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It is possible to form an idea of the original arrange­ment of the carving from the parts of the walls which have remained intact, particularly the main north wall. Unlike the Cathedral of St. Dmitri in Vladimir the sur­faces of the walls were entirely covered with carving which also spread all over the architectural details as well. The band of blind arcading, recessed into the wall like the band on the Suzdal cathedral, served a purely decorative function here - there was no choir-gallery behind it inside the cathedral and the wall above it was not thinner than the lower section. The carving envelopes the architectural details to such an extent that they occasionally lose their structural clarity. For example, the capitals of the portals look like a single block of carved stone completely covered with foliate ornament. The pilaster capitals also depart from the elegant form of twelfth-century capitals, their flat surfaces being deco­rated with magnificently carved heads of maidens and warriors. Svyatoslav's craftsmen went further than the builders of the Suzdal cathedral and even dared to break the straight line of the corner semi-columns with an unusual garland of small human heads sculpted three-dimensionally instead of in low relief. The sumptuous luxuriance of the carving enhances the building's air of majestic immobility and weight. The builders themselves evidently felt this and accentuated it. Unlike twelfth-century socles, the moulding on the cathedral's socle projects considerably as if it were weighed down by the opulent decoration of the walls.

Closer inspection of the carving shows that it com­bines separate scenes and figures in high relief with a fine ornamental carpet in low relief which covers the remaining areas of the walls and provides, as it were, a background for the high relief carving. This combination is a most important innovation in church ornament. It can be seen most clearly on the walls of the north and south narthexes where stones carved in high relief stand out against a background of flat foliate pat­terns. The upper tier of the cathedral walls above the band of blind arcading was also covered with the same combination of high relief saints, animals and monsters on a patterned carpet.

This combination of two types of carving on the large surfaces of the wall was highly complicated from a tech­nical point of view. First the walls were decorated with high reliefs on individual stones carved at the actual building site and then inserted into the masonry. At this early stage the building's decoration would have looked like that on the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl with the high reliefs projecting from the smooth surface of the walls. After that the patterned carpet was carved on to the wall itself over the architectural details and round the high reliefs. This stage demanded faultless precision of eye and hand for the slightest mistake in chiselling could not be corrected. The fine pattern was outlined first, as can be seen from the south wall of the west narthex where the decoration remained uncom­pleted. The combination of these two types of carving demanded very careful preliminary planning to ensure that the patterned background fitted in with the high relief stones.

A look at the well-preserved north wall will help us to appreciate the technical complexity and artis­tic skill of the cathedral's ornament. This was the build­ing's main facade which looked on to the town square. For this reason the figure of St. George to whom the cathedral was dedicated was placed above the north por­tal. Above the section of patterned carpet runs the band of blind arcading. Like the band on the Suzdal cathedral, it shows clear traces of the in­fluence of wooden architecture. Its small round columns, 26 inches high and 5 1/2 inches in diameter, are stocky and look more like carved wooden banisters. Unlike the figures on the band of the Cathedral of St. Dmitri, which are small and do not stand out from the other carvings, here the large figures of saints are sculpted on separate fine blocks of stone placed in between the columns like large carved icons in frames. They take up the whole space between the columns like the statues in Gothic cathedrals, but unlike the latter they are in flat relief. The uprights of the columns are partially concealed by the blocks of stone turning them also into semi-columns, which remind one of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century brick bands of blind arcading like those on the cathe­drals in the Convent of the Intercession and Spaso-Yevfimiev monastery in Suzdal. The transformation of the arcading itself is most interesting. The small arches are not only ogee-shaped but trifoliate in form, like small icon niches filled with foliate carving. The carving spreads into the spaces above the arcading which is simply the most prominent, distinctive element in the overall scheme of decoration.

One might expect the exuberant patterned carving to relegate the religious significance of the decoration to a position of secondary importance, as was the case in the Cathedral of St. Dmitri. The opposite is true, however. Among the whimsical mosaic of carvings in those parts of the walls relaid by Yermolin there are stones which used to form part of large compositions. Some of them are to be found on the walls and others in the collection inside the cathedral. The south wall, for example, con­tains isolated carvings which originally made up a kind of huge stone icon of the Transfiguration. In the west section of the same wall on the left of the win­dow there are stones from similar large compositions representing the Trinity and the Seven Sleepers of Ephe-sus. Other large compositions include the Cru­cifixion (known as Svyatoslav's Cross), the Ascension, Daniel in the Lions' Den and two which we have already seen in Vladimir, the Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace and Alexander the Great ascending to Heaven. As in the case of the Vladimir cathedrals these large compositions occupied the area under the zakomaras.

Georgi Vagner's detailed study of the cathedral's ar­chitecture and carving has made it possible to recon­struct the original layout of the decoration and the con­cepts underlying it.

