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International audience ; This article deals with the problem of the cultural, political and ethnic characteristics of the first settlers of Novgorod. The previous historiography is critically reviewed. The reappraisal of the archaeological reports and collections of 1950s-2000s years significantly increases the number and categories of Scandinavian objects, while the Slavonic component of early Novgorod remains unclear. The Scandinavians should be counted among the founders and first settlers of Novgorod as early as 930-950 A.D. The pattern of the distribution of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-like objects suggests a free resettlement of Norsemen in the town. They arrived there directly form the North, and not from the Middle Dnieper area inhabited by the Rus'-Rhôs, an ethno-social group which was a result of the acculturation of the Scandinavians in the East-European milieu. The tradition of Russian historiography to deny the participation of Scandinavians in the early development of Novgorod takes its origin from the "auto-censorship" of the Soviet period, it later continued thanks to "scientific inertial resistance", and finds today a new inspiration in the "neo-conservatism" of Russian society.

International audience ; This article deals with the problem of the cultural, political and ethnic characteristics of the first settlers of Novgorod. The previous historiography is critically reviewed. The reappraisal of the archaeological reports and collections of 1950s-2000s years significantly increases the number and categories of Scandinavian objects, while the Slavonic component of early Novgorod remains unclear. The Scandinavians should be counted among the founders and first settlers of Novgorod as early as 930-950 A.D. The pattern of the distribution of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-like objects suggests a free resettlement of Norsemen in the town. They arrived there directly form the North, and not from the Middle Dnieper area inhabited by the Rus'-Rhôs, an ethno-social group which was a result of the acculturation of the Scandinavians in the East-European milieu. The tradition of Russian historiography to deny the participation of Scandinavians in the early development of Novgorod takes its origin from the "auto-censorship" of the Soviet period, it later continued thanks to "scientific inertial resistance", and finds today a new inspiration in the "neo-conservatism" of Russian society.

International audience ; The article advances a new approach to the political competition of the Rurik dynasty for the influence on Volhynia and Galicia in the 11 th century. The research is based on the "mixed sources" logic and deals with the reconstruction of social and political structures through the archaeological evidences, imagology of power, and historical geography. The re-appraisal of the information of the Primary Rus' Chronicle is also proposed. The decisions on the hereditary possession adopted by Liubech Congress in 1097 AD dealt only with the Rus' Land in the Middle Dnieper area that played the role of colonial metropolis to other territories. Other princes fought for the rights to control administrative centers on the main commercial routes that gave them the right to be members of the "union of archontes"-the political structure imposed on Eastern Europe by Byzantine Empire in the treaties of the 10 th century-and to "have a part" (prichastie) in political life of the Rus' Land. This status reflected the idea of local élites about the social prestige and structured the model of power linked to the Byzantine hierarchy. Only later this structure took the form of clannish sovereignty of the Rus' Land. This system of power cannot be compared to the European corpus fratrum. The analysis of written sources testifies to the existence of the archaic system of political power in the 11 th century Rus', with domination of values inherited from the previous period. Its economy continued to be based on the control over transcontinental trade

International audience ; The present paper analyses the historiographyof researches on the bell of 6849 AM fromthe cathedral of Saint George in Lviv, Ukraine,and estimates the potential of its Cyrillic inscriptionand chemical composition of its copper alloyas historical sources. The author publishesfor the fi rst time the photographs of the bell andthe tracing of its inscription made at the end ofthe 19th century, probably by Isidor Szaraniewicz.All materials were send to the ImperialArcaheological Commission in St Petersburg,Russia, in 1897 via Polish Academy of Arts andSciences in Krakow thank to eff orts of GregoryWorobjow, Russian administrative offi cial inPlock, Kingdom of Poland, and the researcher ofthe Polish history. The author notes the lack ofserious publication on the bell in Russian historiography,where the erroneous opinion that thebell was originally made for the monastery of St.George in Trembowla was established. The nameof the bell "trembowelski" should be explained byits dedication to the Icon of the Mother of Godtransferred to Lviv from Trembowla in 1675 AD.The article indicates the date of the manufacturingof the bell as the second half of 1341 – February1342 AD. This period corresponds well to thenew political situation in the region after reconcilingbetween Lvov and Polish King Casimir IIIthe Great, arri ving of the European merchantsand craftsmen in the city, and active circulationinto the city of Prague groschens that createdeconomic circumstances for the production of thebell. The article also notes that the productionof new bells in the 1340s was very characteristicof the whole of Europe. The author interpretsthe high content of antimony in the metal of thebell (6%) by the insuffi cient level of the master'squalifi cations, as well as by the initial stage ofthe imports of copper from the mines of Hungary,the Harz and the Eastern Alps. In conclusion,historiographical examples are analyzed,in which the interpretations of historians do notcorrespond to the informative possibility of ...

