Karaite Kenesa of Kyiv
Ukraine is a multinational state and home to three groups of indigenous peoples: Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, and Karaites. The latter are a Turkic-speaking people following a religion similar to Judaism. At the end of the 19th century, there were less than a thousand Karaites in Kyiv, but they had their temple – the Kenesa.
Its construction was completed in 1902, and the building itself immediately became a landmark. The famous architect Vladyslav Horodetsky built it in a Moorish style, which was atypical for the Ukrainian capital. An impressive dome with a spire towered above the Kenesa, and its walls were decorated with exquisite moldings and imitations of stone carvings by the Italian sculptor Elio Salya. The decoration dazzled with colored stained-glass windows and bright tiles with oriental ornaments. The building also surprised Kyiv residents with the technology used: it had electric lighting, steam heating, and ventilation, quite unusual back then. The building itself was made of a then-innovative material: concrete.
Almost the entirety of Kyiv's elite visited the opening ceremony, and the front door was solemnly opened with a golden key. The Karaites finally had their temple. However, not for long.
After Ukraine was absorbed by the Bolsheviks, the Kenesa was closed. The building was used as a political and educational institution, a puppet theater, and a cinema at different times. In the 1960s, it was “reconstructed.” The picturesque dome was demolished, the building front and the original ceiling were changed, and the colorful stained glass windows were simply bricked up.
In 1981, the Kenesa became the Actor's House of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. Although the building was irreparably damaged, its extravagance still amazes any passerby the same as it used to do a hundred years ago.
Alexey Shmurak
Alexey Shmurak was born in 1986. He is a composer and sound artist based in Kyiv, Ukraine. After training as a pianist and graduating from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in music composition, Alexey started exploring various fields and practices: classical, contemporary classical and experimental music composition and performance. Shmurak's music and sound art explore genre borders, nostalgia, deconstruction, attention gaps and interruptions. As a performer, he is piano / keyboard based and frequently employs voice, drums, winds, electronics and surrounding space. As an educator, he makes lectures, workshops, lessons and essays in the fields of critical listening, political and social aspects of music, borders of disciplines and discourses.