During the period of the formation and flourishing of feudalism in Rus' (the end of the 10th–17th centuries), art was formed on the basis of the achievements of the artistic culture of the East Slavic tribes and the Scythians and Sarmatians who lived on these lands before them. Naturally, the culture of each tribe and region had its own distinctive features and was influenced by neighboring lands and states. The influence of Byzantium was especially noticeable from the moment Russia adopted Christianity (in 988). Together with Christianity, Rus' adopted the traditions of ancient, primarily Greek, culture.

It is important to note that Russian art the Middle Ages was formed in the clash of two ways - patriarchal and feudal and two religions - paganism and Christianity. And just as traces of the patriarchal way of life were traced for a long time in feudal Rus', so paganism reminded of itself in almost all forms of art.

The process of getting rid of paganism was spontaneous, but still attempts were made to strengthen the new religion, to make it close, accessible to people. It is no coincidence that churches were built on the sites of pagan temples; elements of folk deification of nature penetrated the church, and some saints began to be attributed the role of old gods.

Having adopted Christianity from Byzantium, Rus', naturally, also adopted certain foundations of the language of culture. But these foundations were reworked and acquired in Rus' their specific, deeply national forms. “We took the Gospel and tradition from Byzantium,” wrote A.S. Pushkin. Of course, like any art of the Middle Ages, the art of Ancient Rus' follows certain canons, which can be traced both in architectural forms and in iconography - in painting. Even samples were created - “draw”, “originals”, facial and sensible (in the first it was shown how to write, in the second it was “interpreted”, told), but following the canons, and contrary to them, the rich creative personality of the artist was able to express himself . Based on the age-old traditions of Eastern European art, Russian masters managed to create their own national art, enrich European culture with new forms of temples inherent only in Rus', original wall paintings and iconography, which cannot be confused with Byzantine, despite the common iconography and the apparent closeness of the pictorial language.

In pre-Mongolian times, the political and cultural center of the Russian land was Kyiv - "the mother of Russian cities", as contemporaries called it in ancient times, comparing its beauty and significance with Constantinople. The growth of Kyiv's power was facilitated by its geographical position at the crossroads of trade routes from the Scandinavian countries to the south, to Tsargrad, from the west, from Germany, to Khorezm. Under Prince Vladimir and his son Yaroslav, Kievan Rus became a strong state, previously unknown to the Eastern Slavs. The Russian army kept both the Byzantines and the Khazars in fear. The Western Slavs sought friendship with Russia, the German emperors made alliances. Russian princes gave their daughters in marriage to foreign sovereigns. Thus, the international position of Kievan Rus was strengthened. In addition to Kyiv, such cities as Chernigov, Polotsk, Novgorod, which lies in the northern sources of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", played a big role.

The art of the pre-Mongol period is characterized by one distinctive feature - the monumentalism of forms. Architecture rightfully occupies a special place in it. Medieval Russian art was determined by the Christian worldview. Far from all the architectural monuments of that time have come down to us, many have been preserved in a distorted form, we know about an even greater number only from archaeological excavations or from written sources. But those that have survived, of course, had a cult purpose. Back in pagan times, architecture was developed in Rus', mostly wooden: Russian “woodworkers” have long been famous. Already after the adoption of Christianity, the chronicler left us evidence that before the stone Novgorod Sophia, on the territory of the Novgorod Kremlin, there was a thirteen-domed wooden Sophia Cathedral, cut down by the Novgorodians at the end of the 10th century. It is quite possible that the Eastern Slavs had their own wooden chopped temples and that these temples were many-domed. Multi-headedness, thus, was a primordially national feature of Russian architecture, which was later adopted by the art of Kievan Rus.

With Christianity, the cross-domed form of the temple came to Rus', which is typical for the Greek-Eastern Orthodox countries. The cross-domed temple is rectangular in plan, with four (or more) pillars, its interior is divided into longitudinal (along the east-west axis) parts - naves (three, five or more). The four central pillars are connected by arches supporting the drum of the dome through the sails. The space under the dome is flooded with light thanks to the windows of the drum; it is the center of the temple. The cells adjacent to the dome space are covered with barrel vaults. The entire central space of the temple forms a cross in plan, hence the name of the system of such a temple - cross-domed. On the eastern side of the interior there are altar rooms - apses, usually protruding in semicircles on the outside; the transverse space in the western part of the interior is called a vestibule, a narthex. In the same western part, on the second tier, there are choirs where the prince and his entourage were during the service. In the exterior of the pre-Mongolian temple, a distinctive feature is the segmentation of the facade by flat vertical pilasters without capitals (in Old Russian - spatulas) into spindles. The semicircular completion of the spindle, the shape of which is determined by the covering, is called a zakomara.

The most common masonry technique in the construction of temples in Kievan Rus was the so-called mixed - "opus mixtum" - the walls were erected from thinner than modern plinth bricks and stone on pink lime mortar - zemyanka. On the facade, a row of bricks alternated with a row of cloves, and therefore it seemed striped, which in itself was a solution to the decorative design of the exterior. The so-called recessed-row masonry was often used: not all rows of bricks came out on the facade, but through one, and the pink layer of opium was three times as thick as the brick layer. Stripes of pink opal and red brick on the facade, intricately profiled windows and niches - all together created an elegant, festive appearance of the building, and no other decorative decoration was required.

Immediately after the adoption of Christianity in Kyiv, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin was built, the so-called Church of the Tithes (989-996) - the first stone church of Kievan Rus known to us. The Church of the Tithes (the prince allocated 1/10 of his income for its maintenance - hence the name) was destroyed during the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, so we can judge it only by the remains of the foundation, some decorative elements and written sources. It was a large 25-domed six-pillar church, surrounded on both sides by lowered galleries, which gave the entire temple a pyramidal appearance (the western part had a complex, still not fully revealed layout). Pyramidality, the buildup of masses are features alien to Byzantine architecture, perhaps such gradation was inherent in pagan structures erected on the territory of the future Kievan Rus. Tithe Church was richly “decorated”: fragments of frescoes and mosaics, floor slabs, fragments of columns, pieces of carved capitals and slate testify to this. On one of the fragments of the fresco, a part of the face (of some saint?) with huge eye- painting, in its nature reminiscent of the Hellenistic. According to this fragment, one can judge the level of art of Kievan Rus as a whole. Many similar fragments of painting and marble carvings were found by archaeologists in the square where the Church of the Tithes stood. It was the main square of the city at that time. Written sources testify that it was decorated with a bronze quadriga of horses (“four copper horses”), two antique statues taken out by Prince Vladimir from Korsun (Chersonese). The princely palace, the mansions of the squad and the city nobility were also located here. The princely tower and the main shrines of the city - cathedrals - stood high above the Dnieper, "on the mountain." At the foot of the hill, "on the hem", lived merchants, artisans, the urban poor. Kyiv at the turn of the 10th–11th centuries was a fairly fortified city, the wall, erected on a powerful earthen rampart, was wooden, easily flammable, but the gates in it were already stone.

From the next, XI century, several monuments have survived in Kiev, and the most famous of them is St. Sophia of Kiev, the main cathedral, where the ceremonies of seating on the princely table and placing on the metropolitan throne, built by the son of Vladimir Yaroslav the Wise, took place. As contemporaries said, "Yaroslav completed what Vladimir began." Sophia of Kiev, as proven by modern researchers, was built according to a single plan in the 30s-40s of the 11th century. Somewhat later, only the northern tower appeared.

