Spiritual culture of ancient Rus' briefly. Culture of Kievan Rus: a brief description

2.1 Writing and education

Writing existed in Rus' even in the pre-Christian period. There are references to "features and cuts" in the legend "On Writings" (the turn of the 9th-10th centuries). The author, Khrabr, a Chernorian, noted that the pagan Slavs use pictorial signs, with the help of which they "chitah and gadah" (read and guessed). Evidence of the presence of pre-Christian writing among the Slavs is a broken clay pot discovered in 1949 in the Gnezdovsky pagan burial mounds near Smolensk, on which the inscription "goroukhshcha" ("gorushna") has been preserved. In addition to Gnezdovskaya, fragments of inscriptions and numerical calculations were found on amphoras and other vessels of the 10th century. in Taman (ancient Tmutarakan), Sarkel and Black Sea ports. Writing based on various alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic, runic) was used by the diverse population of the most ancient cities and proto-cities located on important trade routes. Trade became the soil that contributed to the spread throughout the territory of Rus' of the Cyrillic alphabet adapted for Slavic speech and convenient for writing. The Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century. Cyril the Philosopher (827-869). Cyril took the Greek alphabet, consisting of 24 letters, as a basis, supplemented it with hissing sounds of the Hebrew alphabet and some letters created individually (b, g, b, s). The Cyrillic alphabet originally consisted of 43 letters close in spelling to Greek. Letters denoted not only sounds, but also numbers. "A" - the number 1, "B" - 2, "P" - 100. And only in the XVIII century. Arabic numerals have replaced "alphabetic" numerals. 3

With the adoption of Christianity, the written period of the culture of ancient Rus' began. After baptism Kyiv prince Vladimir ordered "to collect from the best people children and give them to book education. "The first schools known to us in Rus' were created by Prince Vladimir to educate children both from families of noble and middle fortunes, and children of "poor and poor parents." From the biography of the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Theodosius, it is known that a school for the training of clergy existed in Kursk in 1023. Around 1030, the son of Prince Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise, opened a school in Novgorod "gathering 300 children from elders and presbyters and ordered them to teach books."4 In 1086, Princess Anna Vsevolodovna opened at the Andreevsky Monastery in Kyiv, the first known to us women's school in Rus', where students studied "writing, crafts, singing, sewing." In pre-Mongolian Rus', there were schools in Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Rostov, Polotsk, Galich. They studied theology, philosophy , rhetoric, grammar based on the works of ancient authors, Byzantine literature, Bulgarian sources.For the "learning of the book" translated books were used: the biography of Alexander M the Acedonian "Alexandria", "The History of the Jewish War" by Josephus Flavius, treatises on the six days of Creation, collections of instructive content - "Golden Jet", "Margaret", "Izmaragd"; stories (patericons) about visions of the afterlife ("The Virgin's Walk through the Torments"), about the "details" of the creation of the world, the Sinai patericon and other writings. The range of translated literature was also varied - from church theological to historical, natural science and apocryphal.

2.2 Book writing in Rus'

The first mention of book writing in Rus' refers only to the second quarter of the 11th century. Under 1037, The Tale of Bygone Years reports on the organization by Yaroslav the Wise at the Kiev Sophia Cathedral of works on the translation of liturgical books from Greek into Old Church Slavonic and their correspondence. From handwritten books of the XI-XII centuries. units are preserved. The sensational discovery in Novgorod of a fragment of the Old Russian Psalter written on wax tablets (codices) is dated by historians to the early 990s - late 1010s, although it does not contain direct data on the time of its manufacture. Information about the production of parchment books is also very scarce. The earliest dated parchment book on 294 sheets, the Ostromir Gospel, was rewritten by deacon Gregory in 1056-1057.

The correspondence of books, at least until the middle of the 16th century, remained the exclusive prerogative of the church. In the XI-XIII centuries. "book business" was mainly carried out by representatives of the middle and lower levels of the clergy and their children. Frequent use in the sources of the late XIII century. the word "scribe" may indicate that at that time book writing was taking shape as a craft specialty. The material for writing, books and letters in Rus' at that time was parchment - specially dressed cow, calf or pig skin. Since it took one skin to make one parchment sheet, the production of books, which often exceeded 200 sheets, was very expensive.

Handwritten books were elegantly designed. Before the text, they always made a headband - a small ornamental composition in the form of a frame around the title of a chapter or section. The first, capital letter in the text - "initial" - was decorated with an ornament, and sometimes in the form of a figure of a person, animal, bird or fantastic creature. Usually the initial was red. Since then they say - "to write from the red line." The section ended with an "ending" - a small drawing, for example, an image of two birds that looked like peacocks. The most difficult type of book illustration was miniatures. The miniatures were painted by the artists on the pages of the book free from text with a brush. Most often these were portraits of customers or authors of the book, illustrations for the text. In the XI-XIII centuries. in Rus', there were about 130-140 handwritten books in circulation, about 80 have come down to our time. 5

2.3 Literacy rate of the population

After the adoption of Christianity, writing begins to spread rapidly in ancient Rus'. Within a few decades, not only their own "scribes" appeared, but also competent icon painters, gunsmiths, harpists, warriors, tax collectors, women from princely families. Later, in the second half of the 11th and especially in the 12th-13th centuries, literacy gradually penetrated into the wider strata of the urban population. Birch bark letters discovered by archaeologists in 1951 in Novgorod testified to the level of literacy of the population. Business correspondence was conducted on birch bark, records of debts and duties, petitions and study assignments were written. The literacy of the population is also evidenced by inscriptions made on various objects. They were performed by people of different social strata - from the prince to the lad (junior combatant), from the bishop to the sexton, from the professional scribe to the barely literate child.

The most numerous, quantitatively comparable with the number of birch bark letters, are graffiti - inscriptions drawn on the walls of ancient temples, cave monasteries, etc. The first researchers most often explained the appearance of inscriptions on the walls with "mischief, childish pranks and boredom of the church rite." This opinion was supported by the church charter of Prince Vladimir, where the "cutting" of inscriptions on the walls was condemned and equated with such grave sins against religion and morality as digging up graves and destroying crosses. The norms of church law and ordinary life did not always coincide, and the walls of many medieval buildings are covered with many inscriptions. Only a study of graffiti in St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv and Novgorod helped to explain and understand this phenomenon. It turned out that the vast majority of them are either commemorative, or prayerful, or in one way or another connected with the Christian religion and worship. Probably, in the view of the inhabitants of ancient Rus', such a record was equated with a prayer written on a church wall and from this, as it were, constantly acting.

Invaluable information contains prayer autographs left by the artists - performers of the fresco painting of the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod in the middle of the 11th century. and in 1108. Thanks to these inscriptions, the names of artists become known, which are not reported by any chronicle. Evidence of the literacy of the population was also monumental inscriptions that were carved on crosses located at crossroads and convenient stops on trade routes; often they were ordinary prayer or memorial, but they also performed another function: informational. They appear around the middle of the 11th century. The oldest of them is a memorial inscription to a certain John on a two-meter stone cross from the village of Pregradnoye in the Stavropol Territory.

2.4 Themes and genres of literature

In ancient Rus', along with translated literature, the works of local authors were widely used. According to academician D.S. Likhachev, "the leap into the realm of literature took place simultaneously with the advent of Christianity and the Church in Rus', ... was prepared by all previous cultural development ... Old Russian literature can be compared with one colossal work, the plot of which is world history, and the theme is the meaning of human life, therefore Old Russian literature can be considered as literature of one theme and one plot. 6

Books in ancient Rus' were usually read aloud, and the principle of normativity extended to all genres of literature. The choice of genre was dictated not so much by the individual intention of the author, but by the purpose of his statement. For liturgical use, a solemn or accusatory sermon, teaching, hymnography (kontakion, canon, troparion), gospel (Ostromir gospel, Mstislav gospel, etc.) were created. For pious home reading - a patericon, which was a collection of short moralizing and entertaining stories (the most famous of them after the translated "Sinai" - "Kiev-Pechersk Patericon", compiled in the 13th century), as well as parables ("The Parable of the Human Soul" by the bishop Cyril of Turov (end of the 12th century); walking - a note about visiting the Holy Land or a revered shrine, and later - and outlandish pagan countries "The Walking of Abbot Daniel to Holy Places" (beginning of the 12th century).If the book was intended to rest from prayer and other works, the scribe resorted to one of the less rigorous genres - stories: about the military exploits of princes, about the fabulous adventures of ancient heroes, etc. Apocrypha had their own specifics - stories about visions of the afterlife ("Walking of the Virgin through the torments"), about visiting the earthly paradise (“The Tale of Our Father Agapius”), about the “details” of the creation of the world (“The Tale of How God Created Adam”) This genre of ancient Russian literature is the result of a religious folk fantasy ziya, non-canonical, but not necessarily heretical, ideas about the Divine cosmos.

The first and perhaps the most striking evidence of the artistic level of ancient Russian literature is the solemn "Sermon on Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv (c. 1049). The "Word" leads to the idea that Rus' was baptized not according to the law given by the Greeks, but according to the grace revealed to it through the holy prince Vladimir and the ruling prince Yaroslav the Wise, with whose praise Hilarion completes his work. Hilarion's ideas received further development in the second half of the 11th century. in other literary and publicistic works: "The Memory and Praise of Vladimir" by the monk Jacob, "The Tale of the Initial Spread of Christianity in Rus'", "The Tale of Boris and Gleb", in the writings of the preacher of the late XII century. Bishop Cyril of Turov ("The Tale of the Belorizitsa and the Mnishchestvo", "The Tale of the Chernoriz Rank") and Bishop Serapion of Vladimir ("On the Executions of God and the Hosts"). Around 1096, the image of an ideal statesman, politician, and commander was created in Vladimir Monomakh's Teachings to Children.

All the complexity and inconsistency of the life of society was reflected in his works "Word" and "Prayer" Daniil Zatochnik. Some researchers consider him a nobleman noble birth, others - a princely combatant, others - a simple serf, or maybe even a prisoner (hence the very word "Sharpener"). A feature of the style of the "Words" is the widespread use of everyday vocabulary, parodies, free interpretation of quotations from the psalms.

Other in vocabulary and literary devices were the "Lives" of the saints. It is assumed that the monk of Kiev Caves monastery Nestor was the "founding father" of ancient Russian hagiography (from the Greek "agios" - saint). In the hagiographic literature of the XI-XII centuries. The authors paid special attention to the search for a religious justification for princely (then royal) power as not just "set by God" and divinely sanctified, but precisely God-like, corresponding to the sacred status of Rus' ("The Life of Avraamy Smolensky", "The Life of Varlam Khutynsky"). Close to this idea is the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - about the unsuccessful campaign of Prince Igor in 1185 against the Polovtsians. This poem, called "the pearl of Russian poetry", is unique. It falls out of all genres and stylistic definitions of Old Russian literature. For more than 200 years, it has been worrying about the mystery of its origin and mysterious images, unlike any other.

2.5 Chronicle writing

Chronicles occupied a special place in spiritual culture. Their appearance dates back to the 11th century, and they were compiled until the 17th century. and were one of the most striking manifestations ancient Russian culture. Traditionally, a chronicle in the broad sense of the word is called a historical work, in which the presentation was carried out strictly by year, began with the words "In summer" and was accompanied by annual, calendar, and sometimes hourly dates. In the narrow sense, chronicles are usually called texts that have actually come down to us, preserved in one or more lists similar to each other.

The originals of the first chronicles have not been preserved, but they are restored with a certain degree of reliability on the material of later chronicles. Currently, more than 200 chronicle lists have been introduced into scientific circulation, which include "weather" records, documents, fragments of literary works. Separate records of memorable events were kept in Rus' from the 10th century, developing into princely chronicles and annals of monasteries. Based on this information at the end of the XI century. in the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, an annalistic code "Vremennik" was compiled, which included information about the history of the ancient Russian state, some facts of world history and data about the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. It can be assumed that the author of the "Vremennik" was the monk of the monastery Nikita Pechersky, who later became the Metropolitan of Kyiv.

