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Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral and Monastery of the Caves have been added to UNESCO’s list of endangered heritage sites, along with the historic old town of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the UN organization confirmed on Friday.
The two iconic Kyiv sites, just a 15-minute drive apart on the Dnipro River, are “a masterpiece of human creative genius,” according to UNESCO.
The gold-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral, located in the heart of the capital, was built in the 11th century and designed to rival the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, while the so-called Monastery of the Caves, also known as the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, constitutes a sprawling complex of churches connected by a labyrinth of underground caves.
Lviv, 500 kilometers (310 miles) west of Kyiv near the Polish border, features a fifth-century castle overlooking winding streets and squares built between the 13th and 17th centuries, including Orthodox, Armenian, Catholic and Jewish religious buildings.
“In its urban fabric and its architecture, Lviv is an outstanding example of the fusion of the architectural and artistic traditions of Eastern Europe with those of Italy and Germany,” UNESCO said.
None of the sites have as yet been damaged by Russian attacks, and, although UNESCO’s list has no enforcement mechanism, it is hoped that the categorization could help deter arbitrary strikes.
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