Kiev is the capital of The Ukraine and is bisected by the Dnieper River. Designed similar to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kiev symbolizes the ‘new Constantinople’, capital of the Christian principality of Kiev, which was founded in the 11th century in an area evangelized after baptism of St Vladimir in 988. The spiritual and intellectual influence of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and faith in the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century.
