The Transfiguration Cathedral (Spassky) in Chernihiv is the most ancient Orthodox church of the Ancient Rus period. Its architecture combines the scheme of the Byzantine cross-domed temples with the elements of the Romanesque basilica.
The Cathedral of the Transfiguration was founded by the first Prince of Chernihiv, Mstyslav Volodymyrovych the Brave in the period between 1030–1036, according to the assumption of historians.
“Mstyslav went hunting. He became ill and died. And they laid him in the church in the Holy Savior because during his time the walls were erected to the height of the horseman who was sitting on the horse with a raised hand’’.
The construction of the cathedral was completed by the son of Yaroslav the Wise who headed Chernihiv principality after the death of Mstyslav. During the Tatar-Mongol invasion in 1239 the cathedral was destroyed; the arches and the baths were partially destroyed.
The plan of the Transfiguration Cathedral is a rectangle divided by two rows of three pillars. It was completed in the east by three semicircular apses with five baths. The facades of the temple were decorated with numerous brick ornaments. The central part of the western facade is enchased with a large meander belt (geometric pattern in the form of a broken line).
The central drum and the tower were particularly orated with patterns and ornaments of brick.
Inside the cathedral, the lateral branches of the spatial cross are separated from the bribed space with the help of triforia which rest below on the marble columns.