International audience ; The article gives an analysis of the history of the reconstruction and building of iconic churches of Ukraine and Russia: the Church of the Tithes, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, which are national shrines. The author offers the method of understanding of socio-political queries and evolution of historical memory embodied in architectural images and restoration ideas. It is substantiated that the process of reconstruction of destroyed temples reflects not so much to the religious renaissance in Eastern Europe, as the interests of the state and politicians in manipulating historical memory. An important factor is the interests of business and the ambitions of the creative intelligentsia. There is a contradiction between the ideology of reproduction as a new construction in the historic sense and the principles of scientific restoration, whose purpose is to preserve the authenticity of the monument as a means of attaching to the past. The newly-created dominants roughly invade the urban landscape that emerged during the twentieth century and causes disillusionment among the public. Similar buildings are regarded as «novodel» and «simulacres» and conflict with the understanding of national history and religious needs. The differences in the process of reproduction of temples in Ukraine and Russia are emphasized at the levelof conceptual ideas, interests, expected and real results. They are explained by the difference between Russian political monopoly and Ukrainian social corporatism. The concept of «symmetrical restoration» and the religious-confessional neutrality of places of national memory as a factor of maintaining public peace and tranquillity is proposed and substantiated

International audience ; The article advances a new approach to the political competition of the Rurik dynasty for the influence on Volhynia and Galicia in the 11 th century. The research is based on the "mixed sources" logic and deals with the reconstruction of social and political structures through the archaeological evidences, imagology of power, and historical geography. The re-appraisal of the information of the Primary Rus' Chronicle is also proposed. The decisions on the hereditary possession adopted by Liubech Congress in 1097 AD dealt only with the Rus' Land in the Middle Dnieper area that played the role of colonial metropolis to other territories. Other princes fought for the rights to control administrative centers on the main commercial routes that gave them the right to be members of the "union of archontes"-the political structure imposed on Eastern Europe by Byzantine Empire in the treaties of the 10 th century-and to "have a part" (prichastie) in political life of the Rus' Land. This status reflected the idea of local élites about the social prestige and structured the model of power linked to the Byzantine hierarchy. Only later this structure took the form of clannish sovereignty of the Rus' Land. This system of power cannot be compared to the European corpus fratrum. The analysis of written sources testifies to the existence of the archaic system of political power in the 11 th century Rus', with domination of values inherited from the previous period. Its economy continued to be based on the control over transcontinental trade

International audience ; The article gives an analysis of the history of the reconstruction and building of iconic churches of Ukraine and Russia: the Church of the Tithes, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, which are national shrines. The author offers the method of understanding of socio-political queries and evolution of historical memory embodied in architectural images and restoration ideas. It is substantiated that the process of reconstruction of destroyed temples reflects not so much to the religious renaissance in Eastern Europe, as the interests of the state and politicians in manipulating historical memory. An important factor is the interests of business and the ambitions of the creative intelligentsia. There is a contradiction between the ideology of reproduction as a new construction in the historic sense and the principles of scientific restoration, whose purpose is to preserve the authenticity of the monument as a means of attaching to the past. The newly-created dominants roughly invade the urban landscape that emerged during the twentieth century and causes disillusionment among the public. Similar buildings are regarded as «novodel» and «simulacres» and conflict with the understanding of national history and religious needs. The differences in the process of reproduction of temples in Ukraine and Russia are emphasized at the levelof conceptual ideas, interests, expected and real results. They are explained by the difference between Russian political monopoly and Ukrainian social corporatism. The concept of «symmetrical restoration» and the religious-confessional neutrality of places of national memory as a factor of maintaining public peace and tranquillity is proposed and substantiated

