St Andrew's Church stands in the cemetery of the village of Stolne near Mena. It was erected in 1782 by the Chancellor of the Russian Empire Oleksandr Bezborodko over the grave of his father, and the temple indeed resembles a large cemetery vault: square, very massive, with a single dome. It is unlike most Ukrainian churches of the late 18th century.
Stolne and the Bezborodkos
The village was founded back in pre-Mongol times and presumably belonged to the princely table — hence the name. It was destroyed by the hordes of Batu, but Stolne was revived in Lithuanian times. From 1660 it belonged to the Nizhyn Nativity of Christ St George Monastery, and after the monastery was closed it passed to the treasury. In 1740, Empress Anna Ivanovna granted the town to General Judge Andrii Bezborodko.
His son Oleksandr Bezborodko, a native of Hlukhiv, made a brilliant career and became the chancellor of the empire. In Stolne he built a Classicist palace and park complex, in the design of which the architect Giacomo Quarenghi probably participated. The estate park is now a monument of garden and park art.
Church-mausoleum
The name of the church is presumably connected with the name of the chancellor's father, Andrii Bezborodko, over whose grave it was erected. The building is in the Classicist style, but very original: a stern square volume, massive walls and a single dome. In the 19th century a bell tower was added to it and connected to the church by a passageway.
Next to the church is the Bezborodko estate park above the pond on the Dumnytsia River.
How to get there
Stolne lies about 20 km west of Mena, in the Mena hromada of Koriukivka Raion. The church stands in the village cemetery. The trip can be combined with the Mena Zoo and Sosnytsia.
