To the History of the Restoration of St. Sophia of Kyiv: Documents From the Personal Archive of Adrian Prakhov in the Repository Collection of the National Conservation Area «St. Sophia of Kyiv» (1881–1896)

The purpose of the research is the archeographic publication of some documents from the personal archive of the prominent Ukrainian art critic and archaeologist Adrian Prakhov (1846–1916), which are stored in the repository collection of the National Conservation Area «St. Sophia of Kyiv» and relate to the study and restoration of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv; the earliest and the latest dates of documents: 1881–1896. In preparing them for publication, the authors relied on the methods of edicial archeography, with special emphasis on general scientifi c methods of codicographic description and critical analysis of documentary material. Scientifi c novelty. For the fi rst time, a number of documents were introduced into scientifi c circulation, which allowed to signifi cantly expand the existing knowledge on a number of issues related to the history of restoration works in Sophia of Kyiv in the last quarter of the 19th century. Some of the documents are correspondence between A. Prakhov and P. Lebedyntsev, the archpriest of St. Sophia Cathedral and researcher of Kyiv monuments which allows to clarify the circumstances of the discovery of mosaics in the main dome of the church and frescoes depicting Saints Adrian and Natalia in the arch of its northern outer gallery, mistakenly attributed by contemporary historiographers to A. Prakhov. From these documents we learn that he was invited to continue the open up and strengthen the artworks already discovered by P. Lebedyntsev, about which he informed A. Prakhov. The circumstances of writing sketches for the composition «Christmas» on the west wall of the central nave of the cathedral, which was washed away during the restoration works of the last century, have been clarifi ed. The author of the composition is considered to be the artist I. Selezniov. He did make one sketch, but according to the published here agreement between P. Lebedyntsev and A. Prakhov and another epistle, we learn that another sketch of the composition «Christmas» was made by A. Prakhov. Important information on the main types of restoration work is provided by A. Prakhov's draft estimates for clearing the mosaics of the main dome, estimates of the unrealized project of painting the newly built Sophia porch on the site of the destroyed western external gallery or details of the new, stylized copy of the 11th century, a copy of the act of inspection of the cathedral roof. Conclusions. The published documents deepen the existing knowledge about the peculiarities of the Prakhov's restoration of St. Sophia of Kyiv.