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Kievan Rus'

Type Object Region Eastern Europe Time c. 882–1240

Kiev (Kiev/Kyiv) was the political and religious center of the medieval Kievan Rus' principalities on the middle Dnieper;…

Timeline

  1. c. 882–1015Kiev · UkraineOleg established the capital at Kiev, and Vladimir the Great accepted Orthodox baptism around 988 and built Saint Sophia Cathedral, making Kiev the religious and trade center of the East Slavic world of Eastern Europe.
  2. 1113–1135Capital of the Grand Principality of Kiev · KievMstislav I served as grand prince of Kiev in 1131–1132; after his death in 1132, princes including Yaroslav and Vyacheslav contested the Kiev throne; in 1139 Vsevolod II entered Kiev, and the capital remained the political symbol and ecclesiastical center of Rus'.
  3. c. 1132–1200Kiev · UkrainePartition among the principalities intensified and the Kiev grand princely throne changed hands frequently, yet the city retained its status as 'Mother of Cities,' with Saint Sophia Cathedral and the Cave Monastery maintaining Orthodox cultural influence.
  4. c. 1240Kiev · UkraineMongol forces captured Kiev and the city was severely damaged, ending the unified polity of Kievan Rus'; buildings such as Saint Sophia Cathedral survived, and Kiev thereafter became a core city in the history of Lithuania-Poland and of modern Ukraine.

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