International audience ; The present paper analyses the historiographyof researches on the bell of 6849 AM fromthe cathedral of Saint George in Lviv, Ukraine,and estimates the potential of its Cyrillic inscriptionand chemical composition of its copper alloyas historical sources. The author publishesfor the fi rst time the photographs of the bell andthe tracing of its inscription made at the end ofthe 19th century, probably by Isidor Szaraniewicz.All materials were send to the ImperialArcaheological Commission in St Petersburg,Russia, in 1897 via Polish Academy of Arts andSciences in Krakow thank to eff orts of GregoryWorobjow, Russian administrative offi cial inPlock, Kingdom of Poland, and the researcher ofthe Polish history. The author notes the lack ofserious publication on the bell in Russian historiography,where the erroneous opinion that thebell was originally made for the monastery of St.George in Trembowla was established. The nameof the bell "trembowelski" should be explained byits dedication to the Icon of the Mother of Godtransferred to Lviv from Trembowla in 1675 AD.The article indicates the date of the manufacturingof the bell as the second half of 1341 – February1342 AD. This period corresponds well to thenew political situation in the region after reconcilingbetween Lvov and Polish King Casimir IIIthe Great, arri ving of the European merchantsand craftsmen in the city, and active circulationinto the city of Prague groschens that createdeconomic circumstances for the production of thebell. The article also notes that the productionof new bells in the 1340s was very characteristicof the whole of Europe. The author interpretsthe high content of antimony in the metal of thebell (6%) by the insuffi cient level of the master'squalifi cations, as well as by the initial stage ofthe imports of copper from the mines of Hungary,the Harz and the Eastern Alps. In conclusion,historiographical examples are analyzed,in which the interpretations of historians do notcorrespond to the informative possibility of theinscription on the bell as a historical source. Theauthor confi rms that the bell was made by a Europeanmaster, while Yakov Skora was only a calligrapher,and gives the proof that the inscriptionitself can not be used as evidence of the constructionof a new cathedral of St. George in 1341 AD.

International audience The article gives an analysis of the history of the reconstruction and building of iconic churches of Ukraine and Russia: the Church of the Tithes, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, which are national shrines. The author offers the method of understanding of socio-political queries and evolution of historical memory embodied in architectural images and restoration ideas. It is substantiated that the process of reconstruction of destroyed temples reflects not so much to the religious renaissance in Eastern Europe, as the interests of the state and politicians in manipulating historical memory. An important factor is the interests of business and the ambitions of the creative intelligentsia. There is a contradiction between the ideology of reproduction as a new construction in the historic sense and the principles of scientific restoration, whose purpose is to preserve the authenticity of the monument as a means of attaching to the past. The newly-created dominants roughly invade the urban landscape that emerged during the twentieth century and causes disillusionment among the public. Similar buildings are regarded as «novodel» and «simulacres» and conflict with the understanding of national history and religious needs. The differences in the process of reproduction of temples in Ukraine and Russia are emphasized at the levelof conceptual ideas, interests, expected and real results. They are explained by the difference between Russian political monopoly and Ukrainian social corporatism. The concept of «symmetrical restoration» and the religious-confessional neutrality of places of national memory as a factor of maintaining public peace and tranquillity is proposed and substantiated

International audience ; The paper analyses some Christian devotional objects from the excavations of 1973–1977 in the aristocratic residence of the 9th–11th centuries at the place of the medieval castle of counts of Anjou in Tours, France. Their dating has been recently revised according to the stratigraphic and chronological observations made by the research team from the French National Center of Urban Archaeology headed by Henry Galinié. The new chronology, as well as the morphology of cult objects, which is sometimes unusual for Latin Europe, suggest that the analogies to them should be searched for in the Byzantine cultural area. In general, personal devotional objects (especially cross-pendants) were uncommon in France, and the veneration of cross was under strict control by the clergy. Before 1400, all cross-pendants had been either brought to France from abroad or made at place after foreign examples. One of the crosses-pendants from Tours has a close analogy in the Middle Dnieper region of Ukraine. Probably, both objects were produced locally, being modeled after one of thecross types of the Post-Iconoclastic period, the form of which goes back to an earlier prototype from the 6th–7th century. Other Christian objects from Tours aristocraticresidence either were brought by pilgrims from Rome, represented a continuation of the local tradition going back to the Merovingian period. The author stresses that Francia of the 9th–11th centuries was not a culturally closed area. It developed its own Christian heritage using new impulses from Italy and the East. The presence of devotional objects in an aristocratic residence with clearly expressed defensive functions is characteristic of the medieval Christian communities. Finding themselves in politically and/or military challenging situation, Christian warriors usually stressed their religious status with extra number of private devotional objects and liturgical gests.

