La Russie Medievale

Medieval Russia, whose population had settled along the length of the Dnieper and Vokhov River thoroughfare, on the celebrated “route from the Varangians to the Greeks,” joined the community of Christian States presided over by the Roman Emperor of Constantinople at the end of the 10th century. From that point on, the use of brick and stone architecture gained momentum under the impetus of Byzantine craftsmen who had come to Russia to contribute their expertise. Thus throughout the 11th century, Slavia Orthodoxia was also covered with a “white mantle of churches” whose loveliest masterpieces have survived down through the ages: Kiev’s St. Sophia Cathedral, with its vast mosaic-covered walls and famous frescos, and Novgorod’s St. Sophia Cathedral, with its famous 12thcentury bronze door—the work of German craftsmen. At the end of the 11th and on through the 12th centuries, Russia was split into principalities, each city of which was striving to display its power and wealth by building a cathedral and endowing itself with churches and palaces. In this manner, the celebrated “golden ring” was formed in Russian Mesopotamia between the Volga and Oka Rivers, comprised of the cities of Suzdal, Vladimir, and Yaroslavl. The stone façades, richly adorned with sculptures created by master craftsmen from abroad inspired a great deal of controversy but also gave us genuine masterpieces that were to transform pre-Mongol Russia into that exceptional land of culture and civilisation which, in the second half of the 13th century, became a part of the immense Mongol Empire stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the China Sea. This guide is designed to enable readers to learn more about, and better understand and appreciate, Medieval Russia.