Gate Church of the Trinity, Orthodox church at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine.
The Gate Church of the Trinity stands above the Holy Gates, the main entrance to Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The nearly square building (11.5 by 11.0 m) has four massive pillars dividing its interior into three naves with spherical apses to the east. An external stone staircase leads up to the church, and pre-Mongol masonry is visible on the south facade.
Built in 1106–1108 above the Holy Gates, the church was funded by Prince Sviatoslav Davydovych of Chernihiv, who took monastic vows as Mykola Sviatosha. It survived the 1230 earthquake and the 1240 Mongol sack that destroyed the Dormition Cathedral, after which it became the monastery's main church. In 1699 the Kazan Mother of God icon was moved here from the Golden Gates.
The wall paintings, made in the 1730s and 1740s by artists of the Lavra's icon-painting school, cover more than 100 compositions. In the central apse, the First Council of Nicaea shows Emperor Constantine and church hierarchs in 18th-century dress, with Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky painted on the left. Above the entrance, the Expulsion of the Traders leads toward the actual doors in the wall.
Visitors typically enter through the monastery's western gate, where the church functions as both an active place of worship and an architectural monument. Respectful dress and behavior are expected when entering this working religious space.
The church was never damaged by the 1230 earthquake or by Batu Khan's 1240 invasion, when most churches in Kyiv were destroyed. It is the only above-ground building of the Lavra to survive intact from the Kievan Rus period.
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