*Location:

   Kyievo-Pechersk Lavra
   (Kiev Monastery of the Caves)
   Lavrska Street
   Kyiv, Ukraine
   LL: N 50.43466, E 30.55637

Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Player:

   (unknown)

*Contact:

   Kyiv Holy Dormition Monastery
   Lavrska street 15, building 42
   01015 Kyiv
   T: (093)323-19-10   F: (093)255-11-76
   (Press and Information Office)

*Schedule:

   (unknown)

*Remarks:

   Also a large disused bell

*Technical data:

   Zvon of 17 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is unknown
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     ----  /    ----  
   The arrangement of tones and semitones is unknown.
   The whole instrument was installed in unknown year
     with bells made by an unknown maker      
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2023

The Website of the Lavra (Ukrainian: Києво-Печерська лавра) is available in Russian, Ukrainian and English.  It opens with a quasi-aerial photo that shows the tower clearly.

The English Wikipedia article about the monastery

The English Wikipedia article about the bell tower asserts (as of early 2024) that only three small old bells remain, but photos in the Wikimedia Commons category show that there are on the third level of the tower 14 small bells in a triple rack in the southeast opening (facing the large courtyard) plus three medium-to-large bells in individual openings to the S,SW,W; plus an ornate old bell (disused) in the interior.  Stairways to the fourth level are visible in NE opening; W,N & E are empty.  The remains of timbers that once supported at least two large bells remain on top of the steel frame from which the disused bell hangs.

The Wikimedia Commons category named "The Bell of the Great Lavra Belltower" shows one extremely ornate large bell at ground level, either sitting on skids or hung on a low steel frame.  This appears to be the same bell that is shown hanging in the belfry, but not yet connected to the playing stand.

News article with video (5:40):
"Shchedryk performed on bell tower of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra for first time"
The academic choral Chapel of Ukrainian Radio performed an impromptu version of the famous Christmas tune Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells) on the Lavra bell tower.  (In English, then Ukrainian; some views outside but some inside the bell chamber; 14 small bells visible at 0:14)

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of unknown bellfoundries, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all European chimes by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all European chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all European chimes by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Ukraine.

   This page was built from the database on  9-Feb-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2024/02/07
   and on technical data last updated on 2024/02/07