The Tale of Bygone Years, compiled no earlier than 1113 by the monk Nestor, is considered to be the clearest example of ancient Russian chronicle writing. The leitmotif of the chronicle was the first lines of the work: "behold the tales of bygone years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kyiv began before the princes, and where did the Russian land come from." 7 Nestor the chronicler was a well-educated man, he knew literature of various origins well, and had extensive geographical knowledge. In his chronicle, he used the works of his predecessors, including Vremennik, and the events of the late 11th - early 12th centuries. described as an eyewitness. The chronicle, along with information about the most important political events, contains a lot of poetic legends and legends: about the calling of the Varangians, about the campaigns of Prince Oleg against Constantinople and against the Khazars, about the revenge of Princess Olga on the Drevlyans for the death of Prince Igor, etc.

From the 12th century chronicles have become more detailed, they already clearly show the sympathies and positions of the authors and their customers. In the future, the "Tale" was an indispensable part of both the Kiev annals and the annals of individual Russian principalities, being one of the connecting threads for the entire culture of Rus'. Their own chronicles appeared in Smolensk, Pskov, Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, Ryazan, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl-Russian. Each of them reflected the peculiarities of the history of their region, the reigns of local princes were brought to the fore. The oldest code compiled in Novgorod is the Novgorod First Chronicle, presented by the Synodal list of the XIII-XIV centuries.

2.6 Architecture and construction

Diverse and rich Russian architecture for a long time retained the power of artistic influence. Like ancient Russian literature, architecture was associated with the life of the state, and the most important stages of its development basically coincide with the periodization of Russian history.

Pre-Christian Rus' had an ancient tradition of wooden architecture. In housing construction, two types of buildings have developed. In the north, the dwellings were above ground, with a wooden floor, log walls, a gable roof and a large stone oven. The southern type of dwelling can be conditionally called a semi-dugout. The wooden walls were partially covered with earth, the ovens were made of clay. The princely and boyar towers consisted of several log buildings connected by covered passages and covered with high roofs. The ceremonial role was played by a large and bright hall - a gridiron: a place for receiving guests and feasting for the prince and his squad.

Practically nothing is known about the religious buildings of pagan Rus', except for evidence of tremies. The first wooden christian temple(Church of Elijah the Prophet in Kyiv) was built in the 1st half of the 10th century.

The intensive development of wooden architecture was caused by the growth of cities in Kievan Rus. Chronicles mention the construction of numerous "cities", "gorodtsy", "detinets", "kremlin". A huge role in the X-XI centuries. played defensive construction; an indispensable attribute of any settlement was reliably fortified "prisons" - earthen ramparts with ditches in front of them and wooden walls at the top. By the middle of the XII century. with the formation of specific principalities, the construction of cities and the strengthening of borders reached an unprecedented scale. This is evidenced by written sources and archaeological data. If until the middle of the XII century. archaeologists discovered 37 settlements, then from the middle of the XII - the middle of the XIII century. 425 remains of settlements have already been recorded.

A sharp increase in the number of urban settlements occurred primarily due to the so-called "small towns", the area of ​​which ranged from 0.2 to 2 hectares. The growth in the number of just such cities, fortified with ditches and ramparts and surrounded by wooden walls, is explained by the fact that the principalities, having achieved political independence, began to strengthen their borders. This is how Moscow, Tver, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Kolomna, Poltava (Ltava) appeared, which initially did not play any significant economic or political role, but performed the functions of frontier fortresses.

With the adoption of Christianity, the ancient Russian masters mastered the most complex architectural design of the cross-domed church adopted from the Byzantine architects. At the same time, the process of adapting a foreign culture to local traditions was going on, and the search for their own system of architecture began. So, if the first stone temples of Kyiv (Church of the Tithes; 5-nave St. Sophia Cathedral), Chernigov (3-nave Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior), Polotsk (5-nave St. Sophia Cathedral) technique and special elegance of patterned masonry, formed by alternating rows of stone and plinths , stepped pyramidality, extensive internal choirs for princely families resembled examples of Byzantine architecture, then buildings erected in the XI-XII centuries. in Novgorod, demonstrate a completely original version of ancient Russian architecture.

The 5-nave, 5-domed Novgorod church of St. Sophia, monolithic integrity and rigor of composition - the 5-domed Nikolo-Dvorishchensky Cathedral, the 3-domed cathedrals of Antoniev and St. George's monasteries. St. George's Cathedral of the St. George's Monastery, built by one of the first known by name of ancient Russian architects - master Peter. In the 2nd half of the 12th century, the monumental cathedrals in Novgorod were replaced by relatively small, compact 1-domed churches: George in Staraya Ladoga, Peter and Paul on Sinichya Gora, the Savior on Nereditsa. A somewhat simplified version of the Novgorod monumental churches was used in the architecture of Pskov (the 3-domed cathedral of the Ivanovo Monastery), and here around 1156 the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Mirozhsky Monastery was built - a temple of the so-called type unique for ancient Russian architecture. "Greek cross" (with lowered western cells and side apses).

In the XII century. local architectural schools took shape in Chernigov, Ovruch, Galich, Smolensk, Polotsk. The most interesting are the Smolensk Cathedral of the Archangel Michael; Chernihiv Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa; Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Euphrosyne Monastery in Polotsk 1159, Church of John Chrysostom in the capital of the Galician Principality 1259

One of the brightest schools of ancient Russian architecture - Vladimir-Suzdal - appeared in the middle of the 12th century. The independent policy of the princes of Vladimir (especially Andrei Bogolyubsky), who sought to turn Vladimir into the administrative and spiritual center of North-Eastern Rus', stimulated an unprecedented outbreak of building activity. The static and severe stinginess of the decor of the early buildings (the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Pereslavl-Zalessky; the Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha near Suzdal) were replaced by new architectural forms, in which the classical perfection of structures and construction techniques, the clarity of proportions, the richness of the carved white stone decor are organically merged. The resemblance to the Romanesque art of Europe is characteristic of the Cathedral of the Assumption and the austere fortress Golden Gate in Vladimir, the magnificently decorated princely palace in Bogolyubovo, the slender and graceful Church of the Intercession on the Nerl River, the solemnly monumental, in the upper parts completely covered with white stone carvings of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir. The art of white stone carving reached its peak in the sophisticated decor of the last monument of the Vladimir-Suzdal school - St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky: ornamental and plot reliefs that completely covered its walls, multi-figured compositions recreated the Christian-Slavic picture of the universe.

Byzantine architects brought to Rus' the technique of masonry with a hidden row, in which the rows of bricks on the facade of the building came out through one, and the intermediate row was pushed back and covered with a layer of pinkish mortar with an admixture of crushed ceramics (quarry). With a lower cost of building materials, the wall of the temple turned out to be more durable and decorative and practically did not need additional decoration. The combination of ancient Russian traditions proper and Byzantine innovations created a unique architectural style.

2.7 Painting

In the culture of pagan Rus', picturesque images were quite common, but only with the adoption of Christianity did the ancient Russian masters master the secrets of an absolutely new figurative system of fine art for them - church mosaics, murals, book miniatures. Easel painting came to Rus' - icon painting. Byzantium not only introduced the ancient Russian masters to a new painting technique for them, but also revealed to them the iconographic canon, the absolute implementation of which was monitored by the church. The icon was called "theology in colors"8 and they saw in it a means of turning the feelings and thoughts of believers to the divine world. The conventionality of the writing was to emphasize their unearthly essence in the appearance of the faces depicted on the icon, so the figures were painted flat, motionless, a special system of depicting space was used - a reverse perspective. The figures on the icon were not supposed to cast shadows, but were illuminated with a radiance, which was achieved using the general golden background of the icon. In addition, the icon had to be ascetic. The emaciated faces of the saints on the icon were called upon to form a new form of life relations among believers, opposing them to worldly feelings and aspirations.

The earliest surviving works of ancient Russian fine art were created jointly by Byzantine and local masters, among whom Alympius, a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery (end of the 11th century), stood out. The most developed was the art of mosaics and frescoes. In the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv, mosaics covered the most important and illuminated parts of the temple - the central dome (Christ the Almighty) and the altar (Our Lady of Oranta). The rest of the cathedral was decorated with frescoes: scenes from the life of Christ,

Mother of God, Archangel Michael. Frescoes on secular themes were also created in the temple: two group portraits of Yaroslav the Wise with his family, figures of buffoons, musicians, scenes of hunting and court life.

Book miniatures occupied a special place in ancient Russian painting. For example, the Ostromir Gospel was decorated with images of the Evangelists. Portrait images of the grand-ducal family were placed in the Izbornik of Svyatoslav in 1073; portraits of Yaropolk and his family in the "Mstislav Gospel" were painted in Novgorod by the master Aleksa.

With easing political force Kyiv and the formation of specific principalities, regional art schools reached their peak. From the 2nd half of the XII century. in the frescoes of the churches of St. George in Staraya Ladoga and especially the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, the Novgorod style proper began to take shape. Most typical features Novgorod painting was the sharpness of the characteristics of the images (impressiveness, enlargement, severity); a combination of contrasting colors, the lack of Byzantine sophistication and the use of folklore ideas: icons of the late 11th - 12th centuries.

Fine harmony of colors distinguishes the icons of the Vladimir-Suzdal school ("Bogolyubskaya Mother of God" of the middle of the 12th century, "Dmitry of Thessalonica", the end of the 12th - the beginning of the 13th centuries). The fine arts of North-Eastern Rus' are known only from a small number of monuments. The murals of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir are exceptional in terms of artistic merit (the scenes of the Last Judgment, performed around 1197 by Byzantine and local masters, have been preserved), in which freedom of composition and a silver color of remarkable subtlety are combined with sharply individual characteristics.

The icon of Our Lady of Vladimir is closely connected with the culture of North-Eastern Rus'. Among the most famous images of the Mother of God, she is perfect in her artistic expression of the feeling of maternal suffering and maternal greatness. The icon was painted, according to most modern scholars, in the 1130s. in Constantinople and, according to legend, goes back to the image of the Mother of God, written by the apostle and evangelist Luke. An unknown Byzantine icon painter managed to embody the ideal of motherly love. The icon got its name from the new capital of North-Eastern Rus' - Vladimir-on-Klyazma. In 1237, during the invasion of the Batu hordes on Vladimir, the icon suffered from fire and robbery, but remained intact. This icon is called "The Sovereign Protector of the Russian Land".

2.8 Music

Vocal and instrumental music was an integral part of various rituals. There were musical instruments of various types, an important place in family and social life was occupied by folk songs and ritual folklore.

In ancient Rus' there were no developed forms of professional secular music, the song existed among the people, being also an invariable accessory of princely and retinue life. high position in society occupied in the X-XI centuries. princely "songwriters" who glorified the princes and their squads. The representative of the "songwriters", apparently, was Boyan, whose image is known from the "Tale of Igor's Campaign".

The epics depict the names of musicians from Novgorod. This is the magic harper Sadko, who made the king of the sea dance with his game. These are the heroes who played the harp - Vasily Buslaev, Dobrynya Nikitich. Professional unnamed buffoon musicians also performed. Possessing the gift of composers, they were at the same time connoisseurs and keepers of the oral traditions of ritual folk music. The church condemned the participation of buffoons in folk games, ritual folk songs and accompanying instruments - a trumpet, nozzle, harp, tambourine - were alien to it. However, a huge number of archaeological finds allows us to present a picture of their favorable existence.

