1707 Kyiv altar Gospel featured in “Sacred Treasures from Kyiv” exhibition at V&A in London

A 1707 altar Gospel in a silver cover from the collection of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” is now on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of the exhibition “Sacred Treasures from Kyiv.” The Gospel was made in Kyiv by Oleksii Ishchenko, a prominent Kyiv silversmith who produced liturgical metalwork for the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and is one of seven sacred works from the Lavra collection being shown in the United Kingdom for the first time.

The exhibition opened at V&A South Kensington on Sept. 14, 2026, and will remain on view until Sept. 17, 2027. Admission is free.

The altar Gospel in a silver cover is a liturgical book used during Christian worship. It is displayed alongside other examples of Ukrainian Baroque sacred art created by Kyiv silversmiths in the 17th and 18th centuries, including an icon, a diskos used for the Eucharist, and a silver-gilt chalice depicting the Crucifixion.

Image: National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”

The seven works offer visitors a view of the Lavra’s centuries-old tradition of devotion and craftsmanship and its enduring artistic and cultural legacy. The exhibition opened in the year marking the 975th anniversary of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the centenary of the National Preserve.

The display also brings the seven works together with two gilded silver Holy Gates from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra that are now held by the V&A on long-term loan from the Gilbert Trust for the Arts. According to the British Council, the gates were removed from the Lavra during the Soviet period and later passed through private collections abroad. Their origins and history were subsequently interpreted through a Russian imperial narrative.

The current display places the gates alongside objects from the Lavra collection, some made by the same craftsmen who worked on the gates. The British Council says bringing the works together helps clarify their connections within a shared Ukrainian artistic tradition and present the history of the gates more accurately.

The exhibition was developed through a long-term partnership between the V&A and the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” with support from the British Council and the Gilbert Trust for the Arts. The Ukrainian Institute, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Embassy in the United Kingdom were also involved.

As reported earlier, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was damaged during a Russian attack on Kyiv on June 15, 2026. A Russian Shahed-type UAV struck St. Stephen’s side chapel of the Dormition Cathedral. Lavra employees and emergency workers evacuated valuable exhibits, including icons, antimensions, and liturgical objects. No casualties were reported at the Lavra.

The Lavra is protected not only as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site but also through its inclusion in the International List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection under the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention.

The monastery also has a major place in the history of Ukrainian printing. As reported earlier, Moscow restrictions on Kyiv publishing intensified from the late 17th century. In 1690, the “new Kyiv books” were anathematized, and Peter I’s 1720 decree required publications printed in Kyiv and Chernihiv to conform to Moscow editions and contain “no difference and no special dialect.” Censored editions from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra printing house began appearing in 1722.

The Kyiv Lavra Patericon was among the works affected by these restrictions. Its publication was prohibited until it was altered to conform to Moscow standards, after which the Moscow printing house published the work under a modified title in 1759.

Today, the Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine operates in the former Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra printing house, where it continues to present exhibitions and collections documenting the history of Ukrainian bookmaking, from manuscripts and early printed books to modern publishing.

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Main image: Sandra Ebert / Ministry of Culture of Ukraine