Did you know that

Johann Gottfried Schedel Lavra, the architect of the Lavra Bell Tower, arrived in Kyiv because of political persecution? Before starting work on the project of the bell tower of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Schedel lived in St. Petersburg. He constructed palaces for the governor of the capital, Prince Olexandr Menshykov. After the disgrace and exile of Prince, Schedel could be accused of stealing the state treasury, as Menshykov paid for the construction of his own residences with funds withdrawn from the governmental chancellery. With the help of Vice-Chancellor Andriy Ostermann, a German by birth, Schedel escaped persecution by obtaining an architect's patent, which gave him the right to appear in official documents as a “palace master” until 1727, in the modern sense as an interior decorator. At first, he worked in Moscow, and after a dispute over a contract with Rastrelli father and son, he moved to Kyiv, where he completed the most famous of his architectural projects.

Picture captions:

1. View of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. First third of the 20th century [Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archeology of the NAS of Ukraine, photo 10, archival affairs 17]

2. Bell Tower of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Modern View.