Princes and rulers
Volodymyr the Great
бл. 960–1015
- Baptizer of Rus’
The Kyivan prince who brought Christianity to Rus’ in 988. He built the Church of the Tithes and enlarged the city; his statue on Volodymyrska Hill is a Kyiv landmark.
Great God, who made heaven and earth! Look upon these new people, and grant them, O Lord, to know you, the true God, as the Christian lands have known you.
Biography
Volodymyr was the son of Prince Sviatoslav and grandson of Princess Olha. His father made him prince of Novgorod; after a war with his brother Yaropolk in the late 970s, Volodymyr seized Kyiv (the chronicle dates this to 980) and ruled there until his death in 1015.
At first he tried to organize the pagan cults: according to the Primary Chronicle, he set up idols of Perun, Khors, Dazhboh, Stryboh, Symarhl and Mokosh “on the hill outside the palace courtyard”. But in 988 Volodymyr accepted Christianity from Byzantium and married the emperor’s sister Anna, and, the chronicle says, the people of Kyiv were baptized in the waters of the Dnipro. The idols were torn down and Perun was thrown into the river.
On the site of the pagan sanctuary rose Kyiv’s first stone church, the Church of the Tithes (Desiatynna, dedicated to the Mother of God), which the chronicle says was built in 989–996. It took its name from the tithe — a tenth of the prince’s revenues — that Volodymyr assigned to it. He was buried there. The church was destroyed when Batu Khan’s army took Kyiv in 1240; its foundations are now marked out on Starokyivska Hill, next to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.
Volodymyr greatly enlarged the fortified town on Starokyivska Hill, which archaeologists call the “city of Volodymyr”. He died at his country residence in the village of Berestove (today’s Pechersk district). In the 17th century, while the ruins of the Church of the Tithes were being cleared, Petro Mohyla recovered relics venerated as those of St Volodymyr.
The baptizer of Rus’ is written into Kyiv’s very map. His bronze figure holding a cross on Volodymyrska Hill (1853; sculptors Vasily Demut-Malinovsky and Peter Clodt, architect Alexander Thon) has looked out over the Dnipro and the Left Bank for more than 170 years. St Volodymyr’s Cathedral (consecrated in 1896, with murals by Viktor Vasnetsov), and Volodymyrska Street bear his name, and Kyiv University, founded in 1834, was known in imperial times as St Volodymyr University.
Life timeline
- 970 Prince of Novgorod Sviatoslav sends the young Volodymyr to rule Novgorod.
- 980 Kyiv According to the chronicle, Volodymyr takes Kyiv and sets up a pantheon of idols.
- 988 Baptism of Kyiv The people of Kyiv are baptized in the Dnipro.
- 989–996 Church of the Tithes Kyiv’s first stone church is built.
- 1015 Death He dies at Berestove and is buried in the Church of the Tithes.
- 1240 Church destroyed The Church of the Tithes collapses as Batu’s army storms Kyiv.
- 1853 Monument His monument is unveiled on Volodymyrska Hill.
- 1896 St Volodymyr’s Cathedral The cathedral dedicated to the baptizer of Rus’ is consecrated.
Key achievements
- Baptism of Rus’ Made Christianity the state religion of Kyivan Rus’.
- Church of the Tithes Kyiv’s first stone church, funded by a tithe of princely income.
- City of Volodymyr Enlarged and fortified Kyiv on Starokyivska Hill.
- City landmark His statue above the Dnipro is one of Kyiv’s signature views.
Kyiv in their life
- Monument on Volodymyrska Hill (1853) — a 4.4 m bronze statue on a 16 m pedestal above the Dnipro.
- Foundations of the Church of the Tithes (Starokyivska Hill, next to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine) — Kyiv’s first stone church, where the prince was buried.
- St Volodymyr’s Cathedral (20 Tarasa Shevchenka Blvd) — murals by Viktor Vasnetsov, including “The Baptism of Rus’” and “The Baptism of Prince Volodymyr”.
- Berestove (now Pechersk, near the Lavra) — the country residence where he died in 1015.
Places in our guide
Gallery
-
-
-
-
