Source-historiographical aspects of dating the first laying of the cathedrals of Archangel Michael and the Savior's Transfiguration in Nizhny Novgorod

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of historiography and sources concerning the early history of the most ancient temples of Nizhny Novgorod – the cathedrals of Archangel Michael and the Savior's Transfiguration – in order to date their first laying in the 13th – 14th centuries. The historiographical part of the research involves both regional Nizhny Novgorod and All-Russia scientific and popular science literature – a number of publications of various types written from the 1840s to the 2010s. The main objects of the source analysis are Nizhny Novgorod chronicle monuments of the 17th century – the Chronicler about Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod Chronicler, as well as the all–Russia chronicle vaults of the 14th – 16th centuries – Laurentian Codex, Simeonov Codex and other chronicles. The analysis of historiography and sources on the initial history of the oldest temples of Nizhny Novgorod allowed us to formulate the following main provisions. Firstly, the laying of the Savior's Transfiguration cathedral in 1225 is an indisputable historical fact. Secondly, the existence of the stone cathedral of Archangel Michael in the 13th century is extremely unlikely. However, thirdly, the laying of a wooden church in honour of Archangel Michael in Nizhny Novgorod in 1221 is quite acceptable, in our opinion.