The north facade contained the Crucifixion in the central zakomara with Svyatoslav's inscription and two pairs of dragons below the Cross. The left zakomara was occupied by the Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace and the right one by Daniel in the Lions' Den. The Cru­cifixion embodied the concept of the Cross as the main weapon in the struggle against the unbelievers and the defence of princely power. We saw a twelfth-century stone cross with a similar inscription in Bogolyubovo. There is also a fragment of a cruciform inscription dat­ing back to the end of the twelfth century in the south wall of Suzdal cathedral. In 1220 Svyatoslav undertook a victorious campaign against the Volga Bulgars, so the Crucifixion was not only a symbol of intercession, but also a memorial to this victory. The subjects of the Three Youths and Daniel in the Lions' Den showed how God protected those who were faithful to Him. In the Chan­son de Roland Charlemagne addresses the following appeal to God:

"Daniel from fearful torment Thou didst save, Didst save him from the savage lions' jaws. And didst deliver the three Youths from the furnace! Now, oh Lord, hear Thou my humble plea: Grant that Roland's death may be avenged

Thus the main compositions on the north wall em­bodied the concept of Divine protection. The same theme was clearly expressed in the carving on the trifoliate base of the dome drum, which contained three identical representations of Christ with his hand raised in bless­ing surrounded by the heavenly host of archangels and cherubs. On either side of the windows there was a row of standing figures of the prophets, and at the bottom of the windows were the half-length figures of martyrs and miracle-workers. The patron saints of the Vladimir dynasty occupied an important position in the band of blind arcading on the north wall, revealing the main concept behind the cathedral's decoration: that Divine protection was the special prerogative of the Vladimir princes and their lands. It is significant that these saints do not include the patron saint of Prince Konstantin of Rostov, Vsevolod Ill's son who all but destroyed the power of the Vladimir principality in the bloody battle with his brothers on Lipitskoye Field near Yuryev-Polskoi. Heavenly patronage did not extend to those who disturbed the unity of the dynasty which it pro-

tected. This idea is expressed particularly vividly in the carving of the north narthex. Here above the portal we find the large figure of St. George, the patron saint of Yuri Dol-goruky who built the first church on this spot, in patrician robes and armour, holding a long spear and an oval-shaped shield. The latter is decorated with a snow leo­pard, the royal emblem of the Vladimir dynasty.

Above the figure of St. George in the tip of the ogee-shaped zakomam there was a male head thought to re­present Prince Svyatoslav, the cathedral's founder and victor over the Volga Bulgars. There are two carvings of Christ along the archivolt of the portal which seem to emphasise the special Divine protection of the Vladimir lands. Near one of them there are the letters BAKU of a vertical inscription which is thought to be the signature of the cathedral's main sculptor Bakun (short for Avvakum). The zakomara of the royal burial vault, the Trinity Chapel, was decorated with the Old Testament Trinity. The arrangement of the decora­tion on the north wall provides a guide for reconstruct­ing that of the other walls.

Next in order of importance was the west wall with its broad high two-storey narthex containing the royal gallery. The powerful, tiered composition of the building blending in with the broad base under the dome drum was particularly effective from this side. If we recall the light, soaring tiered composition of the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl surrounded by open arcades we can see a very sharp contrast between the latter and the Cathedral of St. George with its regal serenity and strength. In this respect St. Geor­ge's Cathedral is similar to Vsevolod Ill's majestic ca­thedral of St. Dmitri. The west wall was the most heavily decorated. Here we see the same idea of the greatness of the Vladimir dynasty enjoying special Divine protection. In the archivolt of the portal there is a carved Deesis in round medallions. It was also re­peated higher up in five niches now bricked up and separated from the band of blind arcading above it by a row of lion and human heads linked with garlands. The eleven spaces between the columns of the blind ar­cading were occupied by figures of the third main Deesis tier which continued in the side arcading of the wall like a long procession of saints making their way to the figure of Christ on the west narthex. This was the most impressive Deesis composition in early Russian art.

Higher still on a level with the imposts of the vault over the narthex upper storey there was a frieze of miracle-workers and martyrs in medallions. On either side of the triple window in the royal gallery stood a row of prophets led by David and Solomon. Above the window was the large figure of the Virgin Orans sur­rounded by warriors. Here she does not only embody the general idea of Divine protection of the Vladimir princes, that is, the Vladimir festival of the Intercession. The figure is reminiscent of the magnificent mosaic of the Virgin Orans in the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev. It suggested that the Virgin had transferred her patro­nage from Kiev to the northeast lands and Prince Svya-toslav in person. The Vladimir lands were depicted as the sole heir of Kiev. The south zdkomara of the west wall contained an oval-shaped composition consisting of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, also illustrating Divine protection of the faithful. This story was so popular as a symbol of