Kyiv Sophia is a five-nave, five-apse, 13-domed temple. The central dome, resting on a drum cut through with 12 windows, and 4 smaller domes around it illuminate the Central space and the main altar, and the smallest, lateral 8 domes illuminate the side spaces and huge (about 600 square meters) choirs. The St. Sophia Church, like the Church of the Tithes, was surrounded by an internal two-story gallery - a promenade. Unfortunately, the Kievan Sofia was rebuilt in the 17th century, like many Russian churches in Ukraine, in the spirit of the “Ukrainian baroque”, as a result of which the pyramidality characteristic of it disappeared, the gradual increase in masses from the galleries to the side domes, and from them to the central one. , which determined the appearance of the entire temple.

A mixed system of laying rows of stone with rows of plinths and a wide layer of tarp, thin columns with capitals emphasizing the edges of the middle apse, windows and two-stage niches - all this gave variety and elegance to the exterior of the cathedral.

As in the Church of the Tithes, the interior of St. Sophia of Kiev was extraordinarily rich and picturesque: the well-lit altar rooms and the central dome space were decorated with mosaics, the pillars of the naves, the darker side rooms under the choirs, and the walls were frescoed. The floors were also tiled and slate. The altar barriers and gratings of the choirs were especially beautiful: according to Byzantine custom, they were stone, of the finest carving. The general impression was majestic, extraordinarily solemn. “See the churches blooming, see Christianity growing, see the city with the icons of the saints, shining, shining and hugging with thyme ... And having seen everything, rejoice,” wrote Metropolitan Hilarion in his “Sermon on Law and Grace.” In the XI century. he often delivered his sermons under the arches of Sophia.

The architecture of St. Sophia Cathedral had a huge impact on subsequent construction. In the same metropolitan courtyard, churches such as the Church of Irina and the Church of George were built, although much more modest in size and decoration (the first half to the middle of the 11th century). The metropolitan courtyard was surrounded by a brick wall. The "city of Yaroslav" was much larger than the "city of Vladimir". It was fortified according to all the rules of medieval defensive art: its ramparts, reaching a height of 14 m, stretched for more than 3 km. Wooden walls were erected on the ramparts. Several gates led to the fortified city. One of them, the Golden ones, was a majestic passage arch with a gate church. (Now they have been restored.) Kyiv of the 11th century was a worthy rival of Constantinople, or, as it was then called in Rus', Tsargrad. Side by side with Byzantine architects, Russian craftsmen worked there. A national school of architecture gradually took shape.

The same craftsmen who built St. Sophia of Kyiv took part in the construction of St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, built in 1045–1050. under Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich in the center of the Kremlin. But the Novgorod Sophia is simpler and more concise in its forms, as if akin to the Novgorod spirit. This is a 5-, not 13-domed, five-nave temple, with a wide gallery and only one stair tower. Stricter and more monolithic is not only its exterior, which strikes with the nobility of its powerful forms, but also its interior, its decoration is more modest, in which there were no mosaics, no marble, no slate. Another building material: instead of a thin elegant plinth, local coarse limestone is used. Brick was used only in vaults and arches. In many respects, the five-nave Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk (mid-11th century) is also close to Novgorod Sofia, the masonry technique of which is similar to that in Kyiv. Heavily remodeled over time. Polotsk Sophia is now being successfully studied by researchers.

Under 1036, the annals for the first time mention the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Chernigov, founded by the fearless warrior Prince Mstislav Tmutarakansky: a three-nave, three-apse, five-domed brick church with a round stair tower for the choir stalls. The inside of the cathedral has frescoed murals and slate floors. Until the Great Patriotic War, the image of St. Thekla is classically beautiful, almost sculptural in its modeling. The triple arcades of the choir give special solemnity and grandeur to the interior of the church.

During the 11th and 12th centuries Christianity is gaining a strong foothold. The role of the church is growing throughout the vast territory of the ancient Russian state. In the architecture of the second half of the XI century. the influence of the church is reflected in the strengthening of asceticism in the artistic appearance of the temple in comparison with the festive, jubilant image of the first half of the century. The dominating position is now occupied by a single-domed three-nave six-pillar temple. Such were the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Caves Monastery (1073–1077, Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich), which was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, the cathedral of St. and others. The Church of the Savior on Berestov (a suburban residence of the prince), erected by Vladimir Monomakh already at the beginning of the 12th century, with its “striped” masonry, completes a number of buildings of this era, as well as buildings of the beginning of the 12th century. in Novgorod; Church of the Annunciation on Gorodishche (1103), St. Nicholas Cathedral on Yaroslav's Courtyard (1113), Nativity Cathedral of Antoniev Monastery (1117) and St. George's Cathedral of St. George's Monastery (1119), not by chance repeating the composition of the Church of the Annunciation - located on the other side of the Volkhov, it seemed to a view of Novgorod from Lake Ilmen. From the Third Novgorod Chronicle, we learn the name of the master: "And the master worked Peter." Most likely, the Annunciation and St. Nicholas Cathedrals were also built by the architect Peter.

In general, during the Kievan era, the foundations of the Russian architectural tradition were laid and the features of future building schools of various ancient Russian principalities of the era of feudal fragmentation were outlined.

Among the visual arts of Kievan Rus, the first place belongs to monumental painting - mosaics and frescoes. The system of painting a religious building, as well as the type of building itself, was adopted by Russian masters from the Byzantines. But, as in architecture, the processing of the Byzantine tradition begins early in Russian painting. Pagan folk art influenced the composition of the techniques of ancient Russian painting.

The mosaics and frescoes of the Kyiv Sophia allow us to imagine the system of painting of the medieval temple, which has come down to us, although not in its entirety, but in its present form, striking in its grandiosity. The murals serve not only to decorate the vaults and walls of the cathedral, but also embody the ideas embodied in the architectural design as a whole. The painters clothed the metaphysical ideas of the Christian religion in human images, creating the impression that “God abides with people,” as the ambassadors of Prince Vladimir who visited Sophia in Constantinople once wrote. Painting was supposed, as in all medieval churches, to express the connection between the heavenly, the heavenly, and the earthly. Mosaic, executed by Greek masters and their Russian students, decorated the main parts of the interior: the dome space and the altar. In the dome, surrounded by four archangels - the guardians of the throne of the Most High - Christ the Almighty (in Greek Pantokrator) is depicted. In the piers between the 12 windows of the drum there are figures of 12 apostles, in sails supporting the dome - evangelists, on girth arches in medallions - "40 Martyrs of Sebaste". On the pillars of the triumphal arch in front of the central apse, the scene of the Annunciation is depicted: two figures - the Archangel Gabriel and the Mother of God - fit on the pillars. In the central apse, on its upper concave surface - in the conch - the Mother of God Oranta appears in a prayerful pose, with her hands raised up, - an intercessor, later popularly called the "Indestructible Wall", - an image that goes back to the pagan image of the foremother. Her figure reaches almost 5 m. Below Oranta is a scene of the Eucharist - Communion, the rite of turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, one of the main sacraments in Christian worship. Even lower, in the piers between the windows, above the seats where the clergy sat during the service, the figures of the saints, the fathers of the church, are depicted. The mosaics of the Russian and Byzantine churches were a book for Orthodox believers, according to which they read the main provisions of the Christian dogma. Like all murals of medieval churches, they were the "Gospel for the illiterate." But they were just as understandable, of course, to those who knew how to read liturgical books, and there were many such in pre-Mongol Rus'.

