The Lavra is one of, or probably the most, visited things in Kiev. It is very popular with tourists and also those Orthodox believers who make their pilgrimage to this holy site. A Lavra is basically just a really big monastery, and only a few monasteries get the honour of being a Lavra. We visited on a Sunday, so it was very very busy with both interest groups. It’s very big though, so we needed almost a full day, and since we work during the week, this was one of our only opportunities. It was really really crazy busy though. I can see how it would be a very calming and moving place in the off season.
The Lavra is located on a big hill just outside the city centre and overlooking the Dnipro River. Pecherksa means “of the caves” and the cathedrals in the Lavra are situated on top of almost 1000 year old caves that were dug out by monks who originally worshipped in the area. The upper Lavra has an entrance fee. It is owned by the government and contains three of the biggest and nicest cathedrals. You can’t go in unless there is a service, and the bell tower was also closed due to renovations. We went to a couple random museums instead. One was of Ukrainian fold art and the other was a museum of micro-miniatures. We saw the world’s smallest book, containing versus by and a portrait of Ukraine’s most famous writer: Sevchenko. There was also a flea wearing golden horseshoes, a sailboat on a pinhead, and a guitar with strings just a fraction of the width of human hair. You could only view the exhibits through microscopes.
The lower Lavra is free and is where the monks worship. This place was full of pilgrims bowing, praying, kneeling, and weeping. It was a very solemn and moving place. We also had quite a long chat with a toothless woman from Russia who had no money or possessions but had spent the last month trying to get here. She also was very eager to practice her English with some native speakers and ask about pronunciations in her English prayer book. I think I might be mildly claustrophobic, because I almost had a panic attack in the narrow caves. You can’t speak here, the only light is by candles, and the line is a slow but continuous parade of people who wave their candles very close to your back. Priests will also hurry by you, with not enough space, while people try to kiss their hands. It is very warm and there is little oxygen. It was worth all the stress to see it though. There are mummified bodies of monks and priests that are almost 1000 years old. The pilgrims also bow down to kiss the hands and feet of the mummies, and dart back and forth across the passageway to get to everyone in time. Sorry, I couldn’t take pictures down here either.
Back up to get some fresh air, we decided to take off and check out the 30 story iron statue of the Mother of Kiev and the WWII museum.
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