2022 Vol. 13 №4

Visual text of medieval Vladimir: the analysis of the dominant image of cathedral exteriors

DOI

10.5922/2225-5346-2022-4-3

Abstract

The article attempts to determine the conceptual foundations for analyzing the influence of the artistic design of the temples of medieval Vladimir on the formation of the urban sacred space. The study aims to use the example of Vladimir during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod III to substantiate the city-forming significance of exterior sculptural programs as a visual text that encodes the key parameters of the semantic organisation of urban environment. Hermeneutic presuppositions and initial cultural conditions for such an analysis are formulated. Based on the visual semiotics of Umberto Eco, it is shown that the external temple decoration of Vladimir acts both as an aesthetic object and as a semiotic construction. In line with the logical semantics of Gottlob Frege, the denotative (meaningful) and connotative (semantic) levels of coding and decoding of sacred visual texts of Vladimir cathedrals are defined. The basic references of the central image of the exterior plastics — the biblical David, as well as those narratives that are determined by these references are classified. The mechanism of localisation of universal religious narratives is shown through the distinction between text and subtext. Thus, the role of external temple decoration in constructing a sacred urban topic is determined. As a result, the possibility of interpreting the temple decoration of medieval Vladimir as a visual text is substantiated, which, firstly, expresses the implied meanings associated with specific images through code and context, and, secondly, translates these meanings into the environment, forming the cultural space of the city.

Reference

Avanesov, S. S., 2022. Visual axiology of the post-Kiev urban model. ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ. Problemy vizual'noi semiotiki [Praxema], 1 (31), pp. 24—40 (in Russ.).

Aver'yanov, K. A., 2018. On the interpretation of the reliefs of the Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir. Istoricheskoe obozrenie [Historical Review], 19, pp. 56—60 (in Russ.).

Aver'yanova, Yu. V., 2002. Reflection of the Sophian idea of house-building in the “Tale of the Murder of Andrei Bogolyubsky”. Drevnyaya Rus': Voprosy medievistiki [Old Russia. The Questions of Middle Ages], 1 (7), pp. 90—94 (in Russ.).

Danilevskii, I. N., 2008. Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh and temple carving of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Vestnik istorii, literatury, iskusstva [Bulletin of History, Lite­ra­ture, Art], 5. Moscow, pp. 286—303 (in Russ.).

Darkevich, V. P., 1964. The Image of King David in Vladimir-Suzdal Sculpture. Kratkie soobshcheniya Instituta arkheologii Akademii nauk SSSR [Brief Communications of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences], 99, pp. 46—53 (in Russ.).

Dolgov, V. V., 2005. Old Russian city of the 11th — 13th centuries as a sacred space. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 1: Istoriya [Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University. Series 1: History], 2, pp. 17—24 (in Russ.).

Eco, U., 2006. Otsutstvuyushchaya struktura [La Struttura Assente]. Translated by V. Reznik, A. Pogonyailo. St. Petersburg (in Russ.).

Frege, G., 2000. Logika i logicheskaya semantika [Schriften zur Logik und logischen Semantik]. Translated by B. V. Biryukova. Moscow (in Russ.).

Gladkaya, M. S., 1997. Relief sculpture of the Demetrius Cathedral of the 12th century in Vladimir. Some results of work on the “Catalogue”. Vestnik Rossiiskogo Gumanitarnogo Nauchnogo Fonda [Bulletin of the Russian Humanitarian Foundation], 4, pp. 154—161 (in Russ.).

Gladkaya, M. S., 2009. Rel'efy Dmitrievskogo sobora vo Vladimire. Opyt kompleksnogo is­sledovaniya [Reliefs of the Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir. Comprehensive rese­arch experience]. Moscow (in Russ.).

Herzen, A. I., 1957. Venezia la bella. In: Sobranie sochinenii [Collected works]. Vol. 11. Moscow, pp. 468—483 (in Russ.).

Ischuk-Fadeeva, N. I., 2011. Subtext. Kul'turologiya [Culturology], 1 (56), pp. 162—175 (in Russ.).

Kirichenko, E. I., 2008. The Church and the City: on the Symbolic and Structural Unity of the Russian Sacred Space. In: A. Lidov, ed. Ierotopiya. Sravnitel'nye issledova­niya sakral'nykh prostranstv [Hierotopy: Comparative Studies of Sacred Spaces]. Mos­cow, pp. 285—315 (in Russ.).

Lebedev, L., archpriest, 1995. Moskva patriarshaya [Patriarchal Moscow]. Moscow (in Russ.).

Lelekov, L. A., 1975. The Art of Ancient Russia in its Relations with the East. Drev­nerusskoe iskusstvo. Zarubezhnye svyazi [Old Russian Art. Foreign connections]. Mos­cow, pp. 55—80 (in Russ.).

Lidov, A. M., 1997. About the symbolic design of the sculptural decoration of the Vladimir and Suzdal churches of the 12th — 13th centuries. Drevnerusskoe iskusstvo. Rus'. Vizantiya. Balkany. XIII v. [Old Russian art. Russia, Byzantium, Balkans. XIII cen­tu­ry]. St. Petersburg, pp. 172—184 (in Russ.).