After the adoption of Christianity, church music began to develop. From Byzantium, together with the clergy, leaders arrived in Rus' church choirs- regents. Church singing was a compulsory subject in monastic schools. With the collapse of the state into separate principalities, Novgorod became the main custodian of the ancient Russian folk song tradition. As a result of the reconstruction of ancient signal and musical instruments, it became possible to classify them: self-sounding (beat, dish, botalo, bell, jew's harp, bell, bell, rattle, clicker, beater); membrane (tambourine); wind (brunchalka, snot); stringed (gusli).

Old Russian craftsmen were skilled blacksmiths and gunsmiths, tanners and potters, jewelers and wood carvers, masons, and glassblowers. In the arts and crafts of ancient Rus', images of pagan mythology were especially tenacious. Carved ships, wooden utensils, furniture, gold-embroidered fabrics and jewelry are permeated with the poetry of mythological images. The things found in the treasures are decorated with images of animals that had a symbolic meaning. An example of Russian arts and crafts with origins dating back thousands of years is the Thuriy horn from the princely burial mound Chernaya Mohyla in Chernihiv. The turium horn was used by the ancient Slavs as a sacred ritual vessel.

They had a ritual significance or served as a talisman for women's jewelry with symbolic images. Gold chains, star-shaped silver kolts - temporal pendants (Tver treasure of the XI-XII centuries), a monisto of elegant medallions, colored beads, pendants, crosses, studded with grains with the finest filigree, wide silver bracelets, precious rings - all this gave a festive female outfit versatility and richness. Birds, snakes, dragons woven into floral patterns of a chased ornament on a 13th-century silver bracelet. from Kyiv, heads of a lion and a lioness on a bracelet from a treasure in Chernigov of the 12th-13th centuries. also had the meaning of incantational magic.

The arts and crafts of Ancient Rus' reached one of the peaks in colored enamels - cloisonné and champlevé. Women's headdresses, chains, kolts, book bindings, and scapulars were decorated with enamel. Old Russian craftsmen were skilled in jewelry technique: in filigree, granulation, niello. Facial (pictorial) sewing and small plastic arts reached a highly artistic level. The main centers for the creation of these products were monasteries and workshops at the Grand Duke's court. Facial sewing was most often done with satin stitch, multi-colored silks. Gold and silver were used until the 16th century. little and only as a color enriching clear and pure colors. Embroiderers created works that were not inferior to picturesque ones, they were not attracted by either the techniques or the color scheme of foreign samples. Byzantine compositions were creatively processed.

2.10 Material culture

In the material culture of the ancient Slavs (tools, household items, weapons, jewelry, clothes, etc.), traces of ancient, Scythian, Sarmatian cultures have been preserved. In the Dnieper region, the production of ceramics, iron and bone processing reached a high level. Blacksmithing and jewelry crafts developed on the Oka. In the VIII-IX centuries. foundry, pottery, jewelry and bone-carving crafts become independent branches of production. New techniques and types of production appeared: chasing, granulating, and from the second half of the 10th century. - production of helmets and chain mail, filigree, enamel, glass, decorative building ceramics. In the 12th century, during the period of rapid development of cities, handicraft production was differentiated both by profession and by social characteristics. The patrimonial artisans worked for the princely court, the townsman artisans worked for the city. At the princely retinue feasts, luxurious items and jewelry amazed the guests. The names have come down to us the best craftsmen of that time - Flor Bratila and Konstantin Costa from Novgorod, Lazar Bogsha from Polotsk, Maxim from Kyiv. The altar cross from the Spassky Monastery in Polotsk, created by Lazar Bogsha in 1161, is of great interest.

The daily life of the urban population is evidenced by a collection of objects collected during excavations in Novgorod in 1932-2002. It has a total of more than 150 thousand products from all materials known in Ancient Rus': iron, non-ferrous and precious metals, bone, stone, clay, glass, amber, leather, wood, birch bark. Various natural-science and technical research methods (metallographic, structural, spectral and other analyses) made it possible to reveal the production technology, the level of technical development of crafts, the techniques and methods of jewelers and blacksmiths, woodcarvers, bone and stone carvers, shoemakers and weavers, potters and carpenters. When studying the technology of handicraft production, its change from more complex techniques and methods in the X-XII centuries was established. to simpler ones in the XII-XV centuries. Even utilitarian items - details of dwellings and sledges, ladles and spoons, knife handles, combs, writing boards, shoes, children's toys and leisure items for adults - are made with great artistic taste and professional skill.

Archaeologists in Novgorod also collected huge collection men's, women's and children's shoes. It has been established that the inhabitants of Novgorod, before joining the Muscovite kingdom, wore only leather shoes. Bast shoes made of bast or birch bark have never been found in the layers of the 10th-15th centuries, although both bast and birch bark are well preserved in the cultural layer of Novgorod. Almost all types of shoes that existed in the Middle Ages are represented in the Novgorod collection: pistons, soft shoes with soles, boots and half boots.

The first written mention of the term "chess" is contained in the Novgorod Synodal helm at the end of the 13th century. During the years of excavations, more than 130 pieces of figurines were collected, containing a complete chess set: king, queen, knight, bishop, rook, pawn. Most of the chess is made of wood, and only a few pieces are made of bone. In contrast to Western Europe, where pictorial chess pieces were widespread, in Novgorod all chess known to date is of an abstract nature.

Excavations in Novgorod revealed the unknown world of wooden things and buildings of ancient Rus': ships, houses, utensils, etc. Products of masters were often called "patterned". They were highly valued abroad, they were willingly bought in Western Europe and in the East.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"BELARUSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT"

FACULTY OF LIFELONG LEARNING

MINSK BRANCH

Department: "History, philosophy, political science"

TEST

in the discipline "Culturology"

Topic: Culture of Ancient Rus'

2009/2010 academic year

Work plan

Introduction

1. Chronicle and literature of Ancient Rus'.

3.Polotsk-center of East Slavic culture

Conclusion

Before sitting down for this work, I thought for a long time what topic I should choose. I went through all the topics, but, nevertheless, I liked the topic about the culture of Ancient Rus' the most. I liked her subconsciously, and perhaps this is due to the memory of our ancestors, those primordially Russian roots that are embedded in all Slavic peoples. And yes, I do like this topic. This work will help me to know the history of Ancient Rus' better. And in general, the study of culture is always interesting. It contributes to the spiritual growth of a person, the enrichment of knowledge.

After choosing a topic, I had to find out when Ancient Rus' actually existed. I was not particularly worried about the start date - the 9th century can be considered during the appearance of Ancient Rus'. During this period, cardinal historical shifts take place in the East Slavic lands. In the vast expanses of Eastern Europe from the Ladoga region to the Black Sea and from the foothills of the Carpathians to the Volga basin, the primitive communal system is collapsing, a class society and a state are taking shape. These phenomena were a natural result of a long, centuries-old process of socio-economic development of the Eastern Slavs.

I will consider the course of the cultural development of Rus' during the 9th - 13th centuries, because it was during this period that it built its original and high culture. I will talk about chronicles and literature, about the architecture and art of Ancient Rus'.

The main source of our knowledge about ancient Rus' is medieval chronicles. There are several hundred of them in archives, libraries and museums, but in essence this is one book written by hundreds of authors, starting their work in the 9th century and finishing it seven centuries later.

First, we need to define what a chronicle is. The following is written in a large encyclopedic dictionary: "Historical work, view narrative literature in Russia of the 11th - 17th centuries, consisted of weather records, or were monuments of a complex composition - free vaults. "Chronicles were all-Russian ("The Tale of Bygone Years") and local ("Novgorod Chronicles"). The chronicles were preserved mainly in later lists.

Chronicles are one of important monuments and writing, and literature, and history, and culture in general. Only the most literate, knowledgeable, wise people undertook to compile the annals, able not only to state different things year after year, but also to give them an appropriate explanation, to leave to posterity a vision of the era as the chroniclers understood it.

The chronicle, according to the observations of 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' from the time of the emergence of a new Rurik dynasty there and until the reign of Vladimir with his impressive victories, with the introduction of Christianity in Rus'. 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 trained people were found - priests, monks.

Before chronicles appeared, there were separate records, oral stories, which at first served as the basis for the first generalizing works. These were stories about Kiev and the founding of Kyiv, about the campaigns of Russian troops against Byzantium, about the journey of Princess Olga to Constantinople, about the wars of Svyatoslav, the legend of the murder of Boris and Gleb, as well as epics, lives of saints, sermons, traditions, songs, all kinds of legends .

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 largest chronicle of Kievan Rus - "The Tale of Bygone Years" - arose at the beginning of the 12th century. "The Tale of Bygone Years" became the basis of Russian chronicle writing. It was included in almost all local annals. The most important themes of The Tale of Bygone Years were the defense of the Christian faith and native land. The monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor is usually called its author. However, in essence, this is a collective work, in the compilation and processing of which several chroniclers took part. The chronicler did not watch the events impassively. The chronicle was a political document and therefore was often subjected to processing in connection with the coming to power of a new prince.

Along with the development of chronicle writing, the growth of the general education of society, literature took shape and developed. The general rise of Rus' in the 11th century, the creation of centers of writing, literacy, the emergence of a whole galaxy of educated people in the princely-boyar, church-monastic environment determined the development of ancient Russian literature.

Russian literature of the XI-XIII centuries. has come down to us, of course, not completely. The medieval church, jealously destroying apocrypha and writings that mentioned pagan gods, probably had a hand in the destruction of manuscripts like the Tale of Igor's Campaign, where the church is mentioned in passing, and the whole poem is full of Russian pagan deities. Not without reason until the XVIII century. Only a single copy of the Lay has survived, although we know that the Lay was read in various Russian cities. Separate quotations in surviving manuscripts, hints at an abundance of books and individual works - all this convinces us that many treasures of ancient Russian literature could have perished in the fire of internecine wars, Polovtsian and Tatar raids. But the surviving part is so valuable and interesting that it allows us to speak with great respect about the Russian people of the 10th - 13th centuries, the creators of this literature.

The largest works of Russian literature created during this period, but continuing their literary life for many more centuries, are: Metropolitan Hilarion's "Sermon on Law and Grace", Vladimir Monomakh's "Instruction", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", Daniil Zatochnik's "Prayer", "Kyiv-Pechersk Paterikon" and, of course, chronicles, among which there is a prominent the place is occupied by Nestor's Tale of Bygone Years (beginning of the 12th century).

In addition to general historical works covering several centuries and weather chronicles, there were works dedicated to one historical event. So, for example, the campaign of Vladimir Monomakh in 1111 against the Polovtsian camps was glorified in a special legend, the author of which correctly assessed the significance of this first serious defeat of the Polovtsy not only for Rus', but also for Western Europe, declaring that the glory of the victory of Prince Vladimir would reach to Rome.

Russian chronicles are a great contribution to world science, as they reveal in detail the history of half of Europe over five centuries.

2. Architecture and art of Kievan and Vladimir-Suzdal Rus

The first significant stage in the development of Russian culture, including architecture, found its manifestation in the era of Kievan Rus. Heyday Kyiv state- the end of the X - XI century. During these decades, in Kyiv, along with wooden structures, palaces, temples and fortress towers appeared, built of brick and stone, laid out in rows on a pinkish lime mortar and forming a "striped" masonry. The first stone church (Desyatinnaya) was founded in Kyiv in 989. It was built from alternating rows of stone and flat square plinth bricks on mortar from a mixture of crushed bricks with lime (zemyanka). In the same technique, masonry was built that appeared in the 11th century, stone travel towers in city fortifications (Golden Gates in Kyiv), stone fortress walls (Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky, Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, Staraya Ladoga - all late 11th - early 12th centuries) and majestic three-nave (Savior Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov, begun before 1036) and five-nave (Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv, 1037, Novgorod, 1045-50, and Polotsk, 1044-66) churches with choirs along three walls for the princes and their relatives. The most remarkable monuments of this time include St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (1037-1054), the original appearance of which was later distorted by restructuring. Churches in Rus' had not only a cultural, but also a public purpose. This reinforced the attention paid to their construction. Initially, St. Sophia Cathedral was a five-nave cross-domed church with thirteen domes, of which five medium ones were large, and the central one, axial, was the largest. From the north, south and west, the cathedral was surrounded by open one-story galleries on arcades. On the east side, each of the five naves ended in a semicircular apse. A few decades later, the outer galleries were built on the second floor. In addition, another row of one-story galleries appeared, towers appeared that enclosed stairs for climbing the choir stalls. Much later - in the 17th - 18th centuries, the outer row of galleries was also built on, rectangular buttresses appeared, the main masonry was hidden under a layer of plaster, new domes were erected on the northern and southern sides, and other significant changes were made in the architectural appearance of the temple.

