Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in the context of "Cave monastery"

The Ruthenian nobility (Ukrainian: Руська шляхта, romanized: Ruska shlyakhta; Belarusian: Руская шляхта, romanized: Ruskaja šlachta; Polish: szlachta ruska) originated in the territories of Kievan Rus' and Galicia–Volhynia, which were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian and Austrian Empires. The Ruthenian nobility became increasingly Polonized and later Russified, while retaining a separate cultural identity.

The Ruthenian nobility, originally characterized as East Slavic-speaking and Eastern Orthodox, found itself ruled by the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where it rose from second class status to equal partners of the Lithuanian nobility. Following the Polish–Lithuanian union of the 14th century, the Ruthenian nobles became increasingly Polonized, adopting the Polish language and religion (which increasingly meant converting from the Orthodox faith to Roman Catholicism). Ruthenian nobility, however, retained a distinct identity within the body of the Polish-Lithuanian szlachta, leading to the Latin expression gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus or gente Rutheni, natione Poloni (translated as "of Polish nationality, but Ruthenian origin", "of Ruthenia race and Polish nation", or in various similar veins), although the extent to which they retained and maintained this separate identity is still debated by scholars, and varied based on time and place.

The Saint Sophia Cathedral (Ukrainian: Софійський собор, romanized: Sofiiskyi sobor or Софія Київська, Sofiia Kyivska) in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kyivan Rus'. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kyiv Cave Monastery complex. Aside from its main building, the cathedral includes an ensemble of supporting structures such as a bell tower and the House of Metropolitan.

In 2011 the historic site was reassigned from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. One of the reasons for the move was that both Saint Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra are recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Program as one complex, while in Ukraine the two were governed by different government entities. The cathedral is a museum.

The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Russian: Церковь Успения Пресвятой Богородицы) is a Russian Orthodox Church building in Saint Petersburg. Its construction started in 1894 when monks from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra decided to expand the monastic branch of the monastery. Work on the construction lasted six years, and the church was designed in the neo-Byzantine style by Vasily Kosyakov.