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The Mikhailovsky Cathedral was originally
named Dmitievsky after Dmitrii - Izyaslav Yaroslavich who founded the
monastery. The cathedral was dismembered by Soviet authorities to make room for
a new square and thus was destroyed one of the most extraordinary examples of
ancient architecture. Fortunately some of its mosaics were removed before the
cathedral was demolished. Some of them were allegedly made by Alipii, the
famous icon painter-monk of the Pechersk Monastery. Russian iconographers
rapidly mastered the fresco technique from the Greeks and almost completely
neglected mosaics. The frescoes of the Saint Sophia Cathedral were several
times renovated and occasionally disfigured.
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