Lifshits, L., 2019. On the program of carved decoration of St. George’s Cathedral in Yuryev-Polskoy. Iskusstvoznanie [Art History], 3, pp. 80—99 (in Russ.).

Lotman, Yu. M., 2010. Semiosfera [Semiosphere]. St. Petersburg (in Russ.).

Maksimov, P. N., 1976. Tvorcheskie metody drevnerusskikh zodchikh [Creative me­thods of Old Russian architects]. Moscow (in Russ.).

Simyan, T. S., 2019. From Biosphere to Noosphere: Theory and Practice. Kritika i se­miotika [Critique and Semiotics], 1, pp. 173—197 (in Russ.).

Simyan, T. S., 2020. Visualization of Christian Values in the Interior and Exterior of Yerevan State University (on the example of the theological faculty). Vizual'naya teo­logiya [Journal of Visual Theology], 1, pp. 84—99 (in Russ.).

Solntsev, N. I., 2012a. The concept of “New Jerusalem” in the construction initia­tive of Andrey Bogolubsky. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N. I. Lobachevskogo [Vestnik of Lobachevsky University of Nizhni Novgorod], 4 (1), pp. 275—281 (in Russ.).

Solntsev, N. I., 2012b. Formation of sacral symbolism of a Russian medieval city. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N. I. Lobachevskogo [Vestnik of Lobachevsky University of Nizhni Novgorod], 6 (1), pp. 180—187 (in Russ.).

Speshilova, E. I., 2016. Interpretation of the name of Aristotle in analytical philosophy. ΣΧΟΛΗ. Filosofskoe antikovedenie i klassicheskaya traditsiya [Schole], 10 (2), pp. 483—489 (in Russ.).

Stepanyan, A. A. and Simyan, T. S., 2012. Yerevan as a semiotic text (the expe­rien­ce of reconstruction of the “beginning” and “end” of Mashtots Avenue). Kritika i se­mi­otika [Critique and Semiotics], 16, pp. 6—16 (in Russ.).

Stoletov, A. V., 1974. St. George’s Cathedral in Yuryev-Polskoy of 13th century and its reconstruction. In: Iz istorii restavratsii pamyatnikov kul'tury [From the history of the restoration of cultural monuments]. Moscow, pp. 111—134 (in Russ.).

Trubetskoi, E. N., 1993. Speculation in colors. In: Filosofiya russkogo religioznogo is­kusstva ХVI—ХХ vv. [Philosophy of Russian religious art of the 16th — 19th cen­tu­ries]. Moscow, pp. 195—219 (in Russ.).

Ukolova, V. I., 1999. The city as a paradigm of medieval culture (on the problem of the cultural space of urbanization). In: Urbanizatsiya v formirovanii sotsiokul'turnogo prost­ranstva [Urbanization in the formation of socio-cultural space]. Moscow, pp. 134—147 (in Russ.).

Voronin, N. N., 1961. Zodchestvo Severo-Vostochnoi Rusi ХII—ХV vekov. T. 1: ХII sto­letie [The architecture of North-Eastern Russia of the 12th — 15th centuries]. Vol. 1. Mos­cow (in Russ.).

Voronin, N. N., 1967. Vladimir. Bogolyubovo. Suzdal'. Yur'ev-Pol'skoi [Vladimir. Bo­go­lyubovo. Suzdal. Yuryev-Polskoy]. Moscow (in Russ.).

Wagner, G. K., 1969. Dmitrievskii sobor. Arkhitektura i skul'ptura Dmitrievskogo sobo­ra vo Vladimire [Saint Demetrius Cathedral. Architecture and sculpture of the Saint Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir]. Leningrad (in Russ.).

Wagner, G. K., 1980a. Ot simvola k real'nosti. Razvitie plasticheskogo obraza v russ­kom iskusstve XIV—XV vekov [From symbol to reality. The development of the plastic image art of the 14th and 15th centuries]. Moscow (in Russ.).

Wagner, G. K., 1980b. Starye russkie goroda [Old Russian cities]. Moscow; Leipzig (in Russ.).

Wagner, G. K., 1988. Architectural program of Andrei Bogolyubsky. Antiquities of the Slavs and Rus. Moscow, pp. 198—201 (in Russ.).

Zagraevskii, S. V., 2008. Voprosy arkhitekturnoi istorii i rekonstruktsii Georgievskogo sobora v Yur'eve-Pol'skom [Problems of architectural history and reconstruction of St. George’s Cathedral in Yuryev-Polskoy]. Moscow. Available at: http://rusarch. ru/zagraevsky22.htm (in Russ.).

Zolyan, S. T., 2020. Yurii Lotman o smysle, tekste, istorii. Temy i variatsii [Yuri Lot­man on meaning, text, history. Themes and Variations]. Moscow (in Russ.).