The stair tower in Bogolyubovo (2015 excavation materials)

The paper introduces new data obtained from the excavations of the ensemblein Bogolyubovo near Vladimir in 2015. Besides the new data on the architecture of the churchbuilt under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, these excavations provided a possibility to studythe base of the corner pillar of the stair tower for the first time and identify the levelof the original soil surface. These data provide grounds for comparing profiles in differentparts of the Bogolyubovo ensemble as well as comparing these profiles with variousRomanesque profiles, including Italian profiles. In addition to that, it is now possibleto partially reconstruct the original appearance of the tower and the entire ensemble.The design of the tower finds parallels not only in Italy of the Romanesque period but alsoin the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims where the towers flanking the western façade haveroughly the same size and the iconography of the facades.