The language of mosaics is simple and concise. The images are flat, which is typical for medieval art. The figures seem to be flattened against a golden background, which further emphasizes their flatness, the forms are archaic, heavy, gestures are conditional, the folds of clothes form an ornamental pattern. Bright color spots - the blue clothes of the Mother of God, her purple veil with a gold border, red shoes - create a single harmonious sound, testify to the richness of the palette in the mosaic set. Typed directly on the wall, as if probed by the hands of a master, taking into account all the irregularities of this wall, the mosaic seems to be organically merged with the architecture: the figures seem to protrude from the background, reflecting the incident light, the smalt now shimmers faintly, then flashes with bright color. The strict rhythm, the solemn canonical immobility of the figures of the saints (they are presented in front, between them there is a certain space: a figure-caesura, a figure-caesura) does not deprive their spiritualized faces of individuality. According to the canon borrowed from Byzantium, they all have an elongated oval face, wide-open eyes, and yet John Chrysostom cannot be confused with Basil the Great or Gregory of Nyssa.

The painting of the under-dome space and apses was made in the mosaic technique. The rest is decorated with fresco, a cheaper and more accessible form of mural painting. In Rus', this technique was waiting for a great future. Many scenes from the life of Christ, Mary and the Archangel Michael (“Meeting at the Golden Gate”, “Betrothal”, “Annunciation”, “Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth”, “Descent into Hell”), images of the righteous and martyrs, etc. In many fresco cycles, apparently, the taste of the customer affected, they see a different than that of the Byzantines, devoid of ascetic ideal, other, Russian types of faces (for example, a fresco depicting St. Panteleimon).

The mosaic and fresco cycle of the murals of St. Sophia of Kiev is a strictly thought-out and unified system that gives a pictorial idea of ​​the dogma, a system in which each figure and each scene help to reveal the meaning of the whole. The heavenly hierarchy, starting with Christ in the dome and ending with the figures of saints in the apse, was presented as a kind of earthly connections, subordination.

In the Kiev church, among numerous frescoes, there are also purely secular paintings: on the south side of the central nave, the figures of the daughters of Prince Yaroslav are depicted, and on the north - his sons (fragmentary preserved). In the western part of the central nave, adjacent to the domed space, a composition was presented: Prince Yaroslav with a model of the temple in his hands. In addition, episodes of court life are shown on the walls of the stair towers: competitions at the Tsargrad hippodrome, circus performances, figures of buffoons, musicians, hunting for a wolf, bear, leopard. Moreover, in these scenes there are purely Russian features. Thus, animals unknown in Byzantium are depicted, typically Russian methods of hunting. Pagan fun in noisy feasts and various entertainments lasted a long time in the princely life and was reflected even in the decorative decoration of the main cathedral. A huge place in the decor of Sofia is occupied by an ornament.

In addition to the mosaics of the Kiev Sofia, the mosaics of the St. Michael's Golden-domed Monastery, similar in character to those in Kyiv, but already having other features that speak of a change in artistic views, in aesthetic ideals over the past 60–70 years, have been preserved. In the scene of the Eucharist, the figures of the apostles are rendered from complex angles, the movements are freer and livelier, the faces are not as ecstatic as in the Kyiv mosaic. The figures make up natural groups, each apostle holds himself in his own way, they are no longer impassive, self-absorbed preachers with a stern look, but living people, with a high order of thought and a deep intellect. Accordingly, the expressive language of the mosaic becomes different: less importance is now attached to the line, the contour, otherwise the form is built, although the linear principle still prevails. In the figure of Demetrius of Thessalonica (TG), represented in the luxurious clothes of a warrior-princely patron, some researchers see a portrait resemblance to the Kyiv prince Izyaslav, in baptism Dmitry. It is fair to assume that this is an ideal representation of a prince - a lord and a warrior. The constant threat of invasion by nomads made military deeds honorable in Rus'. A patriotic warrior, defender of the fatherland with a sword, shield and spear, ready to defend his land and faith, becomes close and understandable.

Fresco paintings of the 11th century. little has come down to us. Almost no original painting has been preserved in Novgorod Sofia. The figures of the prophets in the dome, solemnly calm, with huge sad eyes, were executed in the best Kyiv traditions, but already at the beginning of the 12th century. They wear luxurious clothes: purple, gold and yellow cloaks, blue and red chitons, headdresses studded with precious stones, but the images do not lose their severity from this.

In the rare technique “al secco” (“in a dry way”, i.e. on dry plaster, on the thinnest lime grease), the figures of Konstantin and Elena are painted with graphic elegance in the Martirievskaya porch of the Novgorod Sofia. Plane-linear interpretation of the form distinguishes them from the figures of the prophets. The name of the Byzantine empress is written in a distorted Russified transcription (“Olena” instead of “Elena”), which may indicate the origin of the author of the fresco - he was probably a local, Novgorodian.

In the 11th century, undoubtedly, many icons were created, we even know the name of one Russian master, Alimpy, who lived at the end of the 11th century.

The icon "Our Lady of Vladimir" (TG), taken from Constantinople to Kyiv at the beginning of the 12th century, is a work of Byzantine art. The name "Vladimirskaya" arose after Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky left Kyiv for Vladimir in 1155. Its iconographic type - "Tenderness" (The Mother of God holding the baby Christ in her arms and pressing her cheek against him) - became a favorite in Rus'. “She passed away without all the images,” the chronicler said about her. With the rise of Moscow as the center of the Russian state, the icon was transferred to the new capital and it became a state shrine, especially revered by the people.

A special section of ancient Russian painting is the art of miniatures of handwritten books, which in themselves represented a complex and exquisite form of art. Written on parchment - calfskin - the books were decorated with miniatures, headpieces and initials. The oldest Russian manuscript is the Ostromir Gospel (RNB), written in 1056-1057. deacon Gregory for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir, close prince Izyaslav, charter in 2 columns. The colors of the miniatures depicting the evangelists are bright, superimposed flatly, the figures and folds of clothes are traced with golden lines, which resembles the technique of cloisonné enamel. The figures of the evangelists are similar to the figures of the apostles of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The book master studied on samples of monumental painting. The headpieces are filled with floral ornaments, which suddenly turn into the likeness of a human face or the muzzle of an animal. The miniatures of the manuscripts of that time also contain portrait images, for example: of the grand-ducal family in the Izbornik of Svyatoslav, a manuscript copied by Deacon John from the Bulgarian original (1073, Russian Museum); Yaropolk and his family in the Psalter of Trier, performed for the wife of Prince Izyaslav Gertrude (Trier, 1078-1087). A peculiar independent version of the manuscript of the Ostromir Gospel type is the Mstislav Gospel (1103–1117), written in Novgorod by Alexa, the son of priest Lazar, for the Novgorod prince Mstislav. Books were very much appreciated by the Russian people; it was not for nothing that the chronicler wrote: “There is great benefit from book teaching.”

A huge role in the life of Kievan Rus was played by applied, decorative art, in which images of pagan mythology were especially tenacious. Carved ships, wooden utensils, furniture, fabrics embroidered with gold and jewelry made by skillful hands of craftsmen are imbued with the poetry of mythological images. It was poetry, because the original magical power in these motifs was no longer there. Items found in the treasures (bracelets, kolts, hanging rings, diadems, necklaces) are decorated with images of animals that once had a symbolic meaning (ritual, amulets, etc.). Old Russian craftsmen were skilled in various types of techniques: in filigree (the art of filigree, products made of thin wire was called), grains (small metal grains soldered onto the product), niello (silver products were decorated with an alloy of black powder: the relief remained silver, and the background was filled with black), especially in the most exquisite form of art - enamel, i.e. technique of enamels, champlevé and cloisonné. Enamel was most often combined with gold, and silver with niello.

