Creation of a mosaic panel depicting Anna Yaroslavna in St. Sophia Cathedral
In November 2019, as part of the metaphor project "Paris. Archetypes in Art", we visited the Anne of Kyiv Centre and the Abbey of St. Vincent, founded by her in Senlis. Our guide was the wonderful Anna Kanter, who cherishes the memory of our Kyiv princess and the French queen. The result of this trip was our joint gift to the Sophia of Kyiv Foundation with the participants - a mosaic depicting Anna Yaroslavna.
Anna Yaroslavna is a vivid example of Female Leadership in the Middle Ages. According to French ambassadors, Anna was beautiful, intelligent, and received an excellent education for that time. As the Queen of France and the great-grandmother of more than 30 French kings, she participated in the public life of the kingdom and did a lot to raise the level of culture and education.
On May 19, 1051, the wedding and coronation of Anna Yaroslavna with King Henry I of France took place in the Cathedral of Reims. The girl brought with her valuable gifts, among which Anna brought to Reims the legendary Reims Gospel - one of the oldest known books of Kyivan Rus, on which the French kings took the oath.
With Anna's participation during her reign, the following were built: the Abbey of St. Nicasius in Reims, the Abbey of Saint-Martin-de-Champs, and the Abbey of Saint-Vincent-de-Senis. The wisdom and diplomatic qualities that she was taught at home allowed Anna to win the favour of not only the French but even Pope Nicholas II.
Anna and Henry had three children: Philip I - King of France, Hugh the Great - leader of the First Crusade, and Blessed Edighna - patroness of Bavaria.
900 years after Anna's life, it was thanks to her that in the 1930s, St. Sophia of Kyiv was not destroyed by the Soviet authorities, due to France's intervention for the inheritance of the father of the French queen.
Opening date: July 2020
Number of participants: 40
Master: Oleksiy Loboda, Stained Glass Workshop "Glass Art Stories" Price: 100,000 UAH.
When creating Anna's image, clothes and royal attributes were recreated thanks to Olena Yasinetska, an employee of the St. Sophia of Kyiv.
Project patrons
The mosaic was funded by participants in the “Paris. Archetypes in art":
Barska Anna, Bilosvit Taras, Bilei Larisa, Brezynsky Dmitry, Vesnovskaya Olena, Glavatska Anna, Glavatsky Volodymyr, Gromova Kateryna, Demchak Kateryna, Demchak Mykola, Duk Oleksandr, Dyachenko Marina, Zamsha Nataliya, Ivanchenko Darya, Kalinichenko Mykola, Karetnikova Olga, Katsadze Victoria, Kolupaylo Andriy, Kornilovska Iryna, Mazur-Kravchenko Iryna, Lekhanova Svitlana, Lovchieva Oksana, Maksimovska Yulia, Manevich Olena, Mikhutkin Vyacheslav, Miroshnychenko Oleg, Olefirenko Yakiv, Osipenko Igor, Pavlyshyna Olena, Pivovarov Ivan, Platonova Olena, Svyridova Darya, Skolyarov Dmitry, Skora Tatyana, Snizhko Vita, Snizhko Svitlana, Sukhomlyn Volodymyr, Troyan Tatyana, Khrutsky Oleksandr, Chub Svitlana, Shulika Anna
