Ivan Hryhorovych Hryhorovych-Barskyi (1713, Kyiv – 10.09.1791, Kyiv) – a famous Ukrainian architect, the most prominent representative of the Ukrainian baroque style, a student of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a younger brother of Vasyl Hryhorovych-Barskyi, a famous Ukrainian traveller and writer.

He was born into a family of Kyiv burghers the Hryhorovyches, whose family came from Bar in Podillya (hence the second part of the surname of both brothers). Up to 1710, their father lived in Kyiv in Pechersk and, according to Ivan, “had a merchant merchandise”; then he moved to Podil.

After studying at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the mid-1720s — early 1730s, Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi served in the Kyiv Magistrate on various positions, including the charge of manors. According to his projects, a number of sacral, public, economic, and private buildings were built in Kyiv, as well as in Kyiv and Chernihiv districts. He also completed the construction and reconstruction of monastery and church complexes in Kyiv.

In the years 1748-1749 he designed and built a water fountain, part of which was a fountain with a pavilion-rotunda, known after its restructuring in the early 19th century called Samson.

To this day, the Church of the Intercession and the Church of Mykola Naberezhnyi, as well as the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin and the house of the regimental office in Kozelets (nowadays)and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Krasnohorsk Monastery in Zolotonosha, have been preserved in Podil in Kyiv.

In 2011, the National Bank of Ukraine issued the commemorative silver coin “The Hryhorovych-Barskyis Family” in the “Famous Families of Ukraine” series.

In addition to studying at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ihor Hryhorovych-Barskyi also led the construction of a brick bursa near the Dnieper, and a dormitory for poor students in 1778.

It was the last architectural creation of the master, which has survived to this day, albeit in a reconstructed form. The one-storey building was built on the former foundation of the burnt wooden bursa; it had thick walls, almost square small windows, an iron-covered roof, side wings, and arches.

Source: Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Reflected in Names: XVII-XVIII, 2001.