Kideksha
A village with this name is situated on the Nerl river in 4 km from Suzdal. Here there is one of the first white-stone constructions of North-East Russia – the church of Boris and Gleb, erected in 1152 and altered in 18 century. It resembles a cubic one-headed 3-apse temple. By the way, Kideksha was Jury Dolgoruky's patrimony. He built a stone temple in four kilometers from Suzdal in place Kideksha, whereas in Suzdal, being actually the main city of the princedom, the prince didn’t erect a white-stone church. The legend, that the prince’s summer residence was located in Kideksha, is very late. Meanwhile, in Kideksha remains of defensive rampart were kept. Here in the strategically important place of the river way there was a small fortress, protecting avenues of approach to Suzdal, not far from the Kamenka river, which, by the way, is translated from Finno-Ugrian language as Kideksha”. It is considered, that the temple was laid by Jury Dolgoruky in honor of his younger sons Boris and Gleb. Besides that, the church of Kideksha served as a tomb for his son – prince of Belgorod and Turov Boris Jurjevich, died in 1159. Here Boris’s wife Maria and their daughter Evfrosinija were buried. Near Borisoglebsky churches during archeological digs in 1851 the researcher of antiquity A.S.Uvarov found “fragments of columns and balusters of the most ancient Byzantium style”, and afterwards A.D.Varganov found plinths of 3.5 cm thick.
It is a widely spread statement that Borisoglebsky temple, built under Jury Dolgoruky in 1152, has become the first stone monument of North-East Russia. However it is not absolutely right. Vladimir Monomah began building stone-brick temples here. Under 1108 the Lvov chronicle says about building Vladimir town by Vladimir Monomah and the important addition was made: “And the stone church of the Saviour was erected in it”. (Other chronicles refer building of the Spasskaya church to 1117). In the Supral chronicle there is a topographical specification: the temple was situated “at the Golden gate”, that is probably in the place where, really, there was a later church with the same dedication.
The temple in Kideksha became the first white-stone building in old Russian north-east lands. It was built from well trimmed quadras of white stone (height - 43 cm, length - 27 cm). Scribbled signs are seen on some of them. Like other Vladimir-Suzdal stone edifices, the building is assembled in technique of backup. Of quadras two parallel walls, space between which was backfilled with stones on calcimine, were laid. The foundation, consisting of cobble-stones, descends into a depth of about 1.5 m.
In 1238 because of the general devastation of Suzdal land by Mongolian-Tatars the church of Boris and Gleb also suffered, but next year it was restored by efforts of Rostov bishop Cyril. However, later it remained deserted for a long time, and its top was crashed down. The walls in all their height along the western facade. In 1660-s during its renovation the vaulting and the eastern columns were demolished and laid again. Thus the center of the temple was covered by close arch with small decorative top.
At the same time the southern portal and ancient windows were laid after new window aperture were punched. Meanwhile, the ancient windows and the portal are well seen in the initial laying of the walls. The portals are of a very simple structure – in the form of three projections. In the middle of height of the walls from outside pass tint and arched corbel, above which the wall gets thin a little. Arkatura is, perhaps, the unique important decorative detail of the monument, afterwards it will develop in arched-columnar friezes of the future temples of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture.
Inside the temple – cross-columns, pilasters, which are two-ledged from the outside? Vaults of the galleries and the galleries themselves in which people come, obviously, from within the temple by the wooden staircase leading to the rectangular aperture in the northern vault of the galleries, were kept. The laying and scanty decor of the temple perfectly harmonize with its overall strict and severe look. The architectural image of the church of Boris and Gleb is extremely laconic, quiet and constrained. By its severity it resembles a fortress. The nearest analogue of the church in Kideksha is the Spaso-Preobrazhensky cathedral in Pereslavl - Zalessk, also built by Jury Dolgoruky. These temples were erected, obviously, by artels of Pridnestrovsk masters, passed at the disposal of Jury Dolgoruky by father of his son-in-law – prince Vladimir, in union with whom he struggled for the Kiev throne. In both monuments features of Romance architecture are visible: use of technique of white-stone laying which was not used in Russian lands formerly, strict accuracy of geometrical volumes, arched friezes.
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