The sarcophagus of Yaroslav the Wise in St. Sophia Cathedral is one of the most significant and revered relics of Kievan Rus. In this tomb in the XI century were buried the great Kiev prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich and his wife - the Swedish princess Ingigerda (baptized Irina). These are the most ancient remains of the Kiev rulers, the location of which is known. But is it only known? The events of recent years cast doubt on this.
Pile of bones
In September 2009, scientists from the Sophia Kievskaya National Reserve opened the sarcophagus to examine the remains of Yaroslav the Wise using the latest technology. First of all, they wanted to do a DNA analysis in order to establish who the Rurikovichs were - Slavs or Scandinavians. And if they could prove that Ukrainian blood flowed in their veins, it would be a great triumph of Ukrainian science! But the Muscovites did not manage to wipe their nose - the skeleton of Yaroslav mysteriously disappeared from the sarcophagus. The tomb contained only a pile of bones, which were later identified as the remains of two different women. And they also found the newspapers Pravda and Izvestia for 1964. But where is the Grand Duke himself?
It was definitely in place in 1936, when a six-ton rectangular box with a gable lid was first opened, decorated with carvings of vines, palm trees, cypress trees, fish, birds, crosses and other ancient Christian symbols. This tomb was made by Byzantine craftsmen from Proconnesian marble for the relics of St. Clement in Chersonesos. When in 988 or 989 Vladimir the Baptist captured this city, he ordered to transfer the relics of St. Clement together with the sarcophagus to Kiev. After a difficult journey, they found peace in the Tithe Church - the first stone church of Kievan Rus. In the same tomb, Yaroslav the Wise was buried in 1054 (Saint Clement was obviously given another shrine). Next to him were the remains of Irina's wife, whom the prince loved dearly and devotedly all his life and from whom he did not want to be parted even after death. When they planted it on the prince is not entirely clear. According to some reports, Irina died before her husband, in 1050, and her skeleton was transferred to the sarcophagus from another crypt. According to another version, this married couple in recent years did not live very amicably, so the proud and power-hungry princess moved to Novgorod to her son Vladimir, where she was allegedly buried.
In 1936, Kiev scientists found two skeletons in an opened sarcophagus - a male and a female and several children's bones (where the latter came from, it is generally not clear). Judging by the absence of any decorations on the remains, the tomb was plundered. Most likely, this happened in 1240, during the capture of Kiev by the Mongol-Tatars. Then the "extraneous" bones could have got into it.
In 1939, the remains were sent to Leningrad, to the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Scientists have established with a high degree of probability that one of the skeletons really belongs to Yaroslav the Wise. In doing so, they relied on the chronicles, which say that the prince lived for 70-75 years, was lame from birth, and was wounded in the leg and head in battles. All of these injuries were found on a male skeleton. At the same time, the great Soviet anthropologist and archaeologist Mikhail Gerasimov reconstructed from the skull the alleged appearance of Yaroslav the Wise, now known to everyone who studies history. The female skeleton could not be identified.
Where did you take the prince ?
In 1940, the remains were returned from Leningrad to Kiev. But for some reason the museum staff failed to place them in the sarcophagus. Allegedly, there was not enough strength to lift the two-ton lid of the marble tomb - this required a special technique. The bones were put on a shelf in the vault. And then the war began, and there was no time for them. They remembered the remains only in 1964 and decided to return them to their rightful place. By that time, the sarcophagus was quite clogged up. Its lid did not fit snugly to the lower part, and pious visitors who venerated the prince as a saint threw there notes with requests for help and support, photos. And some of the unbelievers, but very curious, threw lighted matches into the sarcophagus, trying to see what was there. And periodically everything that got inside caught fire.
Therefore, having removed the lid, the sarcophagus was first cleaned out. And then they took out the skeleton from the shelf and put it in the tomb (while some joker left Soviet newspapers there). And until 2009, the staff of "Sophia Kievskaya" were sure that Yaroslav the Wise was safely resting in his rightful place. One can imagine their horror and bewilderment when it turned out that the skeleton in the sarcophagus was not at all male, but composed of the remains of two different women! An investigation has begun.
