St. George's cathedral in Yuriev-Polsky: the meeting of the cultures of East and West in Pre-Mongol Russia

The first decades of the13th century, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, were a difficult period in the history of Old Russia. Princely feuds and fighting for the Kievan principality led to the fragmentation and weakening of the Russian lands. Oddly enough, this period also witnessed a rise in cultural and spiritual life. That was a time of creation and intensive creative activity, the continuation of the artistic traditions of the 12th century and the emergence of qualitative changes in art. St. George’s Cathedral in Yuriev-Polsky erected in 1230-1234 is one of the most outstanding and, at the same time, the most mysterious works of architecture of the 13th century. This entire period in the history of medieval art is distinguished by a peculiar combination of types and styles from different artistic worlds. In the case of St. George’s Cathedral, it acquired a somewhat paradoxical character, enhanced by the random selection and placement of carved slabs during the restoration of its upper part which collapsed in the 15th century. The specific typological and stylistic samples that guided the customer and the executors still remain unclear. The author attempts to identify the origin of a number of motives of the Cathedral’s carved decoration, with their analogues being found both in Western and Eastern art. The artistic life of Vladimir-Suzdal Russia emerged at a crossroads of various stylistic influences. The author argues that this may explain the implementation of various themes and motives in accordance with local tastes, which form the phenomenon of the facade carving of St. George’s Cathedral - a unique monument of genuinely Russian artistic culture.