Annunciation Church

Annunciation Church (Blahovishchensks tserkva). Church in Chernihiv, funded by Prince Sviatoslav III Vsevolodovych in 1183–6 and later destroyed. It was a large cruciform church with six columns and a central cupola. Three sides of the interior had two-story-high galleries. It was topped by five additional cupolas. On the main façade the pilasters were built of light-yellow brick, and the walls were of dark-red brick. The interior walls and the ceiling were decorated with frescoes, while the floor of the central nave and the transept consisted of a multicolored mosaic, which included a representation of a peacock (unusual for floors). The floor of the side sections consisted of yellow and green glazed ceramic tiles. The first traces of the church were discovered in 1876–8 by T. Kybalchych. Later, partial excavations were conducted in 1909 and 1946–7 by Boris Rybakov.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]