# 102 years ago in Kyiv there were explosions in Zverinets



## zlax (Dec 26, 2020)

102 years ago in Kyiv there were explosions in Zverinets. According to the official version:


> "The causes of the explosion, despite serious investigations, could not be determined," wrote Hetman Skoropadsky in his memoirs.


Взрывы артскладов: как Киев вступил в эру техногенных катастроф - BBC News Україна

But at the same time:


> Several cameramen were able to shoot the explosions. One of them - a German military - carried out aerial filming from an airplane.
> Their films were shown in Kyiv cinemas. However, the names of the films did not differ in originality: "The catastrophe in Kyiv", "The catastrophe at Zverinets", "Kyiv disaster".


As it turned out, the explosions were filmed by German cameramen who found themselves in the air with photo and film equipment at that time.
This is not the only case of major explosions on the territory of the old bastions in Kyiv, a couple of ten years later in the occupied by the Germans Kyiv also had a series of major explosions and fires (mainly on Khreschatyk).



In this aspect, the German aerial photography of the Kyiv Zverinets district in the period of World War II is interesting, where you can see a multi-level fort, not reflected in the city plans.


According to the official version, this unusual multi-level fort is a brotherly cemetery, on top of which was laid the Temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, 104 years ago. The photo has been preserved, as it is alleged, of the initial installation of this temple, on which Empress Maria Fedorovna (real name - Maria Sofia Frederica Dagmar from the dynasty of Glucksburg) - the mother of the Russian tsar was present. The photo shows that - there were already built parts of the temple.


And this is what the dome of the temple looks like on top of this former multi-level bastion today. It is located in the closed area of the Institute for Problems of Strength.


Source:


I also suggest that you look at the video that was filmed directly at the site of this unusual place at the present time:

(automatically translated subtitles available)

That's what an unofficial version of this unusual place from local researchers sounds like:


> At first, the government of Skoropadsky was concerned about building a government district here. In 1918, construction was postponed - to explore underground voids. The place was being prepared for the construction of a bunker.
> Then there was an explosion in Zverenets military warehouses - 1918 - a series of powerful explosions. To shoot this action were raised into the sky by German airplanes - they were shooting, and from the photo we have the opportunity to see the hell of this explosions...
> The government solved many issues in this way: according to the commission's conclusion that it was investigating these explosions, the fire started in a depository of old documents. For the new government, that's a good thing.
> In the middle of the last century academician Pisarenko took an interest in this place, working on the problems of strength of materials.
> ...


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## zlax (Dec 26, 2020)

> Caves in Kiev suburb of Zverintes were discovered as recently as in 1888. Some say - during the extraction of clay or soil movement, the others talk about one Feodosia Matvienko, who had visions on where to look for the entrance to the caves. The length of the Zverinets monastery catacombs is about two kilometers, which is much longer than in the famous Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Cave monastery. Besides the remains of temples and crypts with the holy relics, there were the remains of the laity found in the caves. To all appearances, the monastery, founded in the X-XI centuries, was destroyed during the Tatar Mongol invasion - perhaps people have tried to hide here, and the Mongols simply walled the entrance. The monastery revived only in the late XII century. There are remains of paintings, carved in stone crosses in the caves, and worship is conducted in the underground church of the Archangel Michael. The new monastery is being built on the surface.


https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...nd_Archangel_Mykhail_Monastery-Kyiv_Kiev.html










> In 1933 the abbot of the monastery Archimandrite Philaret was murdered, in the next year, 1934, the Zvirynets hermitage was closed, and its ground church was blown up. The hermitage lands, along with the caves, were divided between the Botanical Garden and a private housing estate. During the Nazi occupation, locals hid here. However, after the war the entrances to the caves slowly drifted away and were forgotten. The Zvirynets Caves were remembered again only in the 1990s, when they were uncovered by the Underground Kiev Society.


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## Kayola (Jun 23, 2022)

A very interesting topic. From myself I will add that if the fortress was really used for defensive purposes, then it is not surprising that it was not on the maps and plans of cities that could fall into the hands of a potential enemy. The total spread of the stamp "Top Secret" in the 20th century could not have arisen from nowhere: I am sure that in the days of Tsarist Russia there were also objects that could not be displayed on maps and documents, and these were military installations.


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