diff --git a/README.adoc b/README.adoc
index 8e195d789..cfd08f9f4 100644
--- a/README.adoc
+++ b/README.adoc
@@ -3320,7 +3320,7 @@ To address this issue, materialized views are used for enhanced performance.
 There are two types of materialized views: one for denormalized data, which includes the view ID and attribute data of Set/TermSet types, and another for joined views.
 For each joined view, there is one corresponding join materialized view (as specified in the views.yaml config).
 
-Materialized views are refreshed during database reindexing, on Saturn initialization stage and metadata updates, provided that the doViewsUpdate flag is set to true in the metadata endpoints. The refresh is performed concurrently what allows for the system to be available during the update providing the old version of data until the new one is ready.
+Materialized views are refreshed during database reindexing, on Saturn initialization stage and metadata updates, provided that the doViewsUpdate flag is set to true in the metadata endpoints. The refresh is performed concurrently what allows for the system to be available during the update providing the old version of data until the new one is ready. To skip materialized views refresh on Saturn initialization stage, update the Saturn ConfigMap setting false value to `viewDatabase.mvRefreshOnStartRequired`.
 
 ==== Extra file storage
 
diff --git a/charts/fairspace/templates/project/configmap-saturn.yaml b/charts/fairspace/templates/project/configmap-saturn.yaml
index da2609cde..514ad10d9 100644
--- a/charts/fairspace/templates/project/configmap-saturn.yaml
+++ b/charts/fairspace/templates/project/configmap-saturn.yaml
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ data:
       blobStorePath: "/data/saturn/files/blobs"
     viewDatabase:
       enabled: true
+      mvRefreshOnStartRequired: true
     features:
 {{ toYaml .Values.fairspace.features | indent 6 }}
 {{ if has "ExtraStorage" .Values.fairspace.features }}
diff --git a/projects/saturn/application.yaml b/projects/saturn/application.yaml
index c08cd1cd5..9dbebe53e 100644
--- a/projects/saturn/application.yaml
+++ b/projects/saturn/application.yaml
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ viewDatabase:
   autoCommit: false
   maxPoolSize: 50
   connectionTimeout: 1000
+  mvRefreshOnStartRequired: true
 search:
   pageRequestTimeout: 10000
   countRequestTimeout: 60000
diff --git a/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/config/Config.java b/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/config/Config.java
index d770ca93a..7eb428b60 100644
--- a/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/config/Config.java
+++ b/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/config/Config.java
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ public static class ViewDatabase {
         public int maxPoolSize = 50;
         public long connectionTimeout = 1000;
         public boolean autoCommit = false;
+        public boolean mvRefreshOnStartRequired = true;
     }
 
     public static class ExtraStorage {
diff --git a/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/services/views/ViewStoreClientFactory.java b/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/services/views/ViewStoreClientFactory.java
index 8ffdcce31..31bfc2a92 100644
--- a/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/services/views/ViewStoreClientFactory.java
+++ b/projects/saturn/src/main/java/io/fairspace/saturn/services/views/ViewStoreClientFactory.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
 import lombok.Builder;
 import lombok.Data;
-import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 
 import io.fairspace.saturn.config.Config;
@@ -33,7 +32,6 @@
 @Slf4j
 public class ViewStoreClientFactory {
 
-    @Getter
     private final MaterializedViewService materializedViewService;
 
     public ViewStoreClient build() throws SQLException {
@@ -82,7 +80,11 @@ public ViewStoreClientFactory(ViewsConfig viewsConfig, Config.ViewDatabase viewD
             createOrUpdateView(view);
         }
         materializedViewService = new MaterializedViewService(dataSource, configuration, search.maxJoinItems);
-        materializedViewService.createOrUpdateAllMaterializedViews();
+        if (viewDatabase.mvRefreshOnStartRequired) {
+            materializedViewService.createOrUpdateAllMaterializedViews();
+        } else {
+            log.warn("Skipping materialized view refresh on start");
+        }
     }
 
     public Connection getConnection() throws SQLException {