In the art of Ancient Rus', round sculpture was not developed. She resembled a pagan idol, a pagan "dumbass" and therefore was not popular. But Russian craftsmen transferred their rich experience of wood carvers to small plastic items, to the art of altar barriers, to stone carving, to casting (in particular, coins). Several reliefs of monumental and architectural purpose have also been preserved (two of the 11th century were found in the wall of the printing house of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and two of the Mikhailovsky Golden-Domed Monastery, 11th-12th centuries, Tretyakov Gallery). They are executed in red slate, emphatically flat and lapidary. Perhaps they decorated the outer walls of some temples.

Having absorbed and creatively processed various artistic influences - Byzantine, South Slavic, even Romanesque - Kievan Rus created its own original art, the culture of a single feudal state, predetermined the development of the art of individual lands and principalities. The art of Kievan Rus is short in time, but one of the greatest periods in national culture. It was then that the cross-domed type of the temple became widespread, which existed until the 17th century, the system of wall painting and iconography, which formed the basis of all the painting of Ancient Rus'. But we know only a small part of what was created at that time. It is possible that in the Kievan land, under the buildings of today or under the whitewashing of cathedrals, monuments of architecture and painting of that great time have been preserved and they will still be opened on some happy day for domestic art and science.

IN. Klyuchevsky wrote: “It is remarkable that in a society where human sacrifices were still made to idols a hundred years or so ago, thought was already learning to rise to the consciousness of the connection of world phenomena. The idea of ​​Slavic unity at the beginning of the XII century. demanded the greater tension of thought, which was not at all supported by modern reality. When this thought was expressed with such faith or confidence on the banks of the Dnieper, the Slavs were divided and a significant part of their composition was enslaved. (Klyuchevsky V. Russian history course. Op. In 9 t. M., 1987. T. 1. Part 1. S. 110).

The entire original cultural experience of the Eastern Slavs became the property of a single Russian culture. It developed as a culture of all Eastern Slavs, while at the same time retaining its regional features - some for the Dnieper region, others for North-Eastern Rus', etc.

The development of Russian culture was also influenced by the fact that Rus' developed as a plain, open to all - both intra-tribal, domestic, and foreign, international - influences. And it came from time immemorial. The general culture of Rus' reflected both the traditions of, say, the Polyans, Severians, Radimichi, Novgorod Slovenes, Vyatichi, and other tribes, as well as the influence of neighboring peoples with whom Rus' exchanged production skills, traded, fought, reconciled - Ugro-Finns, Balts, Iranian peoples , Western and Southern Slavic peoples. Rus' was strongly influenced by Byzantium, which for its time was one of the most cultured states in the world. Thus, the culture of Rus' was formed from the very beginning as a synthetic one, that is, under the influence of various cultural trends, styles, and traditions.

At the same time, Rus' not only copied other people's influences and recklessly borrowed them, but applied them to its cultural traditions, to its people's experience, which came down from the depths of centuries, to its understanding of the world around it, to its idea of ​​beauty. Therefore, in the features of Russian culture, we are constantly confronted not only with influences from outside, but also with their sometimes significant spiritual processing, their constant refraction in an absolutely Russian style. For many years, Russian culture has developed under the influence of pagan religion, pagan worldview. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, the situation changed dramatically. The new religion claimed to change the worldview of people, their perception of all life, and hence their ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, aesthetic influence. However, Christianity, having had a strong impact on Russian culture, especially in the field of literature, architecture, art, the development of literacy, schooling, libraries, did not overcome the folk origins of Russian culture. For many years, dual faith remained in Rus': the official religion, which prevailed in the cities, and paganism, which went into the shadows, but still existed in remote parts of Rus', retained its positions in the countryside. The development of Russian culture reflected this duality in the spiritual life of society, in the life of the people. Pagan spiritual traditions, folk at their core, had a profound impact on the entire development of Russian culture.

Influenced folk traditions, foundations, habits, under the influence of the people's worldview, church culture itself, religious ideology, was filled with new content. The harsh, ascetic Christianity of Byzantium, transferred to Russian soil with its cult of nature, with the worship of the sun, light, wind, with its cheerfulness, love of life, deep humanity, has significantly changed. This is reflected in all areas of culture. It is no coincidence that in many church cultural monuments, for example, in the writings of church authors, we see completely secular, worldly reasoning and a reflection of purely worldly passions, and the pinnacle of the spiritual achievement of Ancient Rus' - the ingenious "Lay of Igor's Campaign" - is all permeated with pagan motifs.

The openness and synthetic character of Old Russian culture, its powerful reliance on folk sources and folk perception developed by the entire history of Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences led to what is called in world history a phenomenon of Russian culture. Its long-suffering history of the Eastern Slavs, the interweaving of Christian and folk-pagan influences, led to what is called in world history a phenomenon of Russian culture. Its characteristic features are the desire for monumentality, scale, figurativeness in chronicle writing; nationality, integrity and simplicity in art; grace, a deeply humanistic beginning in architecture; softness, love of life, kindness in painting; the constant beating of the pulse of quest, doubt, passion in literature. And all this was dominated by the great fusion of the creator of cultural values ​​with nature, his sense of belonging to all mankind, his concern for people, for their pain and misfortune. It is no coincidence that, again, one of the favorite images of the Russian church and culture was the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, philanthropists, non-resistors who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of people.

Writing, literacy, schools. Any ancient culture is writing. When did it originate in Rus'? For a long time there was an opinion that the letter came to Rus' along with Christianity. However, it is difficult to agree with this. There is evidence of the existence of Slavic writing long before the Christianization of Rus'. This is evidenced by the "Life" of the Slavic enlightener Cyril. During his stay in Chersonese in the 60s. 9th century he got acquainted with the Gospel, written in Slavonic letters. Subsequently, Cyril and his brother Methodius became the founders of the Slavic alphabet, which, apparently, was based in some part on the principles of Slavic writing that existed among the Eastern, Southern and Western Slavs before their Christianization. We must also remember that the agreements between Rus' and Byzantium, relating to the first half of the 10th century, were also written in Greek and Russian. By this time, the existence of interpreters - translators and scribes, who wrote down the speeches of ambassadors on parchment.

Nevertheless, the Christianization of Rus' gave a powerful impetus to the further development of writing and literacy. Church scholars and translators from Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia began to come to Rus'. There appeared, especially during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and his sons, numerous translations of Greek and Bulgarian books, both ecclesiastical and secular. In particular, Byzantine historical works and biographies of saints were translated. Translations became the property of literate people: they were read with pleasure in the princely-boyar, merchant environment, in monasteries, churches, where Russian chronicle writing was born. In the XI century. such popular translated works as "Alexandria", containing legends and traditions about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great, "Devgeniev's deed", which was a translation of the Byzantine epic poem about the exploits of the warrior Digenis, are spreading.

The cadres of the first Russian literates, scribes, and translators were formed in schools that were opened at churches since the time of Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav the Wise, and later at monasteries. There is a lot of evidence of the widespread development of literacy in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries, especially among wealthy citizens, the princely-boyar elite, merchants, and artisans. In rural areas, in remote, remote places, the population was almost entirely illiterate.

From the 11th century in rich families began to teach literacy not only boys, but also girls. Vladimir Monomakh's sister Yanka, the founder of a convent in Kyiv, created a school for the education of girls in it.

The so-called birch-bark letters are a striking evidence of the wide spread of literacy in cities and suburbs. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, a birch bark with well-preserved letters was removed from the ground. Since then, hundreds of birch bark letters have been found, indicating that in Novgorod, Pskov, Vitebsk, Smolensk, and other cities of Rus', people loved and knew how to write to each other. Among the letters are business, including legal, documents, exchange of information, invitations to visit, and even love correspondence.

