Scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have completed excavations on the territory of the temple complex in Bogolyubovo and have found strong evidence in favor of the fact that the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and many other churches of Vladimir Rus was built by masters from Northern Italy, the press service of the institute reports.
“The parts of the cathedral discovered during the excavations in 2018 provided new material for conclusions both about the plan of the cathedral and the origin of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture in general. Now we understand that, most likely, craftsmen from Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna participated in the construction of this temple,”says Vladimir Sedov, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
For three years now, a group of Russian archaeologists led by Sedov has been carrying out excavations at the walls of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Bogolyubovo, the residence of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky. According to legend, it was founded in 1158, when the prince, traveling from Vladimir to Rostov, dreamed of the Mother of God on the site of the future Bogolyubov.
She told him to leave the main shrine of the modern ROC, the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma and not return it to the monastery near Kiev, which many historians consider a symbolic act in the process of shifting the center of power in Russia from south to north. In memory of this event, Prince Andrei built the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which collapsed in 1722 and a new cathedral was built in its place.
Scientists have found traces of the existence of this temple, having carried out excavations in that part of the territory of the modern cathedral, where the western wall of the church of Andrey Bogolyubsky was once located. Examination of the walls of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin showed that Western masters from the time of Frederick Barbarossa, who arrived in the territory of Vladimir Rus from Italy, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire, participated in its construction.
Cathedral in Northern Italy and the Staircase Tower of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin / Institute of Archeology RAS.
Subsequent excavations and the discovery of new elements of the temple helped archaeologists find out exactly where these masters lived. The first hint of their origin was the diagonal corner columns of the temple.
As noted by archaeologists, similar elements of architecture exist in the cathedrals of Northern Italy: for example, in the Cathedral of Modena and the Cathedral of Ferrara, built in the Emilia-Romagna region at about the same era as the church in Bogolyubovo.
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Other architectural details, such as the half-columns on the walls of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, surrounded by small columns on the sides, are very similar to similar forms that adorn cathedrals in other parts of northern Italy. For example, they can be found in the Basilica of San Michele in Pavia.
All this, as noted by Sedov and colleagues, indicates that the temple was built by several groups of craftsmen who arrived in northeastern Russia from two regions of Italy - Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. In addition to them, the carvers of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky participated in the construction, who built the Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky and the Golden Gate in Vladimir.
In addition, scientists managed to find other elements of the temple complex, which helped them to reveal its general appearance, and to understand how the area surrounding it, covered with white stone, looked like.
Scientists hope that in the near future the remains of the temple they found will be fully opened and turned into a museum. This, according to Sedov, will not only help Russians get to know the history better, but also prevent further destruction of the temple walls. This, the archaeologist concludes, will require financial and administrative support from the authorities.