Transparent Safety Barriers Installed to Protect Kyiv Sophia Frescos

Kyiv Sofia National Preserve installed transparent safety barriers inside the cathedral. The barriers both protect and highlight the cathedral’s unique frescos. Let us remind that the Saint Sophia Cathedral is a historical, architectural, and artistic monument of 11th-19th centuries—monumental paintings from four different epochs can be found on its walls.

The paintings, including an 11th century fresco, cover practically all the walls and pillars from floor to ceiling. The frescos lower to the ground suffered from contact with the visitors’ clothing, and sometimes from the recklessness of tourists. An 11th century painting in the northern tower of the cathedral, portraying the Byzantine princess Anna, her nieces and their court, was in particularly bad shape. The damaged parts were on the cross-shaped pillars of the central pew of the cathedral. The ICMS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) experts that visited Sophia Cathedral in 2009 drew attention to the necessity of protecting the compositions immediately.