Ground Penetrating Radar Scanning and Historical Interpretation of the Location of Kyiv Confraternal Monastery’s Epiphany Cathedral

Abstract

In 2021, we performed a ground penetrating radar survey at the place of the Epiphany Cathedral of the Kyiv Confraternal Monastery, destroyed in 1936, in order to precisely locate its foundations. The collection and analysis of archival information from open sources was carried out, which became the basis for the interpretation of the results of geophysical measurements. Publications and written testimonies of archaeologists who personally saw the foundations of the Cathedral became especially valuable. The set of historical data covers the period from 1615, that is, from the beginning of the construction of the wooden Epiphany Church, the predecessor of the Cathedral, to the present day. Original documents, blueprints, stock sources, photographs, and cartographic materials of the 17th––19th centuries, as well as historical works of the 19th–21st centuries, were analyzed. The information about the construction, restoration after the fire, functioning, and destruction of the Cathedral, as well as about the construction on its site in the 20th century, archaeological research in the 20th–21st centuries was generalized. Ground penetrating radar survey revealed the best-preserved group of foundations of the western wall of the Cathedral, which are proposed for archaeological excavations.