IN SEARCH OF KYIV’S TREASURES
Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, view of the Upper Lavra from the south. French engraving from the second half of the 19th century / risu.ua
There are countless legends and tales about ancient treasures lying on Kyiv’s soil for centuries. Some historians can almost certainly confirm the existence of some of these treasures, while others remain skeptical.
The Ukrainian land is rich in treasures. For centuries, numerous trade routes passed through our regions, including the famous «Route from the Varangians to the Greeks». At different times, Scythians, Goths, Huns, Turks, Tatars, and Cossacks either lived in or passed through these lands, each leaving their legacy in Ukraine in the form of buried treasure.
Merchants would bury their valuables when attacked by robbers. Treasures also appeared during wars, as people hid their belongings, hoping to someday return for what they had concealed.
VARANGIAN GOLD
A
ccording to many, the most legendary treasure in Kyiv is the Varangian one. During the times of Kyivan Rus, the Varangians set up a «base» in our capital, where they raided trading ships and hid the stolen gold and other valuables in one of the Lavra caves, which earned it the name Varangian Cave. In this very cave (near the Distant Caves), a monk named Theodorus resided and eventually uncovered the treasure.
This story is documented in the 15th-century book Kyiv-Pechersk Patericon. Chapter 33 tells the tale of Theodorus: «And in his dreams, he saw a demon, bright and beautiful like an angel, showing him the treasure in the cave. The vision came to Theodorus many times. After many days, he went to the indicated place, began digging, and found a treasure — countless gold and silver and priceless vessels».
Prince Mstislav Svyatopolkovich learned of this from «kind» people and began to pressure and torture Theodorus. Eventually, the monk died from the torment. However, shortly before, if we are to believe the same Kyiv-Pechersk Patericon, this occurred: «For the treasure he found, Theodorus dug a deep pit, placed it there, and buried it; from that time until now, no one knows where it is hidden…»
AS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK
Among the cities of Old Rus, Kyiv ranks first in the number of discovered treasures. Treasure hunters ranged from adventurers, landowners, Cossacks, and merchants to princes. Even Janusz Radziwiłł, Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, engaged in deliberate treasure hunting after capturing Kyiv in 1651, driving out the Cossacks.
Many of Kyiv’s treasure seekers were educated individuals known among the people as «sorcerers», and their manuscripts were called «summoning books». These texts detailed where to find or summon treasures using spells and how to lift curses placed on them.
The earliest known work of Kyiv’s sorcerers that has survived is the Zaporizhzhia Manuscript on Treasures, published in Kyiv in 1856 by the well-known writer and historian Mykola Sementovsky (1819–1879).
Another famous artifact of Kyiv’s «sorcery» is the so-called List of Leshchynsky, a manuscript on treasures in Kyiv and its surroundings. This document was found among the papers of Professor Oleksiy Ivanovych Stavrovsky and published after he died in the magazine Kyivska Starovyna in 1883 under the section «Treasures within the Kyiv Province». It was presented simply as a list of addresses where treasures were buried in Kyiv — a guide for action: «Grab a shovel and go!»
Take the first item: «In Kyiv, on Khreshchatyk, in the former yard of Popov, under a log and a fruit bush lies a buried pot of money». This was an estate on the corner of Instytutska Street… Let’s search. Well, where’s that log? Or entry number 4: «In the Distant Caves under an ash tree, one and a half buckets of gold coins are buried».
This manuscript from Professor Stavrovsky’s archive gives us a glimpse into these so-called summoning books.
WHO SEEKS, FINDS…
If those summoning books hadn’t circulated, Kyiv wouldn’t have experienced a treasure-hunting fever starting in the mid-19th century — almost like a mania. These treasure hunters were hardly romantics; they were more akin to today’s black-market archaeologists, driven by commerce.
Active construction was underway, leveling streets and filling ravines. Most of the treasures discovered in the 19th century were looted by the workers who dug them up. The same fate befell Kyiv’s most significant treasure, found in 1842 by amateur archaeologist, landowner, and retired lieutenant Aleksandr Semenovich Annenkov.
Rumors suggest that Annenkov was exiled from the Kursk province for cruelty to his serfs. In 1821, he arrived in Kyiv in penance and began purchasing free land plots at the start of Volodymyrska Street for his city estate (from St. Andrew’s Church to Velyka Zhytomyrska Street).
During the laying of the mansion’s foundation, workers discovered a treasure: gold vessels and ancient jewelry. However, Annenkov’s finds went unmonitored, and he reportedly kept them hidden. It was said that numerous priceless creations by Kyiv jewelers from the princely era passed through his hands. In 1828, when Empress Alexandra Feodorovna visited Kyiv, Annenkov presented her with an antique gold ring featuring a large diamond.
Despite his flaws, the retired lieutenant did contribute to good causes. For example, he was praised for spending 300,000 rubles on the restoration of the Church of the Tithes. In 1824, he participated in excavating the foundations of the old church. From 1828 to 1842, with Annenkov’s funds and designed by Vasily Stasov, a new church was built on that site.
