23. Literature of Kyivan Rus’

The development of original literature in Kyivan Rus' was based on both a rich folk oral tradition and a dissemination of translated religious texts. The oldest and most noted Kyivan didactic work is ‘A Sermon on Law and Grace' (1050) by Metropolitan Ilarion, the first native metropolitan of Kyiv. A more subtle form of didactic literature can be found in the numerous hagiographic works, describing the lives of saints. Modeled on translated hagiographies, lives of Saint Anthony of the Caves, Saint Volodymyr the Great, Saint Princess Olha, and others were written and collected in the Kyivan Cave Patericon, the most remarkable collection of lives in the Kyivan period. Also noteworthy are the early chronicles, which are unique for their wealth of information and their blending of fact and fiction, written sources and eyewitness accounts. Quite prevalent were apocryphal writings as well as translated tales. Also popular was the first ravelogue' by Hegumen Danylo. The most unusual and outstanding monument of old Ukrainian literature, however, is the secular epic poem Slovo o polku Ihorevi (

24. Slovo o polku Ihorevi (The Tale of Ihor’s Compaign)

The subject of the poem is the unsuccessful campaign mounted in the spring of 1185 by Ihor Sviatoslavych, prince of Novhorod-Siverskyi, against the Cumans. Its central theme is the fate of the territories of Kyivan Rus’. In addressing that theme the author condemns the various princes for their feuding and their selfishness at the expense of the general good.

The poem was written in an epic lyrical style. The historical subject matter is interspersed with dreams, laments, nature's reaction to the hero's fate, monologues of princes, and other motifs and devices.

The poem begins with an invocation of Boian, who sang the praises of princes of the 11th century. The author of the Slovo promises to emulate Boian's style and to join the glories of the past with those of the present. After a description of preparations for the campaign, of the three-day battle, and of Ihor Sviatoslavych's defeat the author proceeds to analyze the reasons for the decline of the Rus’ land. After a description of Ihor's escape from captivity the work concludes with praise of the ‘ancient princes’ Ihor and Vsevolod Sviatoslavych and of the ‘younger ones,’ represented by Volodymyr Ihorovych.

25. Architecture of Kyivan Rus’

The Kyivan Cave Monastery is one of the most important spiritual and cultural centres in the history of the Ukrainian people. Founded by Saint Anthony of the Caves in the mid-11th century, the monastery soon became the largest religious and cultural center in Kyivan Rus'.ormition Cathedral of the Kyivan Cave Monastery

26. Painting and mosaic of Kyivan Rus’

In the Kyivan Rus' the fresco was the principal method of decorating church interiors. While Byzantine-style mosaics were limited to the central part of a church, frescoes covered all the side apses, vaults, columns and walls of the side naves, and sometimes even the arch supports, galleries, niches, and external portals. In Byzantium, mosaics were never mixed with frescoes in the same building; this is a unique practice of Ukrainian church art. Harmony between mosaic and fresco was achieved by using the same dominant colors. The most famous examples of this decorative system are Saint Sophia Cathedral (1037) and the Cathedral of Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery (mid-12th century) in Kyiv. After the middle of the 12th century frescoes almost completely replaced mosaics in the decoration of church interiors. The most complete set of frescoes from this period has been preserved in the church of Saint Cyril's Monastery in Kyiv.

Cathedral (1037 to the late 1040s), the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyivan Cave Monastery (1078), and Saint Michael's Church (1108–13) of the Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. Only fragments of the mosaic floors in the Church of the Tithes have been preserved, and no mosaics from the Dormition Cathedral are extant. Saint Michael's Church was destroyed in 1934–6, but fragments of its mosaics have been preserved in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow or installed in the choir balcony of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, which also contains the only in situ extant mosaics from the Kyivan Rus’ period (260 sq m of 640 sq m of wall space originally decorated). The Saint Sophia mosaics are made of tesserae of 18 hues in 143 tonal variations and of 25 colors of gold and silver (eg, Christ the Priest). Because the mosaics show two manners, one strongly reminiscent of the Constantinople school and the other of a local Kyivan style, it is likely that the work was carried out by a team of Greek craftsmen with the aid of local masters.

The mosaics of Saint Michael's Church of the Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery show the development of a Kyivan style that is more dynamic and compositionally less schematic than that of the Saint Sophia mosaics. In the rendering of the Eucharist in the Saint Sophia Cathedral the Apostles are uniformly posed and robed in subdued tones. In the Saint Michael's version of this subject the Apostles are depicted in a variety of more naturalistic poses and garbed in bright colors. The mosaics of Saint Michael's tend to be linear in style, whereas the Saint Sophia mosaics are modeled with subtle variations in tone and hue.

With the introduction of Christianity in the 10th century, Byzantine icons and icon painters began to be imported into Ukraine. In the following century an indigenous school of icon painting developed in Kyiv. By the turn of the century the Kyivan Cave Monastery Icon Painting Studio could boast of such renowned painters as Master Olimpii and Deacon Hryhorii, who are mentioned in the Kyivan Cave Patericon. Because of their destructibility by fire and desirability as war booty, many icons perished. No Kyivan icons from the 11th century, and only a few from the 12th, have survived to our da