There remains one more curious evidence of the development of literacy in Rus' - the so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were scratched on the walls of churches by lovers to pour out their souls. Among these inscriptions are reflections on life, complaints, and prayers. So, Vladimir Monomakh, while still a young man, during a church service, lost in a crowd of the same young princes, scrawled on the wall of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev: “Oh, it’s hard for me” - and signed his Christian name Vasily.

Chronicles. Chronicles are the focus of the history of Ancient Rus', its ideology, understanding of its place in world history; they are one of the most important monuments of both writing, and literature, and history, and culture in general. Only the most literate, knowledgeable, wise people, who were able not only to present different cases year after year, but also to give them an appropriate explanation, to leave to posterity a clear vision of the era, undertook the compilation of chronicles, that is, the presentation of events over the years.

Chronicle was a matter of state, princely. Therefore, the order to compile a chronicle was given not only to the most literate and intelligent person, but also to someone who could carry out ideas close to one or another princely house. Chronicle, according to scientists, appeared in Rus' shortly after the introduction of Christianity. The first chronicle was probably compiled at the end of the 10th century. It was intended to reflect the history of Rus' before the reign of Vladimir with his impressive victories, with the introduction of Christianity. From that time on, the right and duty to keep chronicles were given to the leaders of the church. It was in churches and monasteries that the most literate, well-prepared and ancient legends, legends, epics, traditions were found; they also had the grand ducal archives at their disposal.

The second chronicle was created under Yaroslav the Wise at the time when he united Rus', laid the church of St. Sophia. This chronicle absorbed the previous chronicle and other materials.

The compiler of the next annalistic collection acted not only as the author of the newly written parts of the annals, but also as the compiler and editor of the previous entries. It was his ability to direct the idea of ​​the chronicle in the right direction that was highly valued by the Kievan princes. The code, which went down in history under the name "The Tale of Bygone Years", was created in the first decade of the 12th century. at the court of Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Most historians consider the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor to be the author of this set.

In the first lines, the chronicler posed the question: “Where did the Russian land come from, who was the first to reign in Kyiv, and where did the Russian land come from?” Thus, already in these first words of the chronicle, it is said about the large-scale goals that the author has set for himself. Indeed, the chronicle did not become an ordinary chronicle, of which there were many in the world at that time - dry, dispassionately fixing facts, but an excited story of the then historian, who introduced philosophical and religious generalizations into the narrative, his own temperament and style.

Using the previous sets, documentary materials, including, for example, the treaties of Rus' with Byzantium, the chronicler unfolds a wide panorama of historical events that cover both the internal history of Rus' - the formation of an all-Russian statehood with a center in Kiev, and the international relations of Rus' with the outside world. A whole gallery of historical figures takes place on the pages of The Tale of Bygone Years - princes, boyars, posadniks, thousands, warriors, merchants, church leaders. It tells about military campaigns and the organization of monasteries, the laying of new churches and the opening of schools, about religious disputes and reforms. Constantly concerns Nestor and the life of the people as a whole, their moods, expressions of discontent. On the pages of the annals, we read about uprisings, the murders of princes and boyars, and cruel public fights. The author describes all this thoughtfully and calmly, trying to be objective, as much as a deeply religious person can be objective, guided in his assessments by the concepts of Christian virtue and sin. Murder, betrayal, deceit, perjury Nestor condemns, extols honesty, courage, fidelity, nobility, and other wonderful human qualities. The entire chronicle was imbued with a sense of the unity of Rus', a patriotic mood. All the main events in it were evaluated not only from the point of view of religious concepts, but also from the standpoint of these all-Russian state ideals.

In 1116-1118. the chronicle was rewritten again. Vladimir Monomakh, then reigning in Kyiv, and his son Mstislav were dissatisfied with the way Nestor showed the role of Svyatopolk in Russian history, by whose order The Tale of Bygone Years was written. Monomakh took away the chronicle from the Cave monks and transferred it to his ancestral Vydubitsky monastery. His abbot Sylvester became the author of a new code. In it, the positive assessments of Svyatopolk were moderated, but all the deeds of Vladimir Monomakh were emphasized, but the main part of The Tale of Bygone Years remained unchanged. And in the future, "The Tale of Bygone Years" was an indispensable part of both the Kievan annals and the annals of individual Russian principalities, being one of the connecting threads for the entire Russian culture.

With the political collapse of Rus' and the rise of individual Russian centers, the annals began to fragment. In addition to Kyiv and Novgorod, their own chronicles appeared in Smolensk, Pskov, Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Ryazan, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of their region, their own princes came to the fore. So, the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicles showed the history of the reigns of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest; Galician chronicle of the beginning of the XIII century. became, in essence, a biography of the prince-warrior Daniel of Galicia; the descendants of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich were narrated mainly by the Chernihiv chronicle. And yet, in this local chronicle, all-Russian cultural sources were clearly visible. Some local chronicles continued the tradition of Russian chronicle writing in the 11th century. So, at the turn of the XII - XIII centuries. in Kyiv, a new annalistic code was created, which reflected the events that took place in Chernigov, Galich, Vladimir-Suzdal Rus, Ryazan and other Russian cities. It can be seen that the author of the collection had at his disposal the annals of various Russian principalities and used them. The chronicler also knew European history well.

The preservation of the all-Russian chronicle tradition was shown by the Vladimir-Suzdal chronicle of the beginning of the 13th century, covering the history of the country from the legendary Kyi to Vsevolod the Big Nest.

We do not know the names of the authors of the legends about Oleg's campaigns, about Olga's baptism or Svyatoslav's wars. The first known author of a literary work in Rus' was Metropolitan Hilarion. In the early 40s. 11th century he created his famous “Sermon on Law and Grace”, in which, in a vivid journalistic form, he outlined his understanding of the place of Rus' in world history. This “Word…” is dedicated to substantiating the state-ideological concept of Rus', the full-fledged place of Rus' among other peoples and states, the role of the grand-princely power, its significance for the Russian lands. "Word..." explained the meaning of the baptism of Rus', revealed the role of the Russian Church in the history of the country. This enumeration alone indicates the scale of Hilarion's work.

The main theme of Hilarion's Lay was the idea of ​​equal rights for Rus' among other peoples and states. The author affirms the freedom of choice of religion on the part of Rus', notes the importance of Vladimir as a Russian apostle, compares him with Emperor Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, with the first Christian apostles. Speaking about the first Russian princes, Hilarion proudly notes: "They were rulers not in a bad country and not in an unknown land, but in Russia, which is known and heard in all parts of the earth." This idea of ​​Rus''s connection with world history was later reflected in The Tale of Bygone Years.

In the second half of the XI century. other bright literary and journalistic works appear, for example, “The Memory and Praise of Vladimir” by the monk Jacob, in which the ideas of Hilarion are further developed and applied to the historical figure of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. At the same time, the “Legend about the initial spread of Christianity in Rus'”, “The Tale of Boris and Gleb”, the patron saints and defenders of the Russian land, were created.

In the last quarter of the XI century. monk Nestor begins to work on his compositions. Chronicle was his final fundamental work. Prior to that, he created "Reading about the life of Boris and Gleb." In it, as in Hilarion's Lay, as later in The Tale of Bygone Years, the ideas of the unity of Rus' are heard, and tribute is paid to its defenders and guardians. Already at that time, writers were worried about the growing political hostility in the Russian lands, in which they guessed a harbinger of future bloody strife.

