Evening star., 1920-06-14
K|EV NOTED CITY
1000 YEARS AGO
Gave Its Name to Three
Century Period of Rus
sian History.

Kiev, which has changed hands te
times In three years with the recen
entry of Polish troops. described in new
dispatches. is the subject of bulletin
from the Washington headquarters o
the National Geographic Society, which
says:
"Kiev, mother of Russian cities. ais
the Jerusalem of Russia. did not live il
the past, even before its recent kaleido-
scopic adventures, though it was suffi
ciently significant a thousand years agt
TO give its name to a three-century pc
riod of Russian history.
Both the Wall street and the Ply
mouth Rock of Russia, each February
found thousands of merchants crowdins
its fair to contract for merchandise and
produce, especially beet sugar. and other
seasons found hundreds of thousands OF
pilgrims thronging Its unique shrine. the
Convent of the Caves.
AEglomeration of Old and New.
Few cities offer such an agglomera-
tion of the old and the new. Kiev lies
upon the muddy Dnieper, the Ohio river
of Russia, formerly carrier of some $780,
900. 900 worth of freight annually for the
100000 people within Its basin. Near
its site Prince Vladimir herded his peo-
pie for wholesale baptism, after he had
forSaken his pagan gods and thousand
wives and concubines for Christianity.
'Vladimir's was strange CONVEX
sion. He sent emissaries to study re-
ligions of the civilized world of his
day Cthe tenth century,. The Greek
ceremonialS at ByZantium captured
his ina gination. Some historians say
his desire to marry the daughter of
the Roman emperor Influenced his
choice.
Russians embraced the new re-
ligion with all the fervor with which
Iney had offered human sacrifices to
the abandoned idol. Perun. While
Vladimir held political sway at Kiev
there came a lowly monk. Anthony.
who took up his abode in a cave.
Other devout men followed his eX-
ample. Archeologists since have rec
ognized in these caves the homes of
cave dwellers of the stone age.
Cell Exits Walled Up.
These holy hermits walled up the
exits Of their self-appointed cells and
many never again came forth to day
light. They tasted and prayed. and
ate the food placed in inches every
second day. When the food was not
removed their fellow monks knew the
recluse to be dead. and walled in his
home to be his tomb. 1t Is the tombs
of these sanity troglodytes that
formed the major attraction for the
MY SITSdHt VI pilS Lila /
flowed through Kiev until the war
storm broke. One hermit-monk. John,
is said to have spent the last thirty
years of his life with his body buried
in earth up to his armpits.
The caves constitute but one fea-
ture Of the famous monastery. which.
with its streets of churches, cells.
inns and schools, Is a small city in it
self. Among the mummies that form
erly lay in open collins, enveloped In
costly robes, was that of Nestor. the
Russian Herodotus, whose chronicles
are responsible for the tradition that
Kiev was founded by three brothers
In the ninth century.
From the Cave Town quarter of
the city one emerges suddenly into
the Podol, or trading quarter. sug-
gesting New England factory city.
with its mills and shops for paper.
machinery, tobacco. chemicals and
hardware. Kiev not only was the
chief seat Of the Russian beet sugar
trade, but also dealt heavily in timber.
live stock and grain. It's recent
growth has been rapid. In 1888 it had