When the monument to Saint Prince Vladimir, the Christiner of Rus, was raised, religious people were troubled: Vladimir destroyed the idols, and now he will stand as an idol himself. The Moscow architect I. Shtrom worked out a design for Kiev Saint Vladimir's Cathedral in monumental Byzantium style crowned with 13 domes. However the donations collected for the construction did not cover the costs. Another architect P.Sparro "reduced" the design to 7 domes. But this would have made the cathedral too small. They appealed to the well-known Kiev architect A. Beretti for help. In 1862 the work began. The main bulk of the structure was completed and the builders were ready to add the domes, when suddenly it turned out the transversal arcs could not hold the weight of the upper circle, and they began to crack. The Beretti was dismissed in 1866. The architects spent a long time searching for a solution to the problem. Only in 1875 when R. Berngard came to the city he solved the problem with hos project. The walls of the cathedral were strengthened with buttresses. Though they didn't improve the appearance of the cathedral, but solved the construction problems. The church was finished and solemnly consecrated in the presence of Tsar Nikolay II.