The Church of the Tithes or Church of the Dormition of the Virgin was the first stone church in Kyiv. Originally it was built by the order of Grand Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr) the Great between 989 and 996 by Byzantine and local workers at the site of death of martyrs Theodor the Varangian and his son Johann. It was originally named the "Church of Our Lady", in honor of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The church was ruined in 1240 during the siege of Kyiv by Mongol armies of Batu Khan.
The ruined Church of the Tithes in the 1650s, drawn by Abraham van Westerveld.
Church of the Tithes
The 19th century Church of the Tithes.
Coin of Ukraine, featuring Volodymyr the Great and a model of the church
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych, given the epithet "the Great", was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox Church canonised him as Saint Vladimir.
Vladimir's effigy on one of his coins. He is crowned in the Byzantine style, holding a cross-mounted staff in one hand and a Khazar-inspired trident in the other.
Vladimir the Great
The Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1890)
Vladimir and Rogneda (1770)
