ST. SOPHIA AT KIEF
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—We beg you to extend to us the hospitality of your columns in which we may call the attention of artists and • archaeologists in English-speaking countries to the threatened --we fear, inuninent—destruction of one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in Russia. The Cathedral of Saint Sophia of the Divine Wisdom at Kief was built in 1037, and is a monument of Byzantine influence on Slav culture. The divergence of style is shown in the colouring of the mosaics " which differ characteristict lly from those of Constantinople, Ravenna or Mon Reale. They date from a period before the Mongol invasion, when artistic culture had already attained a high level in Kief.
It would be deplorable if this monument of ancient art Were not preserved for posterity. We do not emphasize the religious aspect of the question. We write in the hope that public opinion may be aroused and that it may exert an influence in averting an irreparable loss.
From archaeological and artistic memoranda which have been preserved, we have made a series of 120 paintings of churches, monasteries, mosaics and famous ikons which, by the generosity of SS. Pius XI, have been given a permanent home in the Vatican collections of the Museum of St. Peter's. The exhibition which has been -recently opened, from its character, is obtaining wide recognition. It includes a painting of the doomed cathedral.—Yours faithfully,
51 Via Julius Caesar, Rome.
LEONIDE BRAYLOWSKY. RIM3Lt BRAILOWSKY.
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