Stepan Kovnir

Stepan Kovnir
Stepan Kovnir
Степан Ковнір
	Memorial plaque to Stepan Kovnir on the exterior of the Church of St. Anthony and St. Theodosius, Vasylkiv, Ukraine
Born	Stepan Demianovych Kovnir; 1695; Hvozdiv, Cossack Hetmanate, Tsardom of Russia
Died	1786 (aged 90–91); Kyiv, Russian Empire
Citizenship	Ukrainian; Russian;
Occupations	Master builder; architect;
Years active	1721–1777
Buildings	Trinity Church, Kytayiv; Church of St. Anthony and St. Theodosius, Vasylkiv; St Andrew's Church, Kyiv; Kyiv Bratsky Monastery bell tower;
Projects	Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex Kovnir's Building; Bell tower of the Far Caves; Bell tower of the Near Caves; Great Bell Tower; Assumption Cathedral, pediments; Klov Palace;
Design	Ukrainian Baroque

Stepan Demianovych Kovnir (Ukrainian: Степан Дем'янович Ковнір [steˈpɑn deˈmjɑnowɪtʃ kou̯ˈn⁽ʲ⁾ir]; Russian: Степан Демьянович Ковнир; 1695–1786) was a Ukrainian builder and master mason in Kyiv. His nearly sixty years of labor brought aesthetic unity to the ancient, sprawling center of Ukrainian culture and education, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A serf without any formal education, he became an early master of Ukrainian baroque architecture as well as organizing a school for masons.