Literature of the 12th century continues the traditions of Russian writings of the 11th century. New ecclesiastical and secular works are being created, marked by a vivid form, a wealth of thoughts, and broad generalizations; new genres of literature emerge. In his declining years, Vladimir Monomakh wrote his Teaching to Children, which became one of the favorite readings of Russian people in the early Middle Ages. Describing purely Russian affairs and Russian political passions, endless wars with the enemies of Rus', Monomakh constantly relied on Christian universal values. In them he found the answer to the questions that tormented him, in them he drew moral support. He begins to quote the Psalter from the immortal words: “Why are you sad, my soul? Why are you embarrassing me? Trust in God, for I believe in Him." His “Instruction” is a hymn to the righteous, rejection of evil and crafty people, faith in the triumph of good, in the meaninglessness and doom of evil.

At the beginning of the XII century. one of the associates of Monomakh, hegumen Daniel creates "The Journey of Abbot Daniel to the Holy Places." The pious Russian man went to the Holy Sepulcher and made a long and difficult journey - to Constantinople, then through the islands of the Aegean Sea to the island of Crete, from there to Palestine and to Jerusalem, where at that time there was a crusader state led by King Baldwin. Daniel described in detail his entire journey, spoke about his stay at the court of the Jerusalem king, about the campaign with him against the Arabs. Daniel prayed at the Holy Sepulcher, set up a lamp there from the whole Russian land: near the Sepulcher of Christ, he sang fifty liturgies "for the princes of Russia and for all Christians." Both "Instruction" and "Walking" were the first genres of their kind in Russian literature. XII-beginning of the XIII century. gave a lot of other bright religious and secular works, which replenished the treasury of Russian culture. Among them are the "Word" and "Prayer" by Daniil Zatochnik, about which little is known. Having been imprisoned, having experienced a number of other worldly dramas, he reflects on the meaning of life, on a harmonious person, on an ideal ruler. Addressing his prince in the Prayer, Daniel says that a real person must combine the strength of Samson, the courage of Alexander the Great, the mind of Joseph, the wisdom of Solomon, the cunning of David. Turning to biblical stories and ancient history helps him convey his ideas to the addressee. A person, according to the author, should strengthen the heart with beauty and wisdom, help his neighbor in sorrow, show mercy to those in need, and resist evil. The humanist line of ancient Russian literature firmly asserts itself here as well.

Author of the middle of the XII century. Metropolitan of Kiev Klimenty Smolyatich in his "Message", referring to the Greek philosophers Aristotle, Plato, to the work of Homer, also recreates the image of a highly moral person, alien to lust for power, greed and vanity.

In the “Parable of the Human Soul” (end of the 12th century), Bishop Kirill of Turov, relying on the Christian worldview, gives his own interpretation of the meaning of human existence, discusses the need for a constant connection between soul and body. At the same time, in the Parable, he raises issues that are quite topical for Russian reality, reflects on the relationship between church and secular authorities, defends the national-patriotic idea of ​​the unity of the Russian land, which was especially important at a time when some princes began to implement a centralization policy.

Simultaneously with these writings, where religious and secular motifs were constantly intertwined, scribes in monasteries, churches, in princely and boyar houses diligently copied church service books, prayers, collections of church traditions, biographies of saints, and ancient theological literature. All this wealth of religious, theological thought also constituted an integral part of the general Russian culture.

Architecture. Unlike Western Europe Rus' (due to geographical features) was characterized by predominantly wooden architecture. Even the fortress walls of most cities were made of wood (as evidenced by chronicle reports about the capture of cities by the Tatar-Mongols).

The first stone buildings are associated with the era of the Christianization of Rus' (Alesha Popovich.

Russian wooden architecture was characterized by a multi-tiered structure, crowning them with turrets and towers, the presence of various kinds of outbuildings - cages, passages, canopies. Intricate artistic woodcarving was a traditional decoration of Russian wooden buildings. This tradition lives on to this day.

The world of Byzantium, the world of Christianity brought new building experience and traditions to Rus'. Rus' adopted the construction of churches in the image of the cross-bathing temple of the Greeks. The square, divided by four pillars, forms its basis, the rectangular cells adjacent to the dome space form an architectural cross. But the Greek craftsmen who arrived in Rus' since the time of Vladimir, as well as the Russian craftsmen who worked with them, applied this pattern to the traditions of Russian wooden architecture, familiar to the Russian eye and dear to the heart. If the first Russian churches, including the Church of the Tithes of the end of the 10th century, were built by Greek masters in strict accordance with Byzantine traditions, then St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev reflected a combination of Slavic and Byzantine traditions. Thirteen domes of the new temple were placed on the basis of the cross-domed church. This stepped pyramid of St. Sophia Cathedral resurrected the style of Russian wooden architecture.

Sophia Cathedral, created at the time of the assertion and rise of Rus' under Yaroslav the Wise, showed that construction is also politics. With this temple, Rus' challenged Byzantium, its recognized shrine, the St. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople. In the XI century. Sophia cathedrals grew in other major centers of Rus' - Novgorod, Polotsk, and each of them claimed its own throne, independent of Kiev, like Chernigov, where the monumental Transfiguration Cathedral was built. Throughout Rus', multi-domed churches with thick walls and small windows were built - evidence of power and beauty.

In the 12th century, according to the figurative expression of one art historian, Russian single-domed temples-heroes marched throughout Rus', replacing the former pyramids. The dome rose up on a powerful, massive square. Such was the Dmitrovsky Cathedral in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, the Cathedral of St. George in Yuryev-Polsky. Architecture flourished during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky. His name is associated with the buildings of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, the white-stone palace beautifully located on the steep bank of the Klyazma in the village of Bogolyubovo, the Golden Gate in Vladimir - a powerful white-stone cube crowned with a golden-domed church. Under him, a miracle of Russian architecture was created - the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. The prince built a church not far from his chambers after the death of his beloved son Izyaslav. This small one-domed church has become a stone poem, which harmoniously combines modest beauty, quiet sadness, enlightened contemplation of architectural lines. Andrei's brother Vsevolod continued his construction activities. Its craftsmen left to posterity the wonderful Dmitrovsky Cathedral in Vladimir - majestic and at the same time modest.

In the XII-beginning of the XIII century. temples were built in Novgorod and Smolensk, Chernigov and Galich, Pskov and Novgorod-Volynsky. A characteristic feature of Russian architecture was the stone carving decorating the buildings. We see this amazing art on the walls of cathedrals in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', in Novgorod, and other Russian cities. Another feature that related all Russian architecture of that time was the organic combination of architectural structures with the natural landscape. Look at the churches of that time and you will understand what is at stake.

Art. Old Russian art- painting, sculpture, music - with the adoption of Christianity also experienced tangible changes. Pagan Rus' knew all these types of art, but in a purely pagan, folk expression. Ancient wood carvers, stone cutters created wooden and stone sculptures of pagan gods and spirits. Painters painted the walls of pagan temples, made sketches of magical masks, which were then made by artisans; musicians, playing stringed and woodwind instruments, entertained the tribal leaders and entertained the common people.

