Первый этап росписи церкви Андрея Стратилата в новгородском Детинце

G. P. Gerov

G. P. Gerov Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6984-6264

Keywords: temple decoration, Novgorod, Novgorod monumental painting, fresco, Church of St. Andrew Stratelates, cult of Saints Boris and Gleb

Abstract

The article begins with the history of St. Andrew Stratelates Church in Veliky Novgorod. It is shown that today’s church dedicated to St. Andrew was originally built as a chapel of the Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Novgorod Detinets. The St. Andrew Stratelates Church now stands alone in the south-eastern part of Novgorod Detinets, but until 1682 it was the southern chapel of the Boris and Gleb Cathedral. Its earliest part was erected at the former location of cathedral’s staircase tower. The initial church, as the paper suggests, was constructed to commemorate the capture of Swedish Landskrona fortress in 1301 by the army of Prince Andrey III Alexandrovich. It was later rebuilt by Euthymius II, the Archbishop of Novgorod, likely in 1441, simultaneously with rebuilding the Boris and Gleb Cathedral “on its old foundation”. Then the paper turns to the description and analysis of what remains today of the initial iconographic program of the original St. Andrew Stratelates Church, namely a composition with nine images of saints in the lower part of the northern wall, which belongs to the earliest period of painting. On the right we see the Apostle Peter, an Archangel (Michael?) and the Apostle Paul being blessed by Christ. In the background stand a few praying figures: St. Andrew Stratelates, the patron saint of the church, as well as the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, passion bearers princes Boris and Gleb, and two unidentified holy women. The composition was likely to be created after 1494, when the Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Novgorod burned again. Although the origins of the mural remain unknown, a connection with the capture of the Landskrona fortress is a likely possibility. Indeed, St. Andrew Stratelates Church was first constructed in 1302, i. e., a year following the capture of Landskrona, and it was initially integrated into the Boris and Gleb Cathedral which speaks for itself in view of military overtones of the cult of Boris and Gleb.

Author Biography

G. P. Gerov, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/vistheo-2023-5-2-164-176

Georgi P. Gerov
Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University,
Veliky Novgorod, Russia
gpgerov@yahoo.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6984-6264

Abstract
The article begins with the history of St. Andrew Stratelates Church in Veliky Novgorod. It is shown that today’s church dedicated
to St. Andrew was originally built as a chapel of the Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Novgorod Detinets. The St. Andrew Stratelates Church now stands alone in the south-eastern part of Novgorod Detinets, but until 1682 it was the southern chapel of the Boris and Gleb Cathedral. Its earliest part was erected at the former location of cathedral’s staircase tower. The initial church, as the paper suggests, was constructed to commemorate the capture of Swedish Landskrona fortress in 1301 by the army of Prince Andrey III Alexandrovich. It was later rebuilt by Euthymius II, the Archbishop
of Novgorod, likely in 1441, simultaneously with rebuilding the Boris and Gleb Cathedral “on its old foundation”. Then the paper turns
to the description and analysis of what remains today of the initial iconographic program of the original St. Andrew Stratelates Church, namely a composition with nine images of saints in the lower part
of the northern wall, which belongs to the earliest period of pain-
ting. On the right we see the Apostle Peter, an Archangel (Michael?) and the Apostle Paul being blessed by Christ. In the background stand a few praying figures: St. Andrew Stratelates, the patron saint of the church, as well as the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, passion bearers princes Boris and Gleb,
and two unidentified holy women. The composition was likely to be created after 1494, when the Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Novgorod burned again. Although the origins of the mural remain unknown,
a connection with the capture of the Landskrona fortress is a likely possibility. Indeed, St. Andrew Stratelates Church was first constructed in 1302, i. e., a year following the capture of Landskrona, and it was initially integrated into the Boris and Gleb Cathedral which speaks for itself in view of military overtones of the cult
of Boris and Gleb.

Keywords: temple decoration, Novgorod, Novgorod monumental painting, fresco, Church of St. Andrew Stratelates,
cult of Saints Boris and Gleb

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About author

Georgi P. Gerov
Dr. Sci. (Art History), Leading Researcher
The Research and Educational Centre
for Humanitarian Urbanistics
Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University
41, Bolshaya Sankt-Peterburgskaya ul., Veliky Novgorod, 173003, Russian Federation
E-mail: gpgerov@yahoo.com

For citation:
Gerov G. P. The Early Iconographic Program of St. Andrew Stratelates Church in Novgorod Detinets. Journal of Visual Theology. 2023. Vol. 5. 2. Pp. 164–176. https://doi.org/10.34680/vistheo-2023-5-2-164-176