Teratological Plot of the Ornament in the South Tower of St. Sophia of Kyiv

Abstract

St. Sophia of Kyiv, built in 1011‒1018 at the turn of the reigns of Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, has preserved a large number of unique secular frescoes. Their customer was Volodymyr, who owns the idea of the temple, which is reflected in the mosaics and frescoes. A triumphal fresco cycle is unfolding in the two stair towers which, according to the Byzantine tradition, glorifies its customer. The frescoes tell about a dynastic marriage between Prince Volodymyr the Great and the Byzantine Princess Anna Porphyrogenitus at the turn of 987–988, which initiated the baptism of the Kyivan State. The cycle consists of narrative historical and symbolic (ornamental, zoomorphic, and teratological 4) plots. The central composition of a symbolic nature is a mysterious teratological plot of five interconnected medallions placed on the vault of the south tower. This combined plot traces the Scandinavian influences caused by Volodymyr’s princely order, which are present in the unique emblematic image of god Odin with two wolves. The decoding of the plot revealsits semantic unity both with the triumphant fresco cycle of towers, which it is a part of, and with the ideological concept of the whole temple complex as a memorial of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine, the founder and builder of which was Volodymyr the Great. The plot reveals deep sacred and at the same time ethnically colored connotations with the image of Volodymyr as a crowned prince-baptizer and a powerful military leader. This concept fits into the general marital leitmotif of the secular cycle. The frescoes of the towers present not only a completely realistic outline of the initial event of the baptism of the people (the engagement of Volodymyr and Anna) but also a corresponding symbolic and metaphorical disclosure of this theme.