Voznesensʹkyy Cholovichyy Monastyr

Next to Khmelnytsky Square, on Skovoroda Street, is the Ascension Monastery. The ensemble of the monastery began to form in 1695-1700, together with the construction of the majestic Ascension Cathedral. "This is a cathedral of beautiful, graceful, semi-Rococo, semi-Byzantine architecture, built by the famous anathema Ivan Mazepa…" - so wrote about the cathedral Taras Shevchenko. Today, the temple houses the Museum-Diorama "Battle for the Dnieper".

In 1738, a wooden building of the college was built on the territory of the monastery. But ten years later, the building, like the other wooden buildings of the monastery, burned down. In its place in 1753-57 put a new brick.

The Pereyaslav Collegium is known for teaching Hryhoriy Skovoroda, a professor of pythics. Here the outstanding philosopher wrote a large number of his works (in particular, "The Garden of Divine Songs"). At the end of the 18th century, the college was turned into a theological seminary. Today, the museum of Hryhoriy Savovych Skovoroda is located in the premises of the former collegium.

The bell tower, which is almost the main decoration of the monastery ensemble, was built in 1770-76. It is considered an outstanding example of the Ukrainian Baroque and dominates the entire central part of Pereyaslav. In 1782 a small Barbarian church was added to the bell tower, but this building was destroyed between 1941-43.

The ensemble of the monastery includes the building of the former dormitory of the seminary, which now houses a primary school and a city gymnasium. It was built in 1877 and used for its intended purpose until 1917. From the first years of Soviet rule until 1941, it housed an orphanage, during the Nazi occupation - the commandant's office, and from 1958 to 1996 - the building of the pedagogical school. During all these years, the building has changed a lot - after the bombings of 1941-43, the whole wing had to be rebuilt, and the magnificent decorative finish was lost altogether.