The Chernihiv College is the oldest higher education institution in the Left-Bank Ukraine. It was established in 1700. The College was the part of the Cathedral of Sts Borys and Hlib, known as the residence of Chernihiv archbishops. The institution was founded by archbishops and writers Lazar Baranovych and Ioan Maksymovych and generously supported by Hetman Ivan Mazepa. Due to his financial support, the original baroque bell tower appeared on the complex. It was decorated with a fanciful ornament which was a great reminiscent of a carpet from afar. The Chernihiv College was established on the model of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Catholic Jesuit colleges and followed their traditions.
Initially, the college had four classes and employed only two teachers. Then three teachers worked there. Teachers taught students grammar, syntax in Old Slavic, Latin and Polish, poetics and rhetoric. Later on, a philosophical class was started where students were taught German, French and Greek as well as geometry and arithmetic. College training was based on democratic principles. Every gifted child regardless of the parents’ social background and budget could attend college. Consequently, children of Cossacks, clergy, burghers went to college. At that time there were about two hundred students in the Chernihiv college.
There are a lot of remarkable personalities among the graduates and teachers of the institution such as H. Kononovych, the author of the first New Testament translation in Chernihiv, I. Lezhaiskyi, the first head of the Theological Orthodox Mission in China and P. Zahorskyi, the founder of the first anatomical school in the Russian Empire. The College was maintained at the expense of the monastery, the Chernihiv Eparchy and charitable donations. The more students attended college, the more new training facilities were being built along the monastery walls.
There are references that in twentieth century the building of the Chernihiv College was used as a residential house. The cellars were converted to a bomb shelter. Since 1941, the building has been in the possession of the Ministry of Air Defense, its warehouses were located here. The administration of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Chernihiv Ancient", a storage facility, a restoration workshop, a permanent exposition of the iconography of the XVII-XX centuries are housed in the building today.