Forced emigration
During the investigation, an elderly museum employee recalled how an American delegation had been here during perestroika. It included a Ukrainian woman who emigrated to the United States. And she seemed to have declared: "Yaroslav the Wise is not here, but in America." Then her words were not given importance. But now they decided to find this lady, and with the help of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States, they managed to do it. During the Great Patriotic War, Nina Nikolaevna Bulavitskaya worked in occupied Kiev as the secretary of Olex Postenko, the then director of the museum. She said that in 1943, along with the retreating Germans, some representatives of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church also left Kiev. At the same time, Archbishop Nikanor took from the Sophia Cathedral the relics of Prince Yaroslav and the miraculous 14th century icon of Nikola the Wet. Colonel of the German Gendarmerie Paul von Denbach (aka Pavel Dmitrenko) undertook to help the archbishop take the relics out of Kiev. According to one version, he had to bring the icon and a box with relics to the train in which Nikanor was leaving, but was late for his departure. According to another version, the accomplices agreed that the colonel would return the relics in Warsaw to the archbishop. But at the agreed time, Nikanor did not appear in the Polish capital, and von Denbach was forced to hand over the remains of the prince and the miraculous icon to the Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Palladium. He took them first to Germany and then to the United States. There he handed the box with the relics to one of the priests, Ivan Tkachuk, who for some reason kept the relic for 20 years in his tiny room in New York under his bed. In 1990, Tkachuk died, and traces of the remains of Yaroslav the Wise were lost.
At present, the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas the Wet, taken out with the relics, is in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn. Representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, with whom the staff of "Sophia Kievskaya" keep in touch, claim that the long-suffering prince's bones are buried in the same church. However, the rector of the temple Volodymyr Vronsky and the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States, Metropolitan Anthony, categorically deny the fact that they had the relics of Yaroslav the Wise. But even if, to put it mildly, they are telling a lie and the princely skeleton is indeed in America, it will be very problematic to return it to Ukraine.
Two ladies in one skeleton
But what about the alleged remains of Yaroslav Ingigerda's wife, recovered from the sarcophagus in 2009? The results of the examination carried out by Ukrainian and Russian scientists indicate that only female bones rested in the tomb, and the skeleton was made up of the remains of two different women, differing both in their lifestyle and in the time of their earthly existence. The upper part of the skeleton dates back to the 7th-4th centuries BC, and the lower part - from the 11th-12th centuries BC. The bones of the upper part of the skeleton could hardly have belonged to the princess. They are too massive. This woman had very developed arms. It seems that she has been doing hard work all her life: dragging water, chopping wood. The lower part of the skeleton is thin, characteristic of a person of noble birth. Another mystery is that the bones of a "prehistoric" woman contain a large amount of radon. Territorieswhere the upper layers of soil and water contain radon, there is in Ukraine, in the Yellow Waters region in the Kirovograd region, as well as in Poland and the Caucasus. So this woman lived somewhere there. But how could an ancient commoner get into the prince's tomb?
The sarcophagus itself also gave the scientists riddles. For example, the Armenian scientist Zhirayr Ter-Karapetyan believes that there are Armenian letters on the lid of the tomb with which the words of the phrase "Amenaimastun mets takavori Kievi bnakchutyunits" begin, which translates as "Omniscient great king from the inhabitants of Kiev." Maybe the sarcophagus was not brought from Chersonesos, but made in Kiev by Armenian craftsmen?
And more … There is damage on one of the walls of the sarcophagus. As if someone knocked down the inscription - the remains of the ornament and some letters are very vaguely visible. What was it? Maybe a warning not to disturb the ashes of the dead - otherwise it will negatively affect the fate of the country?
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №14, Victor Mednikov