Annenkov was neither an archaeologist nor a historian but an avid gambler. He sold many treasures by weight, as scrap, for thousands of rubles. He ended his life in prison, convicted of forging banknotes. Nearly all of Annenkov’s treasure vanished (much of it was kept in his house and looted after his death), with only a tiny portion ending up in the British Museum.
…FINDS
In 1889, a treasure of early 17th-century Polish silver coins was discovered in the center of Podil on Nizhny Val Street. On Reitarska Street, at the Grebenovsky estate, a 12th-century copper pot containing silver, coins, bracelets, gold earrings, and rings was found. That same year, after a rainstorm on Duma Square (now Independence Square), passersby spotted a scattering of old coins on the cobblestone. People gathered them by the handful but soon realized the coins were Russian and from «the current century», as a market had previously been located on that very spot.
Kyiv’s treasure hunters caught the attention of seekers from other major cities. In 1885, Petersburg News published an ironic note about Kyiv and Eastern Ukraine’s «treasure mania», remarking on how anyone inclined was digging for treasure — both individuals and crews hired by wealthy amateurs.
One of the most remarkable finds in Kyiv during the 19th century was the discovery of a hidden Lavra treasury, believed to have been concealed during the reign of Polish kings around 1636–1638. It’s speculated that those who knew its location perished during the 1769–1771 plague.
Another theory suggests this was Hetman Mazepa’s treasury. Initially, it was stored in a church above the Economic Gates, and after Mazepa’s death, it was supposedly relocated. In 1898, during renovations in one of the Lavra’s churches, workers uncovered a concealed niche in the monastery’s treasury. Inside were 6,184 gold coins weighing a total of 26.655 kg and 9,895 silver coins weighing 267.345 kg. Professor Mykola Ivanovych Petrov, who studied the treasure, reported finding 18 poods of gold and silver. The coins were sent to the Hermitage, while the rest of the items were auctioned off to collectors by the Lavra.
HIDDEN AND BURIED
Many Kyiv treasures remain unfound. The exact location of the Grand Princes’ Krasny Dvir near the Vydubychi Monastery, where the Grand Princes once kept their treasures, is still unknown. During turbulent times, Krasny Dvir frequently faced raids, and after the death of Yuri Dolgoruky, a mob looted and burned down its chambers. The invaders limited themselves to what they found in the rooms and never reached the underground storage.
Another princely estate called «Paradise», likely located on an island across from the Vydubychi Monastery, also remains lost. Over time, the Dnipro shifted its course, and the island sank beneath the water. After the death of Prince Sviatoslav Yaroslavich, son of Yaroslav the Wise, in 1076, his wife Oda hid all her treasures somewhere in the center of Kyiv.
Nearly half of all known Kyiv treasures have been found in Volodymyr’s City, the oldest part of Kyiv, where princely palaces and boyar estates were concentrated. Of the 29 treasures believed to be located in the 10-hectare area of Volodymyr’s City, 16 were discovered around the Church of the Tithes.
The reliquary of Theodosius of the Caves — one of the founders of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — is still hidden somewhere in the Lavra. According to the Kyiv-Pechersk Patericon, its construction required «500 hryvnias of silver and 50 hryvnias of gold». Until 1240, it stood in the Dormition Cathedral.
Historian Dmytro Yavornytsky believed that the rebellious Hetman Mazepa, fleeing from Peter I’s troops after the Battle of Poltava, threw a chest of gold into the Dnipro. In search of this treasure, the caves of the Kyrylivskyi Monastery were cleared of debris, but nothing was found…
TREASURE HUNTERS OF THE MODERN ERA
But the story of treasure hunting in Kyiv doesn’t end there. In 1922, new-era seekers appeared in the Lavra — the Chekists. They carried Mausers instead of shovels and used not the works of sorcerers but the scholarly writings of church historian and professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy, Fedir Titov (1864–1935).
These books contained numerous photographs of the Lavra’s ecclesiastical treasures. Another professor, Ivan Nikodimov, who served as legal counsel for the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from 1919 to 1923 and lived there, wrote about this.
From his book: «It’s enough to recall the generous gifts and donations of Russian tsars and tsarinas, boyars, princes, and wealthy believers. The main wealth was concentrated in the treasury of the Great Church. It was the richest treasury in the world, invaluable in material, religious, and historical senses».
The confiscated treasures were taken from the Lavra in trucks. Ancient silver casings were trampled down in the truck beds with boots.
«Some items, which had unquestionable historical and artistic value, were returned at the request of the Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, many items, including Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s cross, were severely damaged and dented during loading, as the precious metal was trampled to make it fit more compactly», Nikodimov continues.
What more can be said? Having treasures is no easy task. Seekers will always emerge, and no one knows their true intentions. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s hidden treasures lie underground somewhere, waiting, waiting…
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