International audience ; The paper analyses some Christian devotional objects from the excavations of 1973–1977 in the aristocratic residence of the 9th–11th centuries at the place of the medieval castle of counts of Anjou in Tours, France. Their dating has been recently revised according to the stratigraphic and chronological observations made by the research team from the French National Center of Urban Archaeology headed by Henry Galinié. The new chronology, as well as the morphology of cult objects, which is sometimes unusual for Latin Europe, suggest that the analogies to them should be searched for in the Byzantine cultural area. In general, personal devotional objects (especially cross-pendants) were uncommon in France, and the veneration of cross was under strict control by the clergy. Before 1400, all cross-pendants had been either brought to France from abroad or made at place after foreign examples. One of the crosses-pendants from Tours has a close analogy in the Middle Dnieper region of Ukraine. Probably, both objects were produced locally, being modeled after one of thecross types of the Post-Iconoclastic period, the form of which goes back to an earlier prototype from the 6th–7th century. Other Christian objects from Tours aristocraticresidence either were brought by pilgrims from Rome, represented a continuation of the local tradition going back to the Merovingian period. The author stresses that Francia of the 9th–11th centuries was not a culturally closed area. It developed its own Christian heritage using new impulses from Italy and the East. The presence of devotional objects in an aristocratic residence with clearly expressed defensive functions is characteristic of the medieval Christian communities. Finding themselves in politically and/or military challenging situation, Christian warriors usually stressed their religious status with extra number of private devotional objects and liturgical gests.

International audience ; The book "Christianisation of the Novgorodian Land in 800-1400 AD" is dedicated to the early stages of Christianity in Russia. The information from the written sources seems unable to cover the process of Christianisation in Russia to the full, which demands active usage of archeo-logical materials. The book in view for the first time presents and analyses the whole variety of items of personal piety relating to IX–XIII centuries and discovered in the burial memorials of the Kievan Russia and the Novgorodian principality.The Introduction declares that the study of the Christianisation of the ancient Russia on the basis of the archeological data requires not only collection, systematisation and analysis of the whole set of Christian antiquities of the medieval Russia (IX–XIII centuries), but also the exposure of all innovations in culture, connected with the dissemination of the new religion.In the view of the research task the author frames himself to the analysis of the data from funeral memorials, as it is the archeology of the burial rite that presents the most informative mate-rial on the early stages of the new ideology formation. For the territory investigated, the Nov-gorodian land of late XIII century was chosen. The territorial approach to the phenomena of the clerical life and Christian culture is in keeping with the standards of the canonical law of the East-ern Church. Novgorod with its neighborhood from the very beginning acts as one of the two centers of the formation of the ancient Russian state, and the history of the Church in Novgorodian land re-flects all the features of the Christianisation of ancient Russia. The features of political and social system in ancient Novgorod, as well as the peculiarities of its history (provided by the active Russian-Finnish contacts) left their imprint on the process of the development of Christian culture in Novgorodian land. As far as the main historical limits are concerned, two dates are accepted: 988 – the Baptism of Russia and the ...

International audience ; The book "Christianisation of the Novgorodian Land in 800-1400 AD" is dedicated to the early stages of Christianity in Russia. The information from the written sources seems unable to cover the process of Christianisation in Russia to the full, which demands active usage of archeo-logical materials. The book in view for the first time presents and analyses the whole variety of items of personal piety relating to IX–XIII centuries and discovered in the burial memorials of the Kievan Russia and the Novgorodian principality.The Introduction declares that the study of the Christianisation of the ancient Russia on the basis of the archeological data requires not only collection, systematisation and analysis of the whole set of Christian antiquities of the medieval Russia (IX–XIII centuries), but also the exposure of all innovations in culture, connected with the dissemination of the new religion.In the view of the research task the author frames himself to the analysis of the data from funeral memorials, as it is the archeology of the burial rite that presents the most informative mate-rial on the early stages of the new ideology formation. For the territory investigated, the Nov-gorodian land of late XIII century was chosen. The territorial approach to the phenomena of the clerical life and Christian culture is in keeping with the standards of the canonical law of the East-ern Church. Novgorod with its neighborhood from the very beginning acts as one of the two centers of the formation of the ancient Russian state, and the history of the Church in Novgorodian land re-flects all the features of the Christianisation of ancient Russia. The features of political and social system in ancient Novgorod, as well as the peculiarities of its history (provided by the active Russian-Finnish contacts) left their imprint on the process of the development of Christian culture in Novgorodian land. As far as the main historical limits are concerned, two dates are accepted: 988 – the Baptism of Russia and the ...