Culture of Ancient Russia (IX - beginning of XIII centuries)

Cultural works are always determined by the level of economic development of a society, traditions, experience of previous generations, the influence of other, adjacent cultures. Old Russian culture grew on the basis of the culture of East Slavic tribes, experiencing at the same time the influence of Byzantine, Bulgarian, Scandinavian, Transcaucasian, steppe and other cultures. In this case, it was not a question of mechanically combining elements of various cultures, but of their synthesis.

The basis of culture is writing, it is it that contributes to the development of spiritual culture. Writing in Russia was known even before baptism, however it was the adoption of Christianity that led to its widespread dissemination and development of literacy. The authors of the Slavic alphabet are the Greek monks Cyril and Methodius. They created two alphabets - the Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From the X century in Russia, the first schools appear at monasteries, churches and bishops’ courts. Under Yaroslav the Wise, the first library opens (in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev). At that time they wrote on parchment — the carefully processed skin of young calves and lambs — birch bark letters — specially prepared birch bark — were spread in Novgorod land. We used the so-called “charter letter”, in which the letters did not connect with each other and had a strict image of the forms. The main genres of Old Russian literature are annals, life (biographies of saints and saints), the word (teaching), walking (travel) and historical novels.

Chronicles (weather account of events, chronicle) - the most important monuments and writing, and literature, and history. The right and obligation to keep records was given to the church. Each individual large city attached to the monastery had its own chronicler monk. The oldest Russian written chronicle is The Tale of Bygone Years, compiled around 1113 by the monk of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery Nestor. It is imbued with the idea of the unity of Russia in the face of external danger, patriotic moods. The history of Russia is considered in the "Tale" against the backdrop of world history.

From the 11th century recording of church sermons begins. In 1051, the first Russian Metropolitan Hilarion composed the “Word of Law and Grace”, permeated with patriotic pathos. In it, the author reflected the idea of the equal rights of all Christian peoples, which then meant opposing Byzantine claims to hegemony.

The most famous is the epic cycle, in which Russian heroes-heroes, the defenders of Russia - Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich are praised. Folklore had a huge impact on the development of Russian written literature, its themes, orientation, laid the basis for its content the most important problems of the life of Russia.

The development of architecture and painting was closely connected with the adoption of Christianity. From the X century in Russia begins the wide construction of stone religious buildings, churches and monasteries. The leading type of construction of the temple was the cross-domed, borrowed from Byzantium (it is based on two arches that intersected at right angles, forming a kind of cross, a dome was built at the intersection of them). As a rule, these were large, monumental buildings, with ceremonial arches, bright rooms, gilded domes, richly decorated from the inside, which was to symbolize the power of the young state (Chernihiv Church of the Savior, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod). Old Russian architecture developed under the strong influence of Byzantine masters (it was from Byzantium that brick masonry came from), but at the same time it had its own specifics (using the many domes of the church, step pyramidality, local building materials). A peculiar style of construction took shape in Novgorod land, where the influence of the North, Scandinavian culture affected. Temples were erected here, as a rule, with one dome; they were distinguished by severity and simplicity.

The inner walls of the temples were necessarily painted from the inside, decorated with icons, murals and mosaics. A mosaic is an image or pattern made up of pieces of colored opaque glass. A mural is a drawing of water-based paints on wet plaster. Icon - images of saints on a wooden board with paints of natural origin. Most of the icons of this period did not survive, but the name of one of the icon-painters, the monk Alimpiya, reached. Another form of painting was a book miniature depicting biblical subjects. Painting was subject to strict religious canons (rules): the conventions of writing, the plane and stillness of the image, certain symbols of the color scheme, etc.

Applied art — woodcarving, stone, bone, which was used to decorate palaces and temples (utensils, dishes, religious objects) — was widely developed in Russia. There were glass making workshops. Very skillful was the jewelry craft. Among the main types of jewelry technology, jewelry is distinguished by grain, scan, mobile, cloisonne enamel.

In general, the ancient Russian state was characterized by a fairly high level of cultural development by medieval standards.

The synthesis of the pagan culture of the Eastern Slavic tribes and the Christian tradition of Byzantium predetermined the originality of Russian national culture. Its main features are humanity, patriotism, nationality. Old Russian culture is characterized by a desire for scale and monumentality and at the same time it was distinguished by integrity and simplicity, softness and grace.

Gavrilova Natalya Vladimirovna