The Christian Church introduced a completely different content into these types of art. Church art is subordinated to the highest goal - the chanting of God, the deeds of the apostles, saints, church leaders. If in pagan art the flesh triumphed over the spirit and everything earthly, personifying nature, was affirmed, then church art sang the victory of the spirit over the flesh, affirmed the lofty feats of the human soul for the sake of the moral principles of Christianity. This found expression in the fact that painting, and music, and the art of sculpture were created mainly according to church canons, where everything that was contrary to the highest Christian principles was swept aside. Asceticism and rigor in painting (icon painting, mosaic, fresco), the sublimity of Greek church prayers and hymns, the temple itself, which becomes a place of prayerful communication of people, were characteristic of Byzantine art, which became a model for Russian Christian art. Transferred to Russian soil, canonical in content, brilliant in its execution, the art of Byzantium collided with the pagan worldview of the Eastern Slavs, with their joyful cult of nature - the sun, spring, light, with their completely earthly ideas about good and evil, about sins and virtues. And from the very first years of the transfer of Byzantine church art to Rus', it experienced the full power of Russian folk culture and folk aesthetic ideas. It has already been said above that a single-domed Byzantine church in Rus' in the 11th century. transformed into a multi-domed pyramid. The same thing happened with painting. Already in the XI century. the strict ascetic manner of Byzantine icon painting turned under the brush of Russian artists into portraits close to nature, although Russian icons carried all the features of a conventional icon-painting face. At this time, the Caves monk-painter Llimpiy became famous. Contemporaries said about him that he "was very cunning to paint icons." Iconography was Alimpiy's main means of subsistence, but he spent the money he earned in a very peculiar way: he bought everything that was necessary for his craft for one part, gave the other to the poor, and donated the third to the Caves Monastery.

Along with icon painting, fresco painting and mosaics developed. The frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv show the manner of painting by Greek and Russian masters, their commitment to human warmth, integrity and simplicity. On the walls of the cathedral we see images of saints, and the family of Yaroslav the Wise, and images of Russian buffoons, and animals. Beautiful icon-painting, fresco, mosaic painting filled other churches in Kyiv. Known for their great artistic power are the mosaics of the St. Michael's Golden-domed Monastery with their depiction of the apostles, saints who have lost their Byzantine austerity; their faces became softer, rounder. Later, the Novgorod school of painting took shape. Its characteristic features were the clarity of the idea, the reality of the image, and accessibility. From the XII century. Remarkable creations of Novgorod painters have come down to us: the icon “Angel with Golden Hair”, where, for all the conventionality of the appearance of an angel, his quivering and beautiful soul is felt. On the icon "The Savior Not Made by Hands" Christ with his expressive break in his eyebrows appears as a formidable, understanding judge of the human race. On the icon "Assumption of the Virgin" in the faces of the apostles all the sorrow of loss is captured. The widespread use of icon-painting, fresco painting was also characteristic of Chernigov, Rostov, Suzdal, and later Vladimir-on-Klyazma, where wonderful frescoes depicting the Last Judgment adorned the Dmitrovsky Cathedral.

The art of Kievan Rus developed in the mainstream of medieval European culture and was inextricably linked with the church and the Christian faith. At the same time, Slavic masters had their own stable, centuries-old traditions of pagan art. Therefore, having adopted much from Byzantium, they developed an original, inimitable style and created genuine masterpieces of architecture, painting, and applied art.

Architecture. Over the centuries, the Eastern Slavs accumulated rich experience in architecture, a national tradition of urban planning has developed. For a long time, wood was the main building material available in abundance. In the center of the settlements there were "grads", which served to protect against enemies, to hold tribal meetings and cult rites. Most of the buildings in the Slavic "grads" were built from log cabins - logs stacked in quadrangular crowns. From log cabins, simple huts and 2-3-storey towers were built, log cabins were laid at the base of the ramparts. They tried to build without the use of nails, because. rusting nails led to the rapid destruction of the building.

A qualitatively new level of development of architecture is associated with the transition from wooden to stone and brick construction. With the adoption of Christianity, the construction of temples began, which are an independent ancient Russian processing of Byzantine samples.

The first stone structures were created during the reign of Vladimir the Great. On the central square of ancient Kyiv, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin was erected. The church was nicknamed the Tithes because Vladimir signed off a tenth of the grand duke's income with a special letter. Its fate was tragic: in 1240, when the hordes of Batu broke into Kyiv, it became the last line of defense and was destroyed to the ground. Today, its foundation has been cleared and preserved.

The most widespread in Rus' was the cross-domed layout of cathedrals. Such a composition of the temple was based on Christian symbols, emphasizing its purpose. In accordance with this system, vaults with a central dome rested on four pillars, forming a cruciform composition. The corner parts were also covered with domed vaults. On the eastern side, in the altar part, they were attached to the temple apses- semicircular ledges covered with half of a domed or closed vault. Internal pillars divided the space of the temple into naves (spaces between rows).

Particular importance was attached to the dome, which, from the point of view of theology, performed not only an aesthetic, but also a cult function. Its purpose is to concentrate the spiritual energy of people, "prayer burning" and direct it to the sky. It was believed that if the prayer of an individual person can "not reach" God, then the prayer of many people, concentrated in the domes, will certainly be heard. According to the Byzantine tradition, the domes were covered with lead, gilded or green-painted sheets. Both colors - golden and green - were considered sacred in Byzantium.

Old Russian masters improved the Byzantine type of masonry. The walls of the cathedrals were laid out from alternating rows of stone and plinths(flat brick, close to a square shape). The builders used the method of the so-called "recessed plinth", when the rows of bricks through one were deepened into the wall, and the resulting gaps were filled cloves(mortar of lime, sand and crushed bricks). As a result, the walls were striped. Gray granite and red quartzite, combined with the orange-pink color of the plinth and the pinkish tint of the opal, gave the façade an elegant look. The masonry was carried out at a high artistic level and was one of the main decorations of the building. Later, Byzantium also adopted Kyiv masonry.

The embodiment of the main architectural achievements of Kievan Rus was the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, which has survived to this day in a heavily rebuilt form. It was built under Yaroslav the Wise on the site of his victory over the Pechenegs and was conceived as a symbol of the political power of Rus'. Sophia Cathedral became the place of seating on the prince's table and placing on the metropolitan throne, the place of reception of foreign ambassadors, the meeting of the prince with the people.

By name, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv repeats the one in Constantinople, but it is a completely original, independent architectural structure. In its original form, the cathedral was a five-nave cross-domed building with thirteen domes (a symbol of Christ and the twelve apostles). All five naves ended in apses in the east; an altar was placed in the central apse. Twelve small domes rose in steps to a large central dome. Outside, an arched gallery adjoined the building on three sides, which in general created a pyramidal composition. The whole structure was designed so that, with a relatively small volume, to create a feeling of grandeur and harmony.

Many domes, pyramidal composition, original masonry, helmet-shaped domes - these are the innovations that the ancient Russian masters brought to the Byzantine school, based on the traditions of wooden architecture. The Kiev Sophia Cathedral served as a model for the construction of cathedrals in Novgorod and Polotsk.

An architectural monument of world importance is the ensemble of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The construction of the main cathedral - the Assumption Church - was an important stage in the development of Kyiv architecture. It began the widespread use of single-domed churches, the main type of church in the period of feudal fragmentation. The church was destroyed in 1941, and is currently being restored. Somewhat later, in the same monastery, an amazingly beautiful and proportional gate church was built.

At the turn of the XI-XII centuries. not far from the temple of Hagia Sophia, a cathedral was erected dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who went down in history under the name of the Golden-domed. St. Michael's Cathedral, which survived all the fires and wars of previous eras, was blown up in the 30s. our century. Independent Ukraine restored its shrine.

No less interesting are the architectural monuments of other centers of Kievan Rus, which especially rose in the 12th-13th centuries, in the era of the fragmentation of Rus' into specific principalities. Fragmentation objectively contributed to the growth of cities, the development of crafts and trade in them. In the new centers, a culture is developing that is closely connected with local folk art. Architects are switching to local building materials: in the Dnieper and Volhynia - brick, in Galich and Vladimir-Suzdal land - white stone. From here comes a significant artistic diversity in the architecture of the ancient Russian lands.

