The modern Park-Monument Mezhyhiria is built on the land whose history goes back thousands of years. This is the story of a place that has preserved the spirit of freedom, strength and faith for centuries. From the oldest settlements to the Cossack shrine, from the destroyed monastery to the modern park, this land remembers a lot. And every stage of its past has left its mark here - in the landscape, architecture, memories and legends.In this article, we invite you to walk together through the history of Mezhyhiria to better understand why this place still holds a special power of attraction today.
Foundation of the monastery
According to legends, the first monastery on this territory was founded in the days of Kievan Rus. One of them tells of its creation by Greek monks in 886.Little information has survived about the state of the monastery before the beginning of the sixteenth century. However, in 1523, a royal charter was issued for its restoration and the organization of a monastic community in Mezhyhiria.In 1610, the Kyiv-Mezhyhiria Transfiguration Monastery received the status of stavropegial, that is, it was directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople.One of the first images of Mezhyhiria is thanks to a drawing by the Dutch artist Abraham van Westerfeld, made during his trip in 1651. 14 years later, a large fire broke out in the monastery complex. After that, the monastery was rebuilt in the form of stone buildings.

Fig. 1. Image of the Kyiv-Mezhyhiria Transfiguration Monastery in 1651 (by Abraham van Westerfeld)