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DMITRIEVSKY CATHEDRAL IN VLADIMIR

Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir

Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir

At the time of the reign of Grand Prince of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest, Vladimir-Suzdal Princedom was in the zenith of its glory. “Suzdal Region back in the beginning of XII century was a forsaken north-eastern corner of Russian Land, but in XIII century was already a Princedom that decisively headed up the rest of Russ,” V. Klyuchevsky wrote. And Dmitrievsky Cathedral built by Vsevolod was purposed to signify this rise of Vladimir Land.

The exact time of the construction of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral is unknown. A Vladimir’s chronicler, speaking about the death of Grand Prince Vsevolod III the Big Nest, mentioned only that the prince created in his court “a beautiful church” named after martyr Dmitry and wonderfully decorated it with icons and paintings. Historians believe that the cathedral was built between 1194 and 1197. It was erected by Russian masters, – the chronicler especially emphasizes that “no foreign masters were looked for” for the building of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral.

In 1237, the temple shared the destiny of the capital of Vladimir Princedom. Plundered and devastated by the Tatars, the cathedral later on many times got burned and was an object of plunder. In 1837-1839, “the connoisseurs of Russian Style” did, on Nicolas I’s order, “restoration” to return to the cathedral its original appearance. As a result, the temple was marred to such an extent that it lost altogether its original appearance and was in decay. Only the following restoration works partially gave to the temple its original appearance.

The temple was built as a palace-church of Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest. This time was marked with a number of tremendous construction projects, among which the Dmitrievsky Cathedral holds one of the first places.

The cathedral is a masterpiece of harmony and measure. Decency of forms and ideal proportions make the Dmitrievsky Cathedral unique. The cathedral is magnificent. The spirit of solemnity permeates it in every small detail. Everything that was prominently done in Russia in filigree work, engraving, enameling and, especially, wood carving found its place in painting and decorative motifs of the Vladimir’s architects. Because of abundance of whitestone carving that covers the walls of the cathedral, it is called “the precious chest,” “the stone carpet,” “the stone poem.” Richness of its ornamentation is so great that, it seems, it would have become extreme if the builders and stone engravers had been deprived of the sense of harmony that allowed them to stop at the very moment when the highest supreme limit was reached, after which bizarrerie would have followed.

The authors of the whitestone carving of the cathedral are believed to be local Vladimir’s carvers, who worked together with descendants from the Balkan Peninsula – Bulgarians, Dalmatians or Serbs. That is why in the whitestone ornamentation of the cathedral there are so many motifs common to not only the Balkans but also Byzantium and the entire Europe.

The whitestone carving of the cathedral has long ago become an object of admiration and study. 566 carved stones on the facades of the temple are set in a fancy picture of the world where Christian images peacefully coexist with images of the folk mythology and medieval literature. The origins of Vladimir-Suzdal folk plastics can be traced down not only to Kiev and Galitch but also Assyria, India, Alexandria, Asia Minor, Caucasus as well as Iran, Saxony, Swabia, Northern Italy and France.

The facades of the building are divided into three levels. The lowest one is almost deprived of decoration and only carved prospective portals stand out on the background of its flat walls. The middle level is a column-like arkatur belt with whitestone carved figures and rich ornamentation. The upper level with cut-through narrow high windows is completely covered with carving. The carving covers the drum of the dome as well. The temple is crowned with a not very steep gilded dome that resembles a knight’s helmet. An azure wide cross made of cut gilded copper is installed upon it.

The fact that the lower level of the Dmitrievsky temple is void of any ornamentation is quite explicable. The thing is that it was originally closed by galleries that surrounded the cathedral on three sides. While from the main, western façade, at the corners of the galleries two stair towers stood resembling the towers of Kiev’s Sofia Cathedral. The galleries and towers were also ornamented with whitestone carving. But the cathedral’s appearance has not been preserved to our days.

In the carving of the column belt an entire gallery of the saints is placed, among which there are Russian princes Boris and Gleb. The majority of these figures are of a later date; the earliest sculptures are preserved only on the northern façade. Below each figure depictions of fancy plants and animals are carved. The sculptures are separated by carved columns of the arkatur belt reminding of thick woven ropes, each one of which is ended with a figure of a fantastic beast or bird – a lion with a “blossoming” tail, geese with interwoven necks… A real fairy tale carved in stone!

On the southern facade of the temple big composition “The Ascension of Alexander the Great to Heaven” stands out. This theme seems to us, who live today, somewhat unusual to a Christian temple, but in middle ages it was extremely popular as in Russia so in Europe and in the Orient first of all due to a legendary Byzantine story “Alexandria” translated into many languages. This plot can be seen on the walls of cathedrals in Freiberg, San Marco and Venetia, Georgievsky Cathedral in Yuriev-Polskiy, on the coins of Great Princedom of Tver and on medieval seals. “In church sculpture in second half of XII century “the Ascension of Alexander” is rightfully considered to be the most important Christian depiction,” academician B. Rybakov wrote. Two griffons or, as an ancient Russian scribe put it, “grippons of Alexander’s air-traveling” carry on their wings the king walking in a wicker box. In his hands Alexander is holding tiny lion cubs – a “bait” for the griffons. The legendary monsters lean towards the bait and by this carry the king into the heavens.

The northern façade of the cathedral is ornamented by a big relief “Prince Vsevolod with His Sons.” Vladimir’s Grand Prince Vsevolod III, the temple’s builder, is depicted sitting on the throne with a newborn son on his knees in the presence of the rest of his sons. The nickname Big Nest Prince Vsevolod, as commonly known, received because of a big number of his descendants: he had twelve sons.

The main figure in the system of the ornamental decoration of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral is the figure of King David that occupies the central place in each of the three facades of the temple. The image of king-psalmist David is crucial for comprehension of the symbolism of the whitestone carving of the cathedral: “May every breath praise the Lord!” An illustration to these words of David’s psalm are all the characters of the Dmitrievsky’s relieves. This statement is sometimes object to questioning with arguments that “among the relieves there are too many fierce predators, malignant horsemen, scenes of strife and bloodshed.” That is right, fierce predators, malignant horsemen are there… but it is written, “May every breath praise the Lord!” “Every!” as for the scenes of strife and bloodshed, “If I descend into Hades – and You are there” as another spiritual Scripture says. The world of human beings, the animal world is presented on the walls of the cathedral in all their controversies. But just like these images are united by the Dmitrievsky Cathedral, so the world woven of controversies is embraced by God together with all the existing in these world controversies – both the psalmists and the malignant horsemen…

…After seeing the solid tapestry of the whitestone ornamentations on the facades of the temple one expects to see somewhat unusual interior of the cathedral as well. But it greets you with almost blank whiteness. Except for rows of cut white stone, alas, there is almost nothing on its walls.

Greek masters invited by Prince Vsevolod painted the walls with frescoes that, probably, made the praying parish men gasp with admiration. The remains of these frescoes that suffered throughout the years from plundering and fires were taken down in 1843; at the same time the cathedral was painted with oil paints anew.

In 1918, the Russian-wide committee while clearing up the walls found under the vaults of the choir the remains of a fresco painting of XII century – scenes from “the Terrible Judgment.” A miracle happened: out of nowhere one of the best works of the ancient Russian genius emerged.

A fragment of “the Terrible Judgment” is preserved. According to the style of painting, two masters worked on the fresco – a Greek and a Russian ones – both outstanding icon-painters. Despite the fact that they held on to the canon of the Byzantine church painting, the frescos of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral by its realistic manner, high artistic value and unique colorfulness of painting brought a revolt into traditional concepts about Byzantine art of XII century. The countenances of the apostles are filled with strict beauty and possess vivid portrait features. The colorfulness of the frescos is based upon mild semi-shades – bright green, blue, greenish-yellow and bluish-grey…

Inside the temple seems to be not big, but it is really pretty small – the Dmitrievsky Cathedral was built for the prince’s family and was not designed to hold a big number of parish men. The wide and steady rhythm of the arches supporting the vaults brings into the interior appearance of the temple solemn calmness; the space is filled with air and light. This, of course, is the House of Prayer – it was the name given to it by ancient architects. “My temple will be called the House of Prayer…”

“The Dmitrievsky Cathedral,” L. Liubimov writes, “is one of the masterpieces of art that establishes in our consciousness faith in great destinies of the human race, for the highest dignity of forms testifies in art about inexhaustible greatness of human spirit.”

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