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Sergey Zagraevsky

 

Jury Dolgoruky and ancient Russian white stone architecture

 

 

Published in Russian: Çàãðàåâñêèé Ñ.Â. Þðèé Äîëãîðóêèé è äðåâíåðóññêîå áåëîêàìåííîå çîä÷åñòâî. M.: Àëåâ-Â, 2001. ISBN 5-94025-014-9

 

Annotation

 

This book covers a wide range of issues concerning the origins and historical destiny of white-stone architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal and Moscow principalities. The book makes a fresh look at the history of the white stone construction, and on a very controversial personality of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, who started that construction.

The book is intended for specialists in the history of architecture and related fields of knowledge, as well as for a wide circle of readers interested in Ancient Russian architecture.

 

Editor - A. M.Kantor.

 

 

Introduction

Chapter I. White stone and brick

Chapter II. Galich, Caucasus and Volga Bulgaria

Chapter III. Suzdal masters and Romanesque

Chapter IV. “The limit of reliability”

Chapter V. Sculpture decoration

Conclusion

Applications, notes

 

Attention!

The following text was translated from Russian original by the computer program

and has not yet been edited.

So it can be used only for general introduction.

     RUSSIAN VERSION

 

To the 70th anniversary of my father

Wolfgang Volfgangovicha Kavelmahera

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

For the beginning it is necessary to briefly outline the reasons which led the author to undertake this study.

As is known, the overwhelming majority of churches and pre-Vladimir-Suzdal land built of white stone. Next - in Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, Ryazan and Novgorod lands - all building was built of brick (time) or in mixed media. In Suzdal (as is usually termed the North-Eastern Russia, and "Rus" - only the Central and southern territories), stone built only in the far Western Russia Galich.

Under Vladimir Monomakh in the Suzdal region is built from plinfy and mixed media. The white-stone construction began in the middle of the XII century, when Yuri Dolgoruky and lasted more than three hundred years - from the white stone built and the Moscow Principality. And in the middle of the XV century there was almost universal return to the brick.

This situation, in the history of Russian architecture is unique, developed in the literature only at the level of the findings of fact of the transition in the middle of the XII century from cheap and technologically brick architecture to more expensive and less technological white stone, its tercentenary of use and return to the brick technique in the middle of the XV century.

But actually this fact is so serious that a statement of little.

The pre-Mongol epoch, except for monuments of architecture, we have only fragmentary, often contradictory and biased testimonies Chronicles - "broken mirror of his time"1. But the monuments, in spite of numerous restructuring, destruction and poor-quality restoration, preserved in the number, it allows to perform search of answers to the questions:

- why in the middle of the XII century Yuri Dolgoruky began to build in the Vladimir-Suzdal not made of brick and white stone?

- Why a white stone, and with the descendants of George remained the dominant type of building material?

- Why is the "successor" of the Suzdal - Moscow - this tradition has continued for a long time and ended only in the middle of the XV century?

In parallel with the study of these issues we can try to read in the annals of rock and more detailed characteristics of the eras of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest and their descendants. After all, the chroniclers were related to politics, religion, personal likes and dislikes, and architecture brings an objective, though not so easily readable information. The true mirror of each era architecture. Under this perspective, we shall consider it.

The problems that we have set for ourselves, much broader issues of Genesis of architectural forms and the use of a construction equipment. It requires the involvement of history, Economics, science, art history, mathematical statistics, soil science, Geology, and other Sciences. Therefore, we must work on the "crossroads of the disciplines".

And what we're going to do in our study can be summarized as historical and motivational modeling era, focused on the issues of the history of architecture.

So, the aim of our research is to analyze the historical, archaeological and architectural information that we have today, and drawing on its basis of problem-oriented historical and motivational model of the era.

The main principle is that when building any model we can only rely on the proven and proven facts, and if they will be enough to build the model, then we have the right to use the already-built model to the facts in dispute, or unproven. Our model is primarily designed to address questions of why in the Vladimir-Suzdal in the middle of the XII century white stone building began and why it lasted until mid XV century.

The author is grateful OMEIoannisiani, VVCwelmaker, AACliminco, AICAmeco for graciously agreeing to read the manuscript and make some corrections and additions.

I would also like to Express special gratitude Try, without which, perhaps, would not have this book.

 

Chapter I. White stone and brick

 .

© Sergey Zagraevsky

 

Introduction

Chapter I. White stone and brick

Chapter II. Galich, Caucasus and Volga Bulgaria

Chapter III. Suzdal masters and Romanesque

Chapter IV. “The limit of reliability”

Chapter V. Sculpture decoration

Conclusion

Applications, notes

 

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