Love and the Lavra - part two.


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Europe
May 21st 2009
Published: May 21st 2009
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In March I moved with Ana to Kyiv's Arsenal'na district, between Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) and the right bank of the river Dnieper. It is one of the city's most attractive areas, scattered with lush, sweet-smelling chestnut trees and punctuated by dozens of landmarks.

It is home to the Kievo-Pecherska Lavra (The Kyiv Cave Monastery, completed in 1015), a guardian of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, behind which stands the Rodina - Mat' (Motherland) statue, her thick, silver arms and thick, silver sword thrusting defiantly - and symbolically - at the sky, on top of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.

As I sat on a bench not far from the hotel Salyut, I spotted a wedding party below. It is a Ukrainian tradition for the bride and groom to be photographed in front of their city's landmarks on their wedding day, and the couple were making their way from the Lavra to rest in one of the pagodas by the edge of the river. I couldn't resist the urge to spy on them, and in doing so took this photograph, a memento of another happy memory in Arsenal'na.

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You can find more of my writing and photography on my journal, Short stories and photographs from across Europe.


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21st May 2009

You're back!
I know, you never left. But am happy to be reading your blog again. And hey, that was a lovely photo of the wedding. Having it in black and white adds drama to it. Nice one.

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