Synergy of Styles in Ukrainian Architecture

For every American traveller, the architecture of Ukraine’s old cities should look strikingly ancient and intriguingly sophisticated. The cultural and architectural history of entire Russia, actually, started in Ukraine, when Kiev, the present capital of the country, became the center of the Russian statehood then called the Kievan Rus. Since the 9th century, Ukraine was both developing its own style in construction and absorbing great architectural influences of Byzantine, Greece, and France.

Although most buildings of the early era were constructed out of logs, some churches and palaces incorporated more solid materials, such as stone. The Kievan Rus style in architecture and interior design was influenced by the Byzantine culture and featured complicated mosaic and frescoes decorations and large magnificent constructions. One of the most ancient among grand Ukrainian churches of that period is the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev which was built under the rule of Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. Defensive designs of military fortifications, towering castles, and fortified monasteries became a staple of the Ukrainian landscape in the period of the 12th -15th centuries, when the country underwent the Mongol invasion.

Since the 16th century, the Renaissance brought along a new style in architecture, called Baroque, which became popular in big Ukrainian cities, such as L’viv, Chernihiv, and Kiev. The highlights of the Ukraine’s Baroque can still be seen in survived church and monastery constructions of that period, such as the Church of Saint Michael in Kiev that still magnifies the eye with its impressive golden domes. Classicism came into the country in the 18th century, featuring decorative plastering in city palaces and public buildings. The architecture of France largely influenced the construction style in the Eastern parts of Ukraine, which still can be observed in magnificent buildings of old districts of Odessa.

Many stunning examples of Ukrainian architecture have survived numerous political storms, wars, and revolutions sweeping the region for more than a thousand years of its rich history. A variety of foreign styles have successfully merged into authentic Ukrainian architecture and produced an exquisite, blended Ukrainian style incorporating the best of the European cultural traditions.