The best architecture of the XI-XIII centuries. preserved in the "capital city" of the Seversk land - Chernigov, picturesquely located on the banks of the Desna. In the main Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, one can see features close to the Western European Romanesque style: the massiveness of the volume, narrow windows, and a round stair tower. Further processing of the Byzantine system found its expression in the single-dome church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. There is an assumption that this building was built by the outstanding architect of that time, Peter Milonog. He was the first to use "stepped" arches, which later became widespread. Peter Milonog also built a complex engineering structure in Kyiv - a stone retaining wall under a mountain eroded by the waters of the Dnieper. The chronicler writes that the people of Kiev were very fond of this place, where they "seemed to float in the air."

Galicia-Volyn, the westernmost principality, had lively cultural relations with Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Balkans, perceived, mastered and processed the elements of architecture of these countries. Castle architecture is actively developing here, such a variant of church construction as round in plan is gaining popularity. rotunda. Unfortunately, the rich architecture of this land is practically not preserved.

In general, in the art of Kievan Rus, as well as in the art of Western Europe, architecture occupied a leading place. Depending on the architectural and artistic design were painting, stone carving, artistic casting.

art. The leading genres of fine art in Kievan Rus were mosaics, frescoes, iconography and book miniatures.

The genres of monumental painting - frescoes and mosaics - developed on the basis of Byzantine schools. Frescoes - painted with water-based paints on wet plaster - covered the walls of Orthodox churches. The features of this technique require the artist to be highly skilled, to quickly and accurately apply drawings and colors. Accordingly, the entire composition must be completed within one day. But the paints are well absorbed, dry together with the plaster, so they do not crumble and do not fade. Recipes for the composition of paints were kept in strict confidence, passed from master to student. Thanks to the remarkable properties of this technique, ancient Russian murals have stood the test of time. Significant complexity, not only artistic, but also technological, marked the art of mosaics. The mosaics were made up of smalts- cubes of special colored glass, the secret of making which came from Byzantium and was lost during the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The color scheme of smalt consisted of many shades (green - more than 30, red and blue - 20 each, etc.) In the manufacture of gold smalt, a thin metal plate was placed between layers of transparent glass.

The whole world of ancient Russian art in a single ensemble of architecture, painting and arts and crafts has come down to us in Kiev's St. Sophia Cathedral. Both mosaics and frescoes are made according to a single plan, in a single style. Mosaics decorate mainly the central part of the cathedral, especially the altar. Their palette has 177 shades. The ability of mosaics to flicker in the light of sunlight and candles is explained by the fact that the craftsmen used this technique: mosaic colored glass was pressed into the damp surface of the plaster at different angles. The figures were perfectly visible from any part of the room and, as it were, came to life, moved, which made and is making a great impression. The main mosaic is the majestic and stern figure of Christ the Almighty on the vault of the central dome. The author showed a deep understanding of the features of monumental painting: the image is made with wide lines, large color areas. Perhaps the most famous is the mosaic Our Lady of Oranta. Oranta is the name in the Byzantine tradition of a plot depicting a praying Mother of God. The Virgin Mary, raising her hands in a gesture of prayer, appears against a golden shimmering background on the vault of the altar apse.

All the walls, pillars and vaults of St. Sophia Cathedral were covered with fresco painting. The development of the theme of the fresco paintings in St. Sophia Cathedral was a matter of great national importance, it was led by one of the people closest to Prince Yaroslav, Metropolitan Hilarion. The murals are read like a book, they are composed of three cycles: gospel, biblical stories and the lives of the saints - the patrons of the princely family. The towers, where the stairs are located, along which the prince and his entourage climbed, are not a place of worship, therefore their walls were decorated with frescoes painted on secular everyday topics (“Buffoons”, “Bear Hunt”, etc.). On the wall under the arches of the choirs there was a large composition with the image of Yaroslav, who brings to Christ a model of St. Sophia Cathedral and the entire princely family. In 1651, the Dutch artist Westerfeld saw and sketched the entire fresco, but later many of the images were lost. The portrait of women of the grand-ducal family has been best preserved to this day. Sophia Cathedral brought to us the only examples of secular monumental painting of the 11th century in all of Europe.

In direct connection with the introduction of Christianity is the emergence and development of the national tradition of icon painting. Icons were written on boards. The board was covered with a special primer, then a drawing was applied, on which they wrote with paints ground on egg yolk. Themes, compositions, colors of images on the icons obeyed strict rules - the canon. There is no realism in canonical images, their symbolism is very complex. The greatest masters were able, without breaking with the canon, to endow their works with unique individual features, filled their works with genuine feelings. The "Kiev-Pechersk Patericon" describes the life of the famous master - Alympia (Alipia). The oldest surviving icons date back approximately to the reign of Vladimir Monomakh. The icon "Our Lady of Vladimir" brought from Byzantium served as the basis for a number of icons called "Tenderness".

The appearance of the art of book miniature coincides with the appearance of the most ancient written monuments. The image of the three evangelists - John, Luke and Mark - was decorated with the Ostromir Gospel. There is no fourth evangelist, Matthew, but a blank sheet was left for the drawing. The manuscript with colorful illustrations was called "front". The “facial” is the famous “Izbornik” of Svyatoslav. In addition to plot illustrations, the books were richly ornamented.

Decorative and applied art. The arts and crafts actively developed. Products made of wood, metal, bone, stone, clay not only satisfied the needs of people, but also adorned their lives. A characteristic feature of works of applied art was a floral ornament, in contrast to the geometric Byzantine ornament.

Jewelery products are especially striking in their high aesthetics and technique. Blackening of silver, casting from precious metals, chasing, inlay, filigree technique (patterns from thin metal threads) and granulation (decoration from soldered small metal balls) were known and used. The pinnacle of jewelry art is the technique of cloisonné enamel. She came from Byzantium, but soon the Kyiv masters surpassed the teachers. The manufacturing process schematically looked like this. Thin gold partitions were welded onto a gold plate, the resulting cavities were filled with enamel powder and melted. Decorations depicting sirens, the tree of life, and floral ornaments were found in ancient treasures. The German connoisseur of crafts Theophilus (11th century), listing in his note the countries that became famous in various arts, named Rus' in a place of honor, the masters of which were known for their products “made of gold with enamel and silver with niello”.

Music. In the life of the people of Kievan Rus, music, songs and dances occupied a large place. The song accompanied various rituals, calendar holidays. The famous frescoes of the tower of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv show images of musicians and dancers. From these images, as well as from epics, chronicles, we know the musical instruments of Rus' - a horn, pipes, a tambourine, a harp, a whistle. With the adoption of Christianity, monophonic singing became part of the divine services, the Orthodox canon did not allow instrumental music. Singing was conducted according to special manuscripts-books. There were two systems of musical notation - original and Byzantine.

In the development of the culture of Kievan Rus, both general patterns and national characteristics were manifested. Its basis is the original culture of the East Slavic tribes. The adoption of Christianity became a fundamental milestone in the development of culture. The influence of Byzantine culture was significant. Unlike Western Europe, in Rus' the state did not fall under the authority of the church, and, accordingly, secular elements were stronger in culture. There has been a progressive trend of differentiation of spiritual culture. In a relatively short time, Kievan Rus made a huge step, reaching the all-European cultural level, and in some of its areas - surpassing it. New trends in culture, greater regional identity appeared in connection with feudal fragmentation. However, in order to consolidate and develop cultural dynamics, Rus' needed to restore political unity.

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