Fewer transformations took place inside the cathedral. The walls and vaults were covered with monumental frescoes and mosaics. The images, in which the stylistic commonality with the statuary, static images of Byzantium is clearly visible, are full of solemnity and splendor. In the main altar apse, the mosaics are arranged in three tiers. At the top - a large solemn figure of the Mother of God with raised hands. The mosaics are made from smalt cubes of different colors. Bright pure colors with a predominance of blue-lilac tones stand out decoratively against a sparkling gold background. The monumental painting of the Kyiv Sophia, covering the architectural forms with a continuous carpet and organically connected with them, is the highest achievement of that era. The large scale, integral compositional construction and a number of other features make it possible to draw a line between Sophia in Kyiv, the first large monumental building of Ancient Rus', and contemporary Byzantine temple buildings.

The stone architecture of the Vladimir-Suzdal land deserves special mention. Stone construction here begins at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries. from the erection of the cathedral in Suzdal by Vladimir Monomakh, but it reaches its peak in the 2nd half of the 12th - early 13th centuries. The architecture of the Vladimir-Suzdal land was completely different, both magnificent and strict at the same time. Its main features took shape in the middle of the 12th century, under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, and consisted in the use of white limestone as a building material (as opposed to flat bricks - psiliths), as well as in the rich decoration of facades with reliefs and arcade belts (decorative belts of rows of protruding poles). The largest building in Vladimir is the Assumption Cathedral, which began construction in 1158 and then, after a fire, was rebuilt. The original building was surrounded by galleries, four chapters were added, and other changes were made. The expanded and remodeled cathedral received an unusually harmonious, compositionally clear, white-stone design excellently worked out in all details. The facades of the building are divided into separate vertical fields, delimited by thin semi-columns and completed with zakomaras. In the middle of the height of the building there is a wide ribbon - a columnar belt, consisting of small columns connected by arches. The chapters are completed with helmet-like coverings. The copper roof was originally gilded. Inside the cathedral was painted and contained precious utensils.

Another most valuable work of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture is the Dmitrievsky Cathedral (1194-1197), which served as a court temple. The structure has a cubic shape, inside it there are four supporting pillars supporting a single dome. On the east side are three apses. This is the richest temple in decoration. The decorative design system is basically the same as in the Assumption Cathedral, but the role of sculpture here is incomparably greater. A complex ornamental carving was used - sculptural images of saints, masks, griffins, animals, birds, plant and other motifs carved from white stone are given. There are so many images that they turn the upper part of the wall above a wide horizontal belt into a solid ornamentally designed "fabric". Ornamentation was also applied between the columns of the main belt, in the processing of the head drum between the columns and in the upper part of the apses. The reliefs of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral are inspired by folk art, but a number of images in them are associated with Byzantine and oriental influences reworked by folk fantasy. A similar sculptural decoration is observed in some other monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal. Demetrius Cathedral at one time, like other temples, was entirely painted with frescoes, preserved only in fragments.

In Bogolyubovo there was a palace of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, located within the princely castle. The palace was directly connected with the court cathedral. From this complex, only a small fragment has survived to our time - a two-story stair tower with part of the transition from the tower to the cathedral. It is characteristic that the same motifs were used in the stair tower as in the temples built almost at the same time: an arched belt with columns on small brackets embedded in the wall. This proves that the secular buildings of Ancient Rus' had a common style with religious buildings.

3. Polotsk - the center of East Slavic culture

In the history of medieval Rus', it is difficult to find a more controversial subject than the place in its system of the Polotsk principality. Connected with the rest of Russia by a community of initial destinies, the confession of Orthodoxy, language and writing, Polotsk at a turning point in its development became for many centuries a part not of the Russian, but of the Lithuanian state.

For the first time Polotsk is mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and its age is officially considered to be from 862. But historians testify to us that the first information about the Polotsk land comes to us already from the 5th century. At the Upper Castle, archaeologists have found ceramics produced no later than the 5th century. The memory of the Icelandic "Saga of Dietrik of Bern" about the siege of Polotsk by the armies of the Goths, who were companions of the famous leader of the Huns Attila, dates back to the same time.

The world where the then Polotsk people lived was densely populated by big and small gods and gods. The omnipresent and most powerful of them, the creator of life, the god of heaven and the whole universe, had several names Svorog, Stribog, Svyatovid, but more often he was called Rodam. He fertilized the earth and all living things, controlled the winds and celestial phenomena. The gods were represented in the form of people. Such a religion is called pagan.

Paganism carried in itself a lot of light, such that it is not easy for a person to refuse.

Having settled in Kyiv, after some time, Vladimir in 988 adopted Christianity. The son of Vladimir Izyaslav is the first of the East Slavic princes whom the chroniclers call a scribe. It was he who introduced writing and literacy in Polotsk. The seal with his name, which was used to seal the prince's charters, is considered one of the oldest monuments of Belarusian writing. Book education in the western lands of Rus' from the very beginning had a Christian orientation. Educated people then grouped around the church and monasteries. By the middle of the XI century. Along with translated books, original works also appear, including the first chronicles. Books were written in a colloquial language so that it could be understood by ordinary people.

Monasteries were religious and cultural educational centers. Schools existed in them, books were written and copied. Of the representatives of the book enlightenment of the old-time period of our history, it should be noted: in Smolensk - Kliment Smalyavits, in Turov - Kirill Turovsky, in Polotsk - Princess Pradslava-Efrosinya.

Applied art has been widely developed in the Belarusian lands. Even ordinary objects made of wood, bone, clay, metal were decorated with carvings and inlays. Peculiar in this sense, the beauty of ceramics of the XI-XIII centuries. Her beauty was manifested in the severity and restraint of color sounds, in the roughness, oxomity of a roughly made texture.

The items of the then craftsmen, intended for the feudal aristocracy, wealthy citizens, had a slightly different look. They were often decorated with images of fantastic animals and birds, made in a special manner - "animal style". Patterns of fine stone and bone carving are chess figures found in Grodno and Volkovysk.

The objects of Christian worship speak of the high artistic skill of the craftsmen of that time. Such as stone icons from gray slate.

There are few monuments of applied art. One of them is the cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, created by the local craftsman Lazar Bogsha in 1161. This cross is not only an excellent work of arts and crafts, but also a valuable monument of ancient Belarusian writing.

The time of the highest rise of the Polotsk principality fell on the 11th century, when the head of state was Prince Vseslav Bryachislavovich (reigned from 1044 to 1101), nicknamed the Sorcerer by the people. The energy of the prince was surprised by his contemporaries and descendants. In his capital - Polotsk - he built a new mighty castle, the majestic St. Sophia Cathedral. During the reign of Vseslav, craft and trade flourished.

Vseslav erected a temple in the ambition of St. Sophia to tell the world about the equality of Polotsk with Novgorod and Kyiv, where such cathedrals appeared a little earlier. To this day, the Polotsk people did not build stone churches, so the prince invited Byzantine architects to the city. They were joined by local masons: it was impossible that main cathedral Polotsk land raised the hands of foreigners into the sky.

On the huge limestone laid on the threshold of Sofia, which in nine centuries will turn into a museum piece, the old-timer Polotsk masters left us their names: David, Tuma, Mikula, Kopys, Vorishka. Here they not only prayed: the prince with his family and courtiers in the choirs - above, the rest of the parishioners - below. In Sofia, they received ambassadors, declared war and signed peace, preserved the princely treasure and the library founded by Izyaslav, legalized trade agreements with the seal of the capital city. After all, it was not for nothing that she had an inscription: "The seal of Polotsk and St. Sophia."

Thus, the rich, vibrant and multifaceted culture of the Polotsk principality in the 9th-12th centuries. stood in a row advanced cultures of its time, was part of the East Slavic culture.

Such was the ancient Russian culture that developed in the 9th-13th centuries. She absorbed the best of cultural heritage East Slavic tribes of the previous era, as well as many achievements of the culture of the most advanced country of its time - Byzantium and a number of other neighboring peoples, but all borrowings were creatively reworked and were only individual elements in the majestic building of ancient Russian culture created by the creative genius of the Russian people. But the Tatar-Mongol invasion suddenly stopped the brilliant flowering of art, which is captured in the architecture, painting, sculpture of the Kyiv state and the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Although the northern Russian lands defended their independence in the struggle against enemies, here, too, during the period of increased threat of raids, artistic life froze.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since that distant time. Having lost a lot of valuable things along the way, people finally become wiser and more economical. Many Russian traditions and rituals are being revived from oblivion. There is a growing interest in folk culture and life. I would like to hope that this is not a temporary hobby, not a tribute to a fleeting fashion, but a serious desire to restore the interrupted connection of times.

A person who looks to the future with hope cannot live only in the present. Pushkin also noted that respect for the past is a feature that distinguishes education from savagery.

1. Wagner G.K., Vladyshevskaya T.F. Art of Ancient Rus'. M., 1993.

2. Vernadsky G.V. Kievan Rus. - Tver: LEAN, Moscow:, 1999. - 448 p.

3. Kuzmin A. G. Initial stages of Old Russian chronicle writing. M., 1977.

4. Ryabtsev Yu.S. Journey to Ancient Rus': Stories about Russian Culture. - M., Vlados. - 1995.

5. Voronin N. Vladimir. Bogolyubovo. Suzdal. Yuryev-Polskaya. - Moscow, 1984.

6. Lyubimov L.D. Art of Ancient Rus'. M., 1996.

7. Vladimir Orlov. Secrets of Polotsk history. Minsk, Belarus, 1994.

8. Alekseev L.V. Polotsk land. M., 1966.

9. V. V. Gorokhov and I. E. Koznova. Culturology: Outline of the lecture course.- M.: MIEP, 1998.

Anti-Jewish interpretations), cosmography, physiologists (translated collections on the properties of real and extinct animals, stones and trees of the Orthodox South and East of Europe). Literature assumed the role of a unifying center in the culture of Ancient Rus' in the rooting of "dual faith" and "dual culture". She deeply assimilated the folk oral tradition, but at the same time I sing leading role Russian scribe saw in...

medieval world. 2. FORMATION IN Rus' OF A SPECIAL TYPE OF SPIRITUALITY AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN ARCHITECTURE, ICON PAINTING, LITERATURE, FOLKLORE, FOLK CRAFTS The influence of Orthodoxy on the development of the spiritual culture of Ancient Rus' is so great that for many researchers it seems to be the only source, basis and beginning of Russian spirituality. As a rule, this position is defended by the majority of church ...

The images of the Russian church and culture became the image of Saints Boris and Gleb, philanthropists, non-resistances, who suffered for the unity of the country, who accepted torment for the sake of people. These features and characteristic features of the culture of Ancient Rus' did not appear immediately. In their basic guises, they have evolved over the centuries. But then, having already poured into more or less established forms, for a long time and everywhere they retained their ...

