A unique landmark of old Podil is the bell tower of St. Nicholas Church, long known among locals as St. Nicholas the Good. Its address is 6 Pokrovska Street.

Imagine: as early as the 11th century, a small wooden church may have stood on this very site. Historians suggest this, although no written evidence has been found yet. The first reliable records of the church appear in the 16th century and are linked with the legendary Cossack Hetman Samiylo Kishka. After his release from Turkish captivity, filled with gratitude to St. Nicholas for his miraculous deliverance, the hetman ordered a wooden church to be built here. At his own expense, he acquired the iconostasis and all the necessary liturgical furnishings.

Yet the turbulent history of Kyiv more than once brought this church to the brink of disappearance. In August 1651, the army of the Grand Hetman of Lithuania, Janusz Radziwiłł, seized the city. Amid fierce battles, the church was set ablaze and reduced to ashes. It was rebuilt in 1682, but peace proved short-lived. In early 1702, lightning struck, and once again fire consumed the holy place.

A true revival came in 1716, when a new brick church dedicated to St. Nicholas rose on the site. Its founder, Father Simeon Shyrypa - a man of energy and generosity - not only contributed a substantial portion of his own wealth but also rallied the support of Podil’s prosperous parishioners. The new church was splendid: three-altar, Baroque in style, adorned with an exquisite iconostasis. Yet fate was merciless once more - only two years later a devastating fire struck again. Cracks spread along the walls, and even the most careful repairs could not save the shrine. In 1799, the church was dismantled.

Next to it, however, a bell tower had also been raised in 1716 - and it has endured to this day. Built of brick, it captivates with its harmony and proportions: three tiers crowned with an octagonal spire and small dome, graceful dormers cut into the facets, and relief moldings shaped as half-columns. Its scale is impressive - 15.6 by 13 meters in plan, 12.5 meters to the roof, and a full height of 28 meters including spire and cross. The walls were massive: 1.8 meters thick at the first tier, and 1.5 meters at the bell tier. The tower unites elegant Baroque forms with Ukrainian national motifs and the silhouette of Moscow’s tented bell towers.

The architect’s name remains unknown.

The tower itself had an unusual layout. On the first tier was the main gate, along with small rooms where the church servants lived. The second floor contained a gate church dedicated to St. Simeon Stylites - the heavenly patron of Father Simeon Shyrypa. The third tier was reserved for the bells. Wooden galleries encircled the tower on three sides: one led to the living quarters, another directly to the church, and the third - upward to the bells.

On June 15, 1800, construction of a new St. Nicholas the Good Church began. Designed in the Empire style by the gifted architect Andriy Melenskyi - the man who bestowed Kyiv with many architectural treasures - the project was completed with solemn grandeur. On October 13, 1807, the new church was consecrated.

Yet disaster struck once again. The great fire of 1811 gravely damaged the bell tower, particularly its third tier and the bells themselves. Between 1814 and 1815, restoration work was carried out, and new bells were installed. Later, on February 10, 1829, a small warm church nearby was consecrated in honor of St. Barbara the Great Martyr.

In 1892, the entire St. Nicholas the Good Church complex underwent a thorough renovation again.

The 20th century, however, brought tragedy. In 1935, Soviet authorities demolished St. Nicholas the Good Church, leaving only the bell tower - a silent witness to its former splendor.

On February 11, 1964, extensive research of the monument and its surroundings began, followed by restoration works. Their aim was to remove 19th-century additions that had distorted the tower’s appearance, to reinforce the brick structures, and to revive its authentic elements. The bell tower’s interior was adapted for the needs of the nearby Secondary School No. 100. During the restoration, the masonry that had enclosed the arcade gallery of the first tier was dismantled, columns and capitals were carefully restored, the wooden roof structures were replaced, and the facade was adorned with renewed ornaments. Inside, only light cosmetic repairs were undertaken.

In 1963, the bell tower had already been entered into the register of architectural monuments of the Ukrainian SSR. Later, it housed the collections of the Republican Exhibition Hall of the Ministry of Culture.

In 1991, the bell tower was returned to the religious community of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which had only just emerged from the underground. Within its walls, the first UGCC parish in Kyiv was established. Just a year later, the community received another church - at Askold’s Grave.

Today, the bell tower of St. Nicholas the Good is more than an architectural monument of national significance. It is living history, uniting the spirit of old Podil, the elegance of Baroque architecture, and the memory of events that shaped Kyiv through the centuries.