same time a carved iconostasis appeared in it, which has survived to this day. The paintings that were carried out later were carried out by masters who did not have the appropriate training, so they are not considered valuable. The main masterpiece of the church of Nicholas Naberezhny is the icon of St. Nicholas of Mirlikisky, painted in the first half of the 17th century.
Until the 60s of the twentieth century, this temple was the only one operating in Podol, but during the next persecutions it was closed too. In 1992 it was handed over to the believers again. Today the church belongs to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
