Object description

The Church of the Tithes or Church of the Dormition of the Virgin was the first stone church in Kyiv. Originally it was built by the order of Grand Prince Vladimir the Great between 989 and 996 by Byzantine and local workers at the site of death of martyrs Theodor the Varangian and his son Johann. It was originally named the "Church of Our Lady", in honor of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The church was ruined in 1240 during the siege of Kyiv by Mongol armies of Batu Khan.