Mysterios niches on the façade of Cyril's church in Kyiv

The purpose of the publication is to introduce into scientific circulation new information about origin and purpose of the architectural niches on the northern facade of St. Cyrilʼs Church in Kyiv. Making a reasonable assumption about the content of the memorial images arranged in these niches; finding out the identity of a patron of these niches and images. The main goal is to recreate the memorable relief images on the facade of St. Cyrilʼs Church thanks to the discovered information. Assumptions, conclusions, new information regarding this issue, in our opinion, have indisputable scientific novelty. The research methods were selected in accordance with the set goal based on the principles of objectivism and scientificity. The method of analysis, induction and deduction, archival search was mainly used. Conclusions. As a result of the research, the assumption was made and substantiated that the hegumen of Cyril’s Monastery, Dymytrii Tuptalo, was the customer of the niches and memorial images in the northern wall of Cyril’s Church. It was found out that the images of the Vatopedian Mother of God and St. Meletius of Antioch were placed in the niches in honor of the family of Sava Tuptalo and Meletius Dzyk, the hegumen of the Cyril’s monastic cell. This added to the knowledge about the history of Ukraine and Kyiv in general and the unique monument of the XII c. – Cyril’s Church in particular