In the mid-1850s, the first representatives of the Crimean Karaites appeared among the multinational population of Kyiv. In 1900, there were 12 thousand Karaites in Russia, and in Kyiv - a little more than 200 people, out of 276 thousand civilian population of the city. The most influential in all respects was the Cohen family.
Since the emergence of the Karaite community in Kyiv, it did not have its own temple and was forced to make do with a small chapel in a rented building. Solomon Aronovic.. Read more »h decided to correct this disadvantaged situation for his fellow believers and allocated 35 thousand rubles. to purchase a plot of land for a kenasa and then another 80 thousand for its construction. A fairly extensive estate was located on Yaroslavov Val Street, No. 7, next to the house of the famous therapist, university professor V.P. Obraztsov.
The construction of the kenasa by the contracting office of Lev Ginzburg began in the fall of 1898 and was completed in rough form within a year. At its solemn consecration on January 27 In 1902, the Gaham of Tauride and Odessa arrived - the supreme clergyman of all Russian Karaites. But the walls are significant (almost one and a half meters at the base), and therefore half a million bricks were used for their construction. Such massiveness was dictated by the peculiarities of the Moorish style of construction. Above the building is a dome covered with galvanized iron and topped with a spire.
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