Subsurface radar imaging of underground archeological objects in Kyiv Petcherskaja Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine

This paper presents preliminary results of a nondestructive and remote sensing investigation by ground penetrating radar survey and the following computer processing to image subsurface objects with archeological and historical features. This investigation has been conducted by the author's research group during the summer-autumn period of the 1998 in the famous and oldest monastery of the East Christian church, the Kyiv Petcherskaja Lavra, Kyiv, Ukraine. This place is associated with the earliest Christian culture traditions of the East-European Slavs and a fascinating piece of the Ukrainian history. Many buried structures were located and mapped as a result of these investigations including the unknown complex system of subsurface tunnels at the depth of 4-9 meters with total length more than 200 meters. Numerous objects like basements, graves, crypts, ossuaries, etc. have been detected and mapped also during presented studies.