Epochs, styles; correlate ideas and images of works with various life situations; differ genuine work art from a tasteless fake. But most importantly, the course "The Spiritual Culture of Ancient Rus' in Search of Sanctity" helps a growing person to find a foothold and build their own system of value coordinates. The content of the program SECTION 1. The image of Holy Rus' in history and ...

Culture of Ancient Rus'. Very briefly. Thanks in advance

1. Is there a shorter one than the answers above?
2. The cementing basis of any culture is a worldview. For the culture of Ancient Rus', this is primarily a Christian worldview. It was precisely the Christian ideology and values ​​that was intended to be expressed in the language of images and symbols. medieval culture.

   By the time of the adoption of Christianity by Russia, Christian culture had more than one century of its existence. Hence the huge role of Byzantium, which became the cultural mentor of Ancient Rus'.

   The influence of Byzantine art is multifaceted. It is especially noticeable in the 192nd centuries, when the traditions of antiquity and Christianity were combined with the spiritual life of the people of Ancient Rus'. Thanks to Byzantium, Rus' got the opportunity to get acquainted with Christian culture in its classical form, to perceive the mature technique of church architecture and icon painting. However, the very perception of Eastern Christianity and its figurative artistic language took place creatively, without blind copying and prolonged apprenticeship. Ancient Rus' very soon managed to develop its own style, which clearly reflected the features of national self-consciousness.

   Appeal to Russian art of the XIIXIII centuries. allowed cultural researchers to say that the spiritual life of the ancient Russian people and the various artistic forms of its expression bore the stamp of an original and peculiar experience of Christianity. The culture of mature Byzantium is characterized by severe asceticism, for ancient Russian art harmony and humanity. The culture of Rus' is painted in other, softer and lighter colors. This is due to the peculiarities of cultural development.

   Firstly, it was the culture of peoples who had only recently entered the stage of world history. No matter how severe the Christian doctrine was, it could not banish a peculiar, not without naivety, optimistic perception of life.

   Secondly, this culture was originally formed as a synthetic culture that absorbed and fused into a single whole the cultural traditions of various tribes and ethnic groups, agricultural and nomadic peoples. And these were primarily pagan traditions. They continued to influence the development of culture, especially the culture of the lower classes, whose way of life changed little with the adoption of Christianity, which means that pagan images and ideas were reproduced again and again.

   Old Russian art is part of medieval Christian art. Whatever genre and type of this art we turn to, everywhere we will see a dual perception of the world, a certain dualism of earthly and heavenly, divine and mundane. At the same time, the earthly is transitory and transitory; it is only a reflection of the higher divine world, which should be striven for by righteous pious behavior and sincere faith. However, dualism does not at all prevent the medieval worldview from remaining unusually integral, since the higher and lower are not only hierarchical, but also inseparable. The culture is dominated by synthesis, striving for unity and harmony.

   The world was perceived by the medieval artist and his contemporary in a completely different way than we perceive it. Therefore, the perception of the creations of the past also requires knowledge of the past itself, that system of values ​​and those means and images of expression that the ancient Russian masters and writers resorted to.

3. The culture of a people is part of its history. The concept of culture includes everything that reflects the spiritual image of the people, their view of life and human relations. Even before the beginnings of commodity-money imperialism in Ancient Rus', its cultural development began to experience a strong ambivalent impact, a conflict of various factors: the diplomatic pressure of Byzantium and the influence of firmly rooted polytheism and totemism (like the North American Indian tribes), - this explains its pagan-anti-Semitic character . In this regard, new trends appear in various areas of culture. Writing and education. During the excavations, birch bark letters were found (oak and linden bark were also used), dated to the 10th century, which indicates the presence of writing among the Slavs.

   The Slavic letter, that is, the alphabet, was invented by the brothers Cyril and Methodius, immigrants from Greece, which was the strongest power in Europe in economic development. Education was provided by private schools, opened mainly at monasteries, and was expensive, so literacy spread to a greater extent among the boyars and princes. Evidence of e development are graffiti.

   It is a well-known fact that, as a youth, Vladimir Monomakh left an obscene note on one of the walls of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, in which he accused the hated priest of intercourse with men. Architecture is also undergoing major changes.
   For example, standard construction appears for the first time, when, to save time, several churches were built according to one project (Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, Kyiv, Chernigov, Polotsk), which resembles the construction of residential buildings in the Khrushchev era. Basically, the cross-domed style, borrowed from Byzantium, prevails in temple architecture. The Assumption, St. George, St. Boris and Gleb Cathedrals, the Cathedral of Sylvester Stolonsky in Vladimir, etc. are made in this style. An interesting fact is the participation in the construction of black slaves captured during the campaign of Vladimir

Written sources testify to the richness and diversity of the folklore of Ancient Rus'.
A significant place in it was occupied by calendar ritual poetry: incantations, incantations, songs, which were an integral part of the agrarian cult. Ritual folklore also included pre-wedding songs, funeral laments, songs at feasts and feasts. Mythological tales were also widespread, reflecting the pagan ideas of the ancient Slavs. For many years, the church, in an effort to eradicate the remnants of paganism, waged a stubborn struggle against "vile" customs, "demonic games" and "blasphemers". However, these types of folklore survived in folk life up to the 19th-20th centuries, having lost over time its initial religious meaning.
There were also such forms of folklore that were not associated with a pagan cult, such as proverbs, sayings, riddles, fairy tales, labor songs. The authors of literary works widely used them in their work.
Written monuments brought to us numerous traditions and legends about the founders of tribes and princely dynasties, about the founders of cities, about the struggle against foreigners. folk tales about the events of the II-VI centuries were reflected in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign".
The significance of the historical genres of folklore increases with the formation of the state and the beginning of the formation of the Old Russian people. For many years, the people created and kept a kind of "oral" chronicle in the form of prose legends and epic tales about the past of their native land. The Oral Chronicle preceded the written chronicle and served as one of its main sources. Among such legends used by the chroniclers are the legends about Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv and the founding of Kyiv, about calling the Varangians, about campaigns against Constantinople, about Oleg and his death from a snakebite, about Olga's revenge on the Drevlyans, about Belgorod jelly, and many others. . The chronicle narrative about the events of the 9th-10th centuries is almost entirely based on folklore material.
The emergence of a new epic genre, the heroic epic epic, which was the pinnacle of oral folk art, dates back to the 10th century. Epics - oral poetic works about the past. They are based on real historical events, the prototypes of some epic heroes are real people. So, the prototype of the epic Dobrynya Nikitich was the uncle of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich - the governor Dobrynya, whose name is repeatedly mentioned in the annals.
However, epics rarely retained the accuracy of actual details. But not exactly following historical facts was the dignity of epics. Their main value is that these works were created by the people and reflect their views, assessment of the essence of historical events and understanding social relations, prevailing in the Old Russian state, its ideals.
Most of the epic stories are connected with the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich - the time of the unity and power of Rus' and the successful struggle against the steppe nomads. But the true hero of the epic epic is not Prince Vladimir, but the heroes who personified the people. Favorite folk hero became Ilya Muromets, a peasant son, a courageous patriot warrior, a defender of "widows and orphans." The people also sang the peasant plowman Mikula Selyaninovich.
The epics reflected the idea of ​​Rus' as single state. Their main theme is the struggle of the people against foreign invaders, they are imbued with the spirit of patriotism. The ideas of the unity and greatness of Rus', service to the motherland were preserved in epics and in times of political fragmentation, the Golden Horde yoke. For many centuries, these ideas, images of heroic heroes inspired the people to fight the enemy, which predetermined the longevity of the epic epic, preserved in the people's memory.

Oral poetry also existed in the princely retinue environment. In squad songs, princes and their exploits were glorified. Echoes of these songs are heard, for example, in the annalistic description of Prince Svyatoslav and in the description of his campaigns. The princely squads had their own "songwriters" - professionals who composed "glory" songs in honor of the princes and their warriors. Such court singers were probably the one mentioned in the "Lay of Igor's Campaign" and "the notorious singer Mitus", which is mentioned in the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle.
Oral folk art continued to live and develop even after the appearance of written literature, remaining an important element of the culture of the Middle Ages. His influence on literature continued in the following centuries: writers and poets used the plots of oral poetry and the arsenal of its artistic means and techniques.

Writing and education

The appearance of writing was due to the internal needs of society at a certain stage of its development: the complication of socio-economic relations and the formation of the state. This meant a qualitative leap in the development of culture, since writing is the most important means of consolidating and transmitting knowledge, thoughts, ideas, preserving and disseminating cultural achievements in time and space.
The existence of written language among the Eastern Slavs in the pre-Christian period is beyond doubt. This is evidenced by numerous written sources and archaeological finds. From them it is possible to compose big picture formation Slavic writing.
In the legends of the Chernorizian Khrabr “On Writings” (end of IX - beginning of X centuries) it is reported that “before, I didn’t have books, but with features and cuts I read tahu and reptiles.” The emergence of this primitive pictographic writing (“features and cuts”) is attributed by researchers to the first half of the 1st millennium. Its scope was limited. These were, apparently, the simplest counting signs in the form of dashes and notches, generic and personal signs of property, signs for divination, calendar signs that served to date the dates for the start of various chores, pagan holidays, etc. Such a letter was unsuitable for recording complex texts, the need for which arose with the birth of the first Slavic states. The Slavs began to use Greek letters to record their native speech, but "without dispensation", that is, without adapting the Greek alphabet to the peculiarities of the phonetics of the Slavic languages.
The creation of the Slavic alphabet is associated with the names of the Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius. But the oldest monuments of Slavic writing know two alphabets - Cyrillic and Glagolitic. In science, there have been disputes for a long time about which of these alphabets appeared earlier, the creators of which of them were the famous "Thessalonica brothers" (from Thessalonica, the modern city of Thessaloniki). At present, it can be considered established that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet (Glagolitic) in the second half of the 9th century, in which the first translations of church books for the Slavic population of Moravia and Pannonia were written. At the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, on the territory of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, as a result of the synthesis of the Greek script, which had long been widespread here, and those elements of the Glagolitic alphabet that successfully conveyed the features of the Slavic languages, an alphabet arose, later called Cyrillic. In the future, this easier and more convenient alphabet replaced the Glagolitic alphabet and became the only one among the southern and eastern Slavs.

The adoption of Christianity contributed to the widespread and rapid development of writing and written culture. It was essential that Christianity was adopted in its Eastern, Orthodox version, which, unlike Catholicism, allowed worship in national languages. This created favorable conditions for the development of writing in the native language.
The development of writing in the native language led to the fact that the Russian Church from the very beginning did not become a monopoly in the field of literacy and education. The spread of literacy among the democratic strata of the urban population is evidenced by birch bark letters discovered during archaeological excavations in Novgorod and other cities. These are letters, memos, study exercises, etc. The letter, therefore, was used not only to create books, state and legal acts, but also in everyday life. Often there are inscriptions on handicraft products. Ordinary citizens left numerous records on the walls of churches in Kyiv, Novgorod, Smolensk, Vladimir and other cities.
School education also existed in Ancient Rus'. After the introduction of Christianity, Vladimir ordered that the children of the “best people”, that is, the local aristocracy, be given “for book teaching”. Yaroslav the Wise created a school in Novgorod for the children of elders and clerics. The training was conducted in the native language. They taught reading, writing, the basics of Christian doctrine and arithmetic. There were also schools of the highest type, preparing for state and church activities. One of them existed at the Kiev Caves Monastery. Many prominent figures of ancient Russian culture came out of it. In such schools, along with theology, they studied philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, historical writings, sayings of ancient authors, geographical and natural science works.
Highly educated people met not only among the clergy, but also in secular aristocratic circles. Such "book men" were, for example, princes Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich, Vladimir Monomakh, Yaroslav Osmomysl and others. Knowledge of foreign languages ​​was widespread in the aristocratic environment. Women were also educated in princely families. The Chernigov princess Efrosinya studied with the boyar Fyodor and, as it is said in her life, although she “does not study in Athens, but learn the Athenian wisdom”, having mastered “philosophy, rhetoric and all grammar”. Princess Efrosinya Polotskaya "was smart about princess writing" and wrote books herself.

Education was highly valued. In the literature of that time, one can find many panegyrics on the book, statements about the benefits of books and “book teaching”.
Most of the written monuments of the pre-Mongol period perished during numerous fires and foreign invasions. Only a small part of them survived. The oldest of them are the Ostromir Gospel, written by deacon Gregory for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir in 1057, and two Izborniks by Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich of 1073 and years. The high level of professional skill with which these books were made testifies to the well-established production of handwritten books already in the first half of the 11th century, as well as to the skills of “book construction” that were established at that time.
The correspondence of books was concentrated mainly in monasteries. However, in the 12th century, the craft of "book describers" also arose in large cities. This testifies, firstly, to the spread of literacy among the urban population, and secondly, to an increase in the need for a book that the monastic scribes could not satisfy. Many princes kept copyists of books, and some of them copied books themselves.
Nevertheless, monasteries and cathedral churches continued to be the main centers of literacy, in which there were special workshops with permanent teams of scribes. Here not only books were copied, but also chronicles were kept, original literary works, translated foreign books. One of the leading centers was the Kiev Caves Monastery, which developed a special literary trend that had a great influence on the literature and culture of Ancient Rus'. As chronicles testify, already in the 11th century in Rus', libraries with up to several hundred books were created at monasteries and cathedral churches.

Separate randomly preserved copies do not fully reflect the richness and diversity of the books of Kievan Rus. Many literary works, undoubtedly existing in pre-Mongolian times, have come down to us in later lists, and some of them have died altogether. According to historians of the Russian book, the book fund of Ancient Rus' was quite extensive and numbered in the hundreds of titles.
The needs of the Christian cult required a large number of liturgical books, which served as a guide in the performance of church rites. With the adoption of Christianity, the appearance of the main books of Holy Scripture was associated.
The translated literature of religious and secular content occupied a large place in the book fund of Ancient Rus'. The selection of works for translation was determined by the internal needs of society, the tastes and needs of the reader. At the same time, the translators did not aim to accurately convey the original, but sought to bring it as close as possible to reality, to the demands of the time and environment. Works of secular literature were subjected to especially significant processing. Elements of folklore were widely penetrated into them, and the techniques of original literature were used. In the future, these works were repeatedly processed and became Russian in nature.
The appearance of the works of Christian writers and collections of their works is connected with the tasks of spreading the Christian doctrine. The writings of John Chrysostom were especially widely disseminated as part of the collections Chrysostom, Chrysostom, etc.
In Rus', as well as throughout the medieval world, collections of sayings of famous poets, philosophers, and theologians were popular. In addition to quotations from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the "fathers of the church", they included excerpts from the works of ancient writers and philosophers. The most popular was the collection "Bee", in which there were especially many sayings of ancient authors.
A large place in literature was occupied by the lives of the saints, which served as an important means of introducing the Christian worldview and morality. At the same time, they were fascinating reading, in which elements of the miraculous were intertwined with folk fantasy, giving the reader a variety of historical, geographical and everyday information. On Russian soil, many of the lives were revised and supplemented with new episodes. In Rus', such a specific type of religious literature as the apocrypha spread - Jewish and Christian legendary works that were not recognized by the official church as reliable, were even considered heretical. Closely related in origin to ancient mythology, pre-Christian religion and Middle Eastern folklore, the apocrypha reflected popular ideas about the universe, good and evil, about the afterlife. The amusingness of the stories, the closeness to oral folk legends contributed to the spread of the Apocrypha throughout the medieval world. The most popular were the "Walking of the Virgin through the torments", "Revelations of Methodius of Patara", legends associated with the name of the biblical king Solomon and others. On Russian soil, apocryphal literature was further developed, its plots were used in literature, fine arts, and folklore.
Of particular interest, associated with the desire to determine the place of Rus', all Slavs in world history, were historical works. Byzantine historical literature was represented by the chronicles of George Amartol, John Malala, Patriarch Nicephorus and some other works. On the basis of these writings, an extensive compilation on world history was compiled - "The Hellenic and Roman Chronicler".
In Rus', there were also works that reflected medieval ideas about the universe, about natural phenomena, semi-fantastic information about animals and flora. One of the most popular works throughout the Middle Ages was "Christian Topography" by Cosmas (Kozma) Indikoplov, a Byzantine merchant who traveled to India in the 6th century.
Secular military tales, which were widespread in world medieval literature, were also translated. Among them is one of the largest works of this genre - "History of the Jewish War" by Josephus Flavius, in Russian translation called "The Tale of the Devastation of Jerusalem." The story about the life and exploits of Alexander the Great - "Alexandria", which goes back to Hellenistic literature, was very well known.
Another military tale was popular until the 17th century, "Deed of Devgen". This is a Byzantine epic poem of the 10th century, subjected to fairly free processing, about the exploits of Digenis Akritas, a courageous Christian warrior, defender of the borders of his state. The plot of the work, individual episodes, the image of the hero bring it closer to the Russian heroic epic, which is even more emphasized in the translation using elements of oral folk poetry.
Especially popular in Rus' were also used stories of a fabulously didactic nature, the plots of which date back to literatures. ancient east. Their peculiarity is the abundance of aphorisms and wise sayings, to which the medieval reader was a great hunter. One of them was The Tale of Akira the Wise, which arose in Assyro-Babylonia in the 7th-5th centuries BC. This is an action-packed work, a significant part of which is moralizing parables.
One of the most widespread works of medieval world literature is The Tale of Barlaam and Joasaph, known in different versions in more than 30 languages ​​of the peoples of Asia, Europe and Africa. The story is a Christian version of the life of the Buddha. It contains a large number of moralizing parables, which are understandable to everyone everyday examples explain current worldview problems. In Rus', she was the most readable work for several centuries, until the 17th century. This story is also reflected in oral folk art.
The translated literature contributed to the enrichment and development of the original Old Russian literature. However, this does not give grounds to associate its occurrence only with the influence of translated works. It was caused by the internal political and cultural needs of the emerging early feudal society. Translation literature did not precede the development of Russian original literature, but accompanied it.

Literature

Russian written literature arose on the basis of the rich traditions of oral folk art, which has its roots in the depths of centuries. Behind many original works of ancient Russian literature is folklore as one of the most important sources. Oral poetry has had a great influence on artistic features and ideological orientation written literature, on the formation of the Old Russian language.
A characteristic feature of Russian medieval literature is its sharp publicism. Monuments of literature are at the same time monuments of social thought. Their content is based on the most important problems of society and the state.
One of the main original genres of emerging Russian literature was chronicle writing. Chronicles are not just monuments of literature or historical thought. They are the largest monuments of the entire spiritual culture of medieval society. They embodied a wide range of ideas and concepts of that time, reflected the diversity of the phenomena of social life. Throughout the Middle Ages, chronicle played important role in the political and cultural life of the country.
The most significant monument of chronicle writing is The Tale of Bygone Years, written in 1113 by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor and which has come down to us as part of the later chronicles of the XIV-XV centuries.

However, The Tale of Bygone Years is not the very first chronicle work. It was preceded by chronicles. The existence of the codes compiled in the 70s and 90s can be considered precisely established: the 11th century in the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. The opinion about the existence of the Novgorod chronicle of the 50s of the 11th century is quite substantiated. Chronicle work was also carried out in other centers. Echoes of chronicle traditions, different from the Kiev-Pechersk one, are found in later chronicle collections.
As for the time of the emergence of Russian chronicle writing and its initial stages, much remains unclear here. There are several hypotheses on this issue. A.A. Shakhmatov believed that the "Ancient" code was compiled in 1039 in connection with the establishment of the Kyiv Metropolis. According to D.S. Likhachev, the first historical work was "The Tale of the Initial Spread of Christianity in Rus'", compiled in the 40s of the XI century and served as the basis for the collection of the 70s. M.N. Tikhomirov associated the beginning of chronicle writing with the “Tale of the Russian Princes” (X century), compiled, in his opinion, after the baptism of Rus' and had a non-church character. Thus, the formation of original Russian literature is associated with the emergence of chronicle writing, which most fully reflected its characteristic features.
Like any chronicle, "The Tale of Bygone Years" is distinguished by the complexity of the composition and the variety of material included in it. In addition to brief weather notes and more detailed accounts of political events, it included texts of diplomatic missions. legal documents, and retellings of folklore legends, and excerpts from monuments of translated literature, and records of natural phenomena, and independent literary works - historical stories, lives, theological treatises and teachings, words of praise. This allows us to speak of the chronicle as a synthetic monument of medieval culture, as a kind of encyclopedia of medieval publications. But this is not a simple mechanical summary of heterogeneous material, but whole work, characterized by unity of theme and ideological content.
The purpose of the work is formulated by the author in its title: "Behold the tales of time years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kyiv began first to reign, and where did the Russian land come from." From these words it follows that the origin and history of the state were considered by the author inextricably linked with the origin and history of Kievan princely power. At the same time, the history of Rus' was given against a broad background of world history.
The Tale of Bygone Years is a monument to medieval ideology. The position of the author affected both the selection of material and the assessments of various facts and events. The main attention is paid to the events of political history, the deeds of princes and other representatives of the nobility. The economic life and life of the people remain in the shadows. The chronicler is hostile to the mass popular movements, considering them as "the execution of God." The religious worldview of its compiler was clearly manifested in the annals: he sees the ultimate cause of all events and actions of people in the action of divine forces, “providence”. But religious differences and references to the will of God often hide a practical approach to reality, attempts to identify real causal relationships between events.
Having served as the main local chronicle of the period of political fragmentation, The Tale of Bygone Years played a huge role in affirming and preserving the idea of ​​the unity of Rus' in the minds of subsequent generations who lived during the time of princely strife and the severe trials of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. It had a great influence on the formation of the self-consciousness of the Russian people over the next few centuries.
A new period in the history of Russian chronicle writing begins in the 12th century. In conditions of political fragmentation, it acquires a regional character. The number of centers of chronicle writing is significantly increasing. In addition to Kyiv and Novgorod, chronicles were kept in Chernigov and Pereyaslavl, in Polotsk and Smolensk, in Vladimir and Rostov, and other cities. The chroniclers focused on local events, considering the history of their lands as a continuation of the history of Kievan Rus and keeping the Tale of Bygone Years as part of the local chronicles. Generic princely annals, biographies of individual princes, historical stories about relations between princes are being created. The compilers were often no longer monks, but boyars and warriors, and sometimes the princes themselves. This strengthened the secular trend in chronicle writing.
In the annals appeared local personality traits. So, in the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle, which tells about the life of Prince Daniel Romanovich and is distinguished by a secular character, the main attention was paid to the struggle of the princely power with the recalcitrant boyars, and to the description of internecine wars. In the annals there are almost no arguments of a religious nature, but echoes of retinue poetry are clearly audible in it.
The local character is especially distinguished by the Novogorod chronicle, which meticulously and accurately recorded the events of intracity life. It most fully reflected the democratic orientation, the role of the urban population in public life. The style of the Novgorod chronicles is distinguished by simplicity and efficiency, the absence of church rhetoric.
The Vladimir-Suzdal chronicle reflected the interests of the ever-increasing power of the grand duke. In an effort to assert the authority of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality and substantiate the claims of its princes to political and ecclesiastical supremacy in Rus', the chroniclers did not limit themselves to describing local events, but tried to give the chronicle a general Russian character. The leading trend of the Vladimir vaults is the rationale for the need for a unified and strong power of the Vladimir prince, which seemed to be the successor to the power of the great princes of Kyiv. Religious reasoning was widely used for this.
One of the oldest monuments of ancient Russian literature is " The Word of Law and Grace". It was written in the 30-40s of the XI century by the princely court priest Hilarion, who became later first Metropolitan of Kyiv from Russians. Using the form of a church sermon, Hilarion created a political treatise, which reflected the pressing problems of Russian reality. Contrasting "grace" (Christianity) with "law" (Judaism), Hilarion rejects the concept of God's chosen people inherent in Judaism and affirms the idea of ​​transferring heavenly attention and disposition from one chosen people to all mankind, the equality of all peoples. With its edge, the Word is directed against Byzantium's claims to cultural and political supremacy in Eastern Europe. Illarion contrasts this position with the idea of ​​equality of all Christian peoples, regardless of the time of their baptism, puts forward the theory of world history as a process of gradual and equal introduction of all peoples to Christianity. Rus, having adopted Christianity, took a worthy place among other Christian states. Thus, a religious substantiation of the state independence and international significance of Rus' is given. The Word is permeated with patriotic pathos, pride in the Russian land.
The emergence of an original hagiographic culture is connected with the struggle of Rus' for the assertion of church independence. And this typical ecclesiastical genre is characterized by the penetration of journalistic motives into it. Variety hagiographic literature became princely lives. An example of such a life is "The Tale of Boris and Gleb". The cult of Boris and Gleb, who became victims of internecine struggle (they were killed in 1015 by their brother Svyatopolk), had a deep political sense: he consecrated the idea that all Russian princes are brothers. At the same time, the work emphasized the obligation to “subjugate” the younger princes to the older ones. "Tale" differs significantly from the canonical life of the Byzantine type. His main idea is not the martyrdom of the saints for the faith, but the unity of the Russian land, the condemnation of princely civil strife. And in the form of "Tale", although it uses hagiographic techniques, is, in essence, historical story with the exact name of names, facts, with a detailed description of real events.
The “Reading about Boris and Gleb” written by Nestor is different in character. It is much closer to the hagiographic canon. By removing all specific historical material, the author made the exposition more abstract, and strengthened the edifying and ecclesiastical elements.
Important social, political and moral issues touched upon in the Teaching by Vladimir Monomakh. This is a political and moral testament of an outstanding statesman, imbued with deep anxiety for the fate of Rus', which has entered a difficult period in its history. The princely congress, held in 1097 in Lyubech, recognized the fact of the fragmentation of Rus' and, putting forward the principle “everyone keeps his fatherland”, sanctioned a new form of political system. Monomakh's "Instruction" was an attempt to prevent princely strife and preserve the unity of Rus' in the face of fragmentation. Behind the requirements to comply with the norms of Christian morality, a certain political program is clearly visible.
The question of princely power in the life of the state, its duties and methods of implementation becomes one of the central ones in literature. The idea arises of the need for strong power as a condition for a successful struggle against external enemies and overcoming internal contradictions. This thought is permeated with " The Prayer of Daniel the Sharpener" (first quarter of the 13th century). Condemning the dominance of the boyars and the tyranny they perpetrate, the author creates perfect image prince - the protector of orphans and widows, all the destitute, caring for his subjects. The idea of ​​the need for a “princely thunderstorm” is being developed. But by a thunderstorm, we mean not despotism and arbitrariness, but the viability and reliability of power: only princely “strength and thunderstorm” can protect subjects “like a solid fence” from the arbitrariness of “strong people”, overcome internal strife and ensure external security. The urgency of the problem, the brightness of the language, the abundance of proverbs and aphorisms, sharply satirical attacks against the boyars and the clergy provided this work with great popularity for a long time.
Undoubtedly, the most outstanding work of ancient Russian literature, in which its best aspects are embodied, is The Tale of Igor's Campaign (end of the 12th century). It tells about the unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185 by the Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavovich. But not the description of this campaign is the purpose of the author. It serves him only as an occasion for reflection on the fate of the Russian land. The author sees the reasons for the defeats in the struggle against the nomads, the reasons for the disasters of Rus' in the princely civil strife, in the egoistic policy of the princes, thirsting for personal glory.
"The Lay of Igor's Campaign" is an all-Russian work, it does not have local features. It testifies to the high patriotism of its author, who managed to rise above the narrowness of the interests of his principality to the height of all-Russian proportions. Central to the "Word" is the image of the Russian land.
The author belonged to the milieu. He constantly used the concepts of “honor” and “glory” characteristic of her, but filled them with a broader, patriotic content.
The Word is a secular work. It lacks church rhetoric, Christian symbols and concepts. It is closely connected with oral folk art, which is manifested in the poetic animation of nature, in the widespread use of pagan symbols and images of pagan mythology, as well as forms and expressive means typical of folklore. Both the ideological content and the artistic form of the work testify to the connection with folk art.
The Tale of Igor's Campaign embodied the characteristic features of ancient Russian literature of this period: a living connection with historical reality, citizenship and patriotism. The appearance of such a masterpiece testified to the high degree of maturity of the literature of Ancient Rus', its originality, and the high level of development of culture as a whole.

Architecture and painting

Until the end of the tenth century, there was no monumental stone architecture in Rus', but there were rich traditions of wooden construction, some forms of which subsequently influenced stone architecture. After the adoption of Christianity, the construction of stone temples begins, the principles of construction of which were borrowed from Byzantium.
In Rus', the cross-domed type of church became widespread. The interior space of the building was divided by four massive pillars, forming a cross in plan. On these pillars, connected in pairs by arches, a “drum” was erected, ending with a hemispherical dome. The ends of the spatial cross were covered with cylindrical vaults, and the corner parts - with domed vaults. The eastern part of the building had ledges for the altar - the apse. The inner space of the temple was divided by pillars into naves (spaces between rows). There could have been more pillars in the temple. In the western part there was a balcony - the choirs, where the prince and his family and his approach were during the service. A spiral staircase led to the choir, located in a tower specially designed for this purpose. Sometimes the choirs were connected by a passage to the princely palace.
The first stone building was the Church of the Tithes, built near Kyiv at the end of the 10th century by Greek craftsmen. It was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240. In 1031-36, Greek architects erected the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov - the most "Byzantine", according to experts, the temple of Ancient Rus'.

The pinnacle of southern Russian architecture of the 11th century is St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv - a huge five-aisled temple built in 1037-1054 by Greek and Russian masters. In ancient times it was surrounded by two open galleries. The walls are built of rows of hewn stone, alternating with rows of flat bricks. Kievan Sophia was already significantly different from the Byzantine models in the stepped composition of the temple, the presence of thirteen domes crowning it, which was probably due to the traditions of wooden construction. In the 11th century, several more stone buildings, including secular ones, were erected in Kyiv.

Following the Kyiv Sophia, Sophia Cathedrals were built in Novgorod and Polotsk. Novgorod Sophia (1045-1060) differs significantly from the Kyiv Cathedral. It is simpler, more concise, stricter than its original. It is characterized by some artistic and constructive solutions that are not known to either South Russian or Byzantine architecture: laying walls from huge, irregularly shaped stones, gable ceilings, the presence of blades on the facades, an arched belt on a drum, etc. This is partly due to Novgorod's connections with Western Europe and the influence of Romanesque architecture.

Beginning in the 12th century new stage in the development of Russian architecture, which differs from the architecture of previous times by the smaller scale of buildings, the search for simple, but at the same time expressive forms. The most typical was a cubic temple with a pozakomar covering and a massive dome.
From the second half of the 12th century, Byzantine influence noticeably weakened, which was marked by the appearance in ancient Russian architecture of temples of a tower-like shape, unknown to Byzantine architecture. The earliest example of such a temple is the Cathedral of the Spaso-Efrosiniev Monastery in Polotsk, as well as the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel in Smolensk. The aspiration of the building upwards was emphasized by a tall slender drum, a second tier of zakomars and decorative kokoshniks at the base of the drum.

The influence becomes more noticeable Romanesque style. It did not affect the foundations of ancient Russian architecture - the cross-domed structure of the temple with a pozakomarnoy coating, but affected the external design of buildings: arched belts, like buttresses on the outer walls, groups of semi-columns and pilasters, columnar belts on the walls, perspective portals and, finally, a bizarre stone carving on the outer surface of the walls. The use of elements of the Romanesque style spread in the XII century in the Smolensk and Galicia-Volyn principalities, and then in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'.
Unfortunately, the architectural monuments of the Galicia-Volyn land are poorly preserved. 30 stone buildings of Galich are known only from archaeological data. An example of the local architectural school was the Assumption Cathedral, built in Galich under Yaroslav Osmomysl. The peculiarity of Galician architecture consisted in the organic combination of the Byzantine-Kyiv spatial composition with Romanesque building techniques and elements of pre-Romanesque decorative art.
The establishment of the republican system in Novgorod led to a significant democratization of culture, which could not but affect architecture. Reduced princely construction. Boyars, merchants, groups of parishioners began to act as customers of churches. Churches were the centers of social life in certain areas of the city, often they served as a warehouse for goods, a place for storing the property of the townspeople, brothers gathered in them. A new type of temple arose - a four-foot cubic temple with one dome and three apses, distinguished by its small size and simplicity in the design of facades.
The oldest monument Pskov architecture is the Church of the Savior in the Mirozhsky Monastery that has come down to us (mid-12th century), which differs from the Novgorod buildings in the absence of pillars. The squat three-domed cathedral of the Ivanovo Monastery resembles the Church of the Savior-Nereditsa. Of the monuments of Staraya Ladoga, only the churches of George and the Assumption have survived, similar in their architectural appearance to the Novgorod monuments.

Stone construction in the Vladimir-Suzdal land begins at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries with the construction of a cathedral in Suzdal by Vladimir Monomakh, but it reaches its peak in the 12th - early 13th centuries. In contrast to the harsh architecture of Novgorod, the architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus was of a ceremonial character, distinguished by the sophistication of proportions and the elegance of lines.
The influence of Romanesque architecture had a particular effect on Vladimir-Suzdal art. According to the chronicle, Andrei Bogolyubsky, building up his capital, collected "masters from all the lands", among them were "Latins".
Construction in Vladimir under Andrei Bogolyubsky reached a great upsurge. City fortifications are being erected, from which the white-stone Golden Gates have been preserved. In the suburban princely residence of Bogolyubovo, a castle was built, consisting of a complex of buildings surrounded by walls with white stone towers. The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, which was the center of the entire ensemble, was connected by passages with a two-story stone palace.
In the last quarter of the XII century, it ends mainly with the construction of the architectural ensemble of Vladimir. After a fire in 1184, the Assumption Cathedral was rebuilt and received its final form. Ensembles of Rozhdestvensky (1192-1196) and Knyaginin (1200-1201) monasteries are formed.

Traditions and techniques developed by the masters of the Vladimir school continued to develop in Suzdal, Yuryev-Polsky, Nizhny Novgorod. St. George's Cathedral of Yuryevo-Polsky was covered with decorative carvings from top to bottom. Relief images against the background of a continuous carpet pattern formed complete plot compositions. Unfortunately, the cathedral has not been preserved in its original form.
With the adoption of Christianity from Byzantium, new types of monumental painting came to Rus' - mosaics and frescoes, as well as easel painting (icon painting). Byzantium not only introduced Russian artists to a new painting technique for them, but also gave them an iconographic canon, the immutability of which was strictly guarded by the church. This, to a certain extent, fettered artistic creativity and predetermined a longer and more stable Byzantine influence in painting than in architecture.
The earliest surviving works of ancient Russian painting were created in Kyiv. According to the chronicles, the first temples were decorated by visiting Greek masters, who introduced the system of arrangement of plots in the interior of the temple, as well as the manner of planar writing, into the existing iconography. The mosaics and frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral are distinguished by severe beauty and monumentality. They are made in a strict and solemn manner, characteristic of Byzantine monumental painting. Their creators skillfully used a variety of shades of smalt, skillfully combined the mosaic with the fresco. Of the mosaic works, the images of Christ the Almighty in the central dome are especially significant. All images are imbued with the idea of ​​greatness, triumph and inviolability of the Orthodox Church and earthly power.
Unique monuments secular painting are the wall paintings of the two towers of Kyiv Sophia. It depicts scenes of princely hunting, circus competitions, musicians, buffoons, acrobats, fantastic animals and birds. By their nature, they are far from ordinary church paintings. Among the frescoes in Sofia are two group portraits of the family of Yaroslav the Wise.

The mosaics of the Golden-domed Cathedral of the Mikhailovsky Monastery are distinguished by a rather free composition, liveliness of movements and individual characteristics of individual characters. The mosaic image of Dmitry of Thessalonica, a warrior in a gilded shell and a blue cloak, is well known. By the beginning of the 12th century, expensive and time-consuming mosaics were completely replaced by frescoes.

In the 12th-13th centuries, local peculiarities became more and more noticeable in the painting of individual cultural centers. In the second half of the 12th century, a specific Novgorodian style of monumental painting was formed, which reaches its fullest expression in the murals of the churches of St. George in Staraya Ladoga, the Annunciation in Arkazhy, and especially the Savior-Nereditsa. In these fresco cycles, in contrast to the Kyiv cycles, the desire for simplification is noticeable. artistic techniques, to the expressive interpretation of iconographic types, which was dictated by the desire to create art that is accessible to the perception of a person inexperienced in theological subtleties, capable of influencing his feelings. To a lesser extent, the democratism of Novgorod art manifested itself in easel painting, where local features are less pronounced. The icon “Angel with Golden Hair” belongs to the Novgorod school, attracting attention with the lyricism of the image and light coloring.

Fragments of frescoes of the Dmitrievsky and Assumption Cathedrals in Vladimir and the Church of Boris and Gleb in Kideksha, as well as several icons, have come down to us from the painting of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' of the pre-Mongolian time. Based on this material, the researchers consider it possible to talk about the gradual formation of the Vladimir-Suzdal school of painting. The fresco of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral depicting the Last Judgment is the best preserved. It was created by two masters - a Greek and a Russian. The faces of the apostles and angels, painted by the Russian master, are simpler and sincere, they are endowed with kindness and softness; they do not have the intense psychologism characteristic of the manner of the Greek master. Several large icons of the 12th - early 13th centuries belong to the Vladimir-Suzdal school. The earliest of them is the “Bogolyubskaya Mother of God” (mid-12th century), stylistically close to the famous “Vladimir Mother of God” - an icon of Byzantine origin. Of great interest is the icon "Dmitry of Thessalonica". Dmitry is depicted sitting on a throne in expensive clothes, in a crown, with a half-drawn sword in his hands.
The spread of writing, the appearance of handwritten books led to the emergence of another type of painting - book miniatures. The oldest Russian miniatures are in the Ostromir Gospel, which contains images of the three evangelists. The bright ornamental surroundings of their figures and the abundance of gold make these illustrations look like a piece of jewelry. Prince Svyatoslav's Izbornik (1073) contains a miniature depicting the prince's family, as well as marginal drawings resembling secular painting Kyiv Sofia.

Despite its relative simplicity, Russian medieval culture was an important component of the medieval world. During this period, the features of the national culture were formed, which determined its identity and national foundations. Traditionalism, locality, priority religious outlook were characteristic features of the spiritual life of medieval society.
The development of ancient Russian culture was based both on the heritage of the Eastern Slavs, and on the creatively processed achievements of the culture of other countries, mainly Byzantium. The most important event of this period was the adoption of Christianity, which contributed to the development of contacts with Byzantium and the processing of pagan traditions on new ground.
The formation of a centralized Russian state redefined the nature and direction of the historical and cultural process. This time was marked by great achievements in various fields of culture and art, the completion of the formation of the Great Russian people as a whole.
The main content of the cultural-historical process of the 17th century, which completed the period of the Middle Ages, is the beginning of the destruction of the religious worldview, the development of secular elements in culture.
The culture and art of Ancient Rus' did not become a simple continuation of the culture of the previous time. Profound changes in the socio-economic and political life, expressed in the maturation of feudal relations, in the emergence of the state and in the formation of the ancient Russian people, led to qualitative changes in the life of the Slavs and led to a rapid rise in development, as a result of which their culture in a relatively short historical period reached high level and took a worthy place in the world medieval culture.

The culture of ancient Rus' is the culture of the early feudal society. Oral poetic creativity reflected the life experience of the people, captured in proverbs and sayings, in the rituals of agricultural and family holidays, from which the cult pagan beginning gradually disappeared, the rites turned into folk games.

Buffoons - wandering actors, singers and musicians, who came from the people's environment, were the bearers of democratic trends in art. Folk motives formed the basis of a remarkable song and musical creativity " prophetic boyan", which the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" calls "the nightingale of the old time." Historical songs and legends were widely used by chroniclers who subordinated the folklore material to their ideological and political trend. So, the chronicle included legends about Olga's revenge on the Drevlyans, about the struggle of the Russian people with the Pechenegs, etc.

The growth of national self-consciousness found a particularly vivid expression in the historical epic epic. In it, the people idealized the time of the political unity of Rus', although still very fragile, when the peasants were not yet dependent. The heroic peasant Mikula Selyaninovich is depicted in epic works as free and rich. In the image of the "peasant son" Ilya Muromets, a fighter for the independence of the motherland; the deep patriotism of the people is embodied. Folk art had an impact on the traditions and legends that developed in the feudal secular
and church milieu, and helped shape ancient Russian literature. Another source that determined the independence and artistic expressiveness literature, there was a culture of oral, oratorical speech - military, embassy, ​​judicial - that reached high perfection, conciseness and imagery.

The appearance of writing was of great importance for the development of ancient Russian literature. In Rus', writing arose, apparently, quite early. The news has been preserved that the Slavic enlightener of the 9th century. Konstantin (Cyril) saw in Chersonese books written in "Russian writings" (letters). Evidence of the existence of written language among the Eastern Slavs even before the adoption of Christianity is an earthen vessel discovered in one of the Smolensk barrows of the beginning of the 10th century. with an inscription that researchers decipher in different ways (“gorushna” - a spice, “Pea” - a name, “psalm” - wrote, etc.). Significant distribution of writing received after the adoption of Christianity.

Old Russian writers highly valued books and knowledge. The chronicler emphasizes the usefulness of "book teaching" and compares books with "rivers that water the universe," with "fountains of wisdom." The art of designing an old Russian handwritten book reached a high level. Such writings of the 11th century, such as the Gospel, copied for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir, or the "Izbornik" of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, are richly decorated with headpieces and miniatures.

Needing literate people, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich organized the first schools. Literacy was not only the privilege of the ruling class, it also penetrated into the environment of the townspeople. Letters found in a significant number in Novgorod, written on birch bark (from the 11th century), contain the correspondence of ordinary citizens; inscriptions were also made on handicrafts.

The original literature of Rus' is characterized by great ideological richness and high artistic perfection. A brilliant writer of the 11th century. was Metropolitan Hilarion, the author of the well-known "Sermon on Law and Grace". In this work, the idea of ​​the need for the unity of Rus' is clearly manifested. An outstanding writer and historian was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. His “Reading” about the princes Boris and Gleb and the “Life of Theodosius”, valuable for the history of life, have been preserved. Theodosius himself - the hegumen of the Caves Monastery - owns several teachings and letters to Prince Izyaslav. By the time around 1113, there is a remarkable monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing - "The Tale of Bygone Years ...". This work is compiled on the basis of earlier chronicles - historical works dedicated to the past of the Russian land. The author of the Tale, the monk Nestor mentioned above, managed to vividly and figuratively tell about the emergence of Rus' and connect its history with the history of other countries.

Vladimir Monomakh was an outstanding writer. His "Instruction" painted the ideal image of a prince - a feudal ruler, touched upon the pressing issues of our time (the need for a strong princely power, the fight against nomadic raids, etc.). "Instruction" is a secular work. It is imbued with the immediacy of human experiences, alien to abstraction and filled with real images and examples taken from life.

The wide international relations of the Old Russian state led to an interest in foreign literature. Yaroslav the Wise took care of the translation of books from Greek into Russian. This translation work continued later. In addition to liturgical books and hagiographic literature, historical works were translated - Byzantine chronicles, military stories, etc. Translators sometimes creatively reworked and supplemented the originals.

Of great interest are the monuments of ancient Russian architecture and fine arts. Russian masters of wooden architecture, whose names, for the most part, have not been preserved, created various structures, built vast and complex master mansions, erected fortresses and castles. Novgorod carpenters were especially famous for their art.

At the end of the X century. they built in Novgorod a huge chopped cathedral of St. Sofia with thirteen tops. The monumental wooden columns of the end of the 10th century found in Novgorod, decorated with carved "animal" ornaments, testify to the high development of decorative carving in the decoration of dwellings.

Significant skills in the field of wooden architecture led to the rapid development of stone architecture and its originality. The Byzantine architects called to Kyiv passed on to the Russian masters the extensive experience of the building culture of Byzantium. At the end of the X century. in Kyiv, stone palace buildings were erected and a 25-domed vast cathedral was built - the Church of the Tithes. Antique sculptures brought by Prince Vladimir from Chersonese were placed on the square near this church.

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv was expanded and surrounded by a mighty rampart with stone gates. Of these fortifications, only the remains of the main tower, the Golden Gate, have survived. In the center of the city, the architects erected the St. Sophia Cathedral - a majestic 13-domed building, magnificently decorated inside with mosaics, frescoes and carved stone. A wall was built around the cathedral. In a different big city Kievan Rus - Chernigov was built the Cathedral of the Savior, in Polotsk and Novgorod erected St. Sophia Cathedrals.

Some experience was also gained in the field of fine arts. Sources report about statues of pagan deities in Rus', about some picturesque images of humanoid animals (“creatures”). The development of monumental fine art was associated with the development of the Byzantine artistic heritage. An outstanding monument is the grandiose mosaic-fresco ensemble of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, created by Byzantine and Russian masters. In the painting of the St. Sophia Cathedral, portrait images of the family of Prince Yaroslav the Wise were placed, and the stairs of the towers leading to the choirs were decorated with images of a secular nature.

The princely palaces and temples differed sharply in their size and wealth from the dwellings of the urban people. Monumental art was one of the strongest means of ideological strengthening of the feudal system. But at the same time, the majestic and solemn images of architecture reflected the creative power of the Russian people, the true creator of material and cultural property. In the second half of the XI century. stone buildings are erected in princely monasteries in Kyiv - Vydubitsky, Dmitrievsky, Pechersky. A huge cathedral was built in Vyshgorod, competing in size with the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral. Secular construction also continued.

important area artistic creativity in the IX-XI centuries. was arts and crafts. Craftsmen decorated metal parts of clothing, utensils, and weapons with finely stylized floral or "animal" ornaments. Motifs of folk legends were reflected in this ornament, images of birds, the tree of life, etc., characteristic of pre-Christian beliefs and cults, appeared in this ornament. Jewelry art, closely connected with the needs and tastes of the nobility, made a quick development path. Instead of the characteristic for the X - beginning of the XI century. severe attire of the nobility, consisting of heavy forged silver and gold items, in the second half of the 11th century. Russian jewelers create exquisite and sophisticated gold jewelry, diadems, kolts, richly colored with enamel, precious stones, pearls and the finest filigree. The work of Russian jewelers amazed foreigners with its technical and artistic perfection.

In the process of the emerging feudal fragmentation of the Old Russian state, new cultural centers. But with all the originality of the local shades of Russian culture, its unity has been preserved.