St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-Polsky VLADIMIR REGION St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-P

St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-Polsky
VLADIMIR REGION
St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-Polsky was erected in 1230-1234 by order of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich - the son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. The chronicler described this monument as "the church of the miracle of Zelo, velmi decorated with carved stones from the sole to the top."
In the XV century, the top of the cathedral collapsed. In 1471, the cathedral was restored by V.D. Ermolin without preserving its original appearance. At the end of the XVIII-XIX century, the ancient cathedral was gradually built up with new buildings in the classicism style, which practically closed the ancient building. In 1781, a bell tower was added to the church. In 1817, the north-eastern Trinity chapel, which was founded in the middle of the XIII century, was enlarged in size. Initially, the Trinity chapel housed the burial of the cathedral's customer, Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. In 1827, a sacristy was added to the cathedral from the south side. In the XX century, the later structures were dismantled in order to reveal the forms of the ancient monument.
St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-Polsky was a single-domed four-column cross-domed church with increased proportions. High porches adjoined the northern, western and southern facades of the cathedral. The western narthex was higher than the side ones, since the princely choirs were located in its second tier.
The original appearance of the upper part of the cathedral is unknown. Several reconstructions restore its upper part in different ways. The facades of St. George's Cathedral, divided into strands, ended with keel-shaped zakomars. The arches of the vestibules had a keeled shape. The corners of the quadrangle were marked by columns with unusual triangular capitals. In the central face of the capital there was a frontally depicted face of the saint, in the side — profile images of other saints.
The entire lower part of the walls of St. George's Cathedral is covered with relief decoration, which was cut out on the finished white stone masonry. At the choir level, the facades were decorated with an arcature-columnar frieze, which included full-length figures of saints. Above the arcature-columnar belt, the images consisted of individual stones, the reliefs of which were created on the ground and then assembled on the wall. In the upper part of each spinning wheel above the window there was a composition highlighted in size. Probably, among the main images there was a Crucifix, often called "Svyatoslav's Cross", which is kept in the interior of the cathedral. The compositions Transfiguration, Deesis, Seven Youths in the Fiery Cave, fragments of which are scattered across the facades, also stood out. Full-length images of saints and half-figures, holy warriors-horsemen, half-figures of saints in round medallions, birds, animals, friezes consisting of lion masks, whose mouths were connected by intertwining vines, and human masks, vegetable motifs covered the facades of St. George's Cathedral in tiers.
St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev-Polsky was the most decorated cathedral of ancient Russian architecture.