A wooden church with this name was first mentioned in written sources in 1520. The new building of the stone Church of the Nativity of Christ was built on the site of the old wooden church, which was dismantled in 1807. The project was developed by architect Andrey Melensky (Contract House, monument to Magdeburg Law, St. Nicholas Church at Askoldova Mogila, Church of the Exaltation of the Cross) in 1808. Construction lasted from 1809 to 1814.
The stone church had an octagonal plan, adjacent to it on the eastern side was a semicircular apse, and on the western side, a rectangular bell tower. On the southern and northern sides there were four-column porticoes of the Ionic order on a high stylobate. The main volume of the temple was covered with an octagonal ceiling, and the apse was covered with a conch. In the center, the apse had an octagonal volume, above which a small quadrangular dome with windows was placed. The bell tower of the temple consisted of two tiers. The second tier was a rotunda of eight columns of the Ionic order, connected in pairs by piers. The belfry ended with a hemispherical dome with a high spire. In 1840, the porch of Sergius of Radonezh was added to the church. On May 6 and 7, 1861, the people of Kiev said goodbye to the ashes of Taras Shevchenko, who was being transported from St. Petersburg to Kanev. After this, people began to call the church “Shevchenkova”. In 1936, the Soviet government demolished the church, like many other religious buildings in Kyiv.
In 2002-2003, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was restored almost to its original form. The restored temple was built in the same place and in the same form in which it existed at the time of destruction. The presence of a sufficient number of photographs and some sketches of the architect Melensky that have survived to this day made it possible to fairly accurately reproduce the features of the destroyed temple. The modern layout of the streets of Podol has made it possible to open the main facade of the church, which is located facing the Dnieper and sideways to Poshtova Square. On January 19, 2004, the grand opening of the restored Church of the Nativity took place.
Where is the Church of the Nativity located?
Poshtovaya Square, 2