Even on the West Bank, many of the ancient, beautiful sites, such as St. Michaels Cathedral, were destroyed during the communist anti religious era in the 1920's. St. Sophia's cathedral, however, was saved because of it's historical impact. Despite this, the Soviet authorities still confiscated it and turned it into a museum. Due to the consistent fighting between the Rssian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, no regular services have been held at St. Sophia's since it became a museum, though they occasionaly will hold ceremonies on special occasions. Construction began in the 9th century and remains of mosiacs from the 11th century still decorate the interior of the cathedral.
For about three hryvena, I decided it was worth it to climb the bell tower at St. Sophia's.
Once I got up there, I was rethinking my decision. (In the background, you can see St. Micheal's Cathedral. It was rebuilt just recently after being destroyed. As you can probably tell, it is parallel to St. Sophia's, forming a large center square. The original boundaries of Kiev surrounded this area- exiting this particular metro stop, you can still see the original gates of Kiev over which a church was built.)
It was worth every slippery, frigid step.
Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.
St. Sophia's- can you see the snow on the ground?
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