This work is the first systematic study of how monumental buildings were constructed in medieval Russia. It deals specifically with ecclesiastical architecture, but also discusses such secular architecture, palaces or towers. In scope the book covers the territory of the Kievan state and the principalities that succeeded it, from the 10th century to the 13th century. Pavel Aleksandrovich Rappoport was the author of many of the standard works on the architectural history of Russia, whether monumental, military or domestic. He was also a leading archaeologist. In Building the Churches of Kievan Russia his aim is to investigate how people went about building them: from brickmaking and lime-firing to the roofing and decoration, from how the churches were laid out to how much brickwork was laid in a day. This book treats all these processes as one integrated and interconnected procedure. The detailed analysis enables Rappoport to identify the work of particular teams of builders, even individual masters, and to follow their progress from one site to another, and one town to a second. Similarly, he documents how the Byzantine styles and methods of church building, imported into Russia after its conversion in 989, were gradually adapted to meet the needs of local circumstances and climate. This study will be of direct relevance to those concerned with the architecture and the Church of pre-Mongol Russia, as well as its social history. The investigation of the earliest churches, furthermore, represents the sole extended discussion of Byzantine building practices. In terms of methodology, the book will be of interest to all architectural historians and archaeologists concerned with the Middle Ages, and makes accessible in English material that has hitherto only been available in Russian.

Looks at the history of Russia during the Kievan period, from 862 to 1237.

The rich and diverse architectural traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and adjacent regions are the subject of this book. Representing the visual residues of a "forgotten" Middle Ages, the social and cultural developments of the Byzantine Empire, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Russia, and the Middle East parallel the more familiar architecture of Western Europe. The book offers an expansive view of the architectural developments of the Byzantine Empire and areas under its cultural influence, as well as the intellectual currents that lie behind their creation. The book alternates chapters that address chronological or regionally-based developments with thematic studies that focus on the larger cultural concerns, as they are expressed in architectural form.

The first major study of the relationship between liturgy and historiography in early medieval Rus.

The most comprehensive study of this subject to date, A History of Russian Architecture surveys Russian building from the masonry churches of tenth-century Kieven Rus to the prefabricated built environments of the present. Subject to cultural and stylistic influences from both East and West, Russian architecture nonetheless developed its own distinctive approaches to building, as demonstrated in the four parts of the study: early medieval Rus up to the Mongol invasion in the mid-twelfth century; the revival of architecture in Novgorod and Muscovy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries; the cultural revolution in architecture in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; and the advent of modern architecture. Analyzing stylistic developments within their historical contexts, this volume serves as a rich cultural history that will be invaluable to scholars and general audiences alike.

Mount Athos has been exercising its magnetic attraction on monks and pilgrims for over a thousand years. Many of the papers collected here are concerned with aspects of pilgrimage to Athos and the effect that a visit to the Mountain has on pilgrims' lives.

This book is a concise and comprehensive narrative history of Russia from 980 to 1584. It covers the history of the realm of the Riurikid dynasty from the reign of Vladimir 1 the Saint, through to the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who sealed the end of his dynasty's rule. Presenting developments in social and economic areas, as well as in political history, foreign relations, religion and culture, Medieval Russia, 980-1584 breaks away from the traditional view of Old Russia as a static, immutable culture, and emphasises the 'dynamic' and changing qualities of Russian society. Janet Martin develops clear lines of argument that lead to conclusions concerning how and why the states and society of the lands of the Rus' assumed the forms and characteristics that they did. Broadly accessible with informative and provocative interpretations, this book provides an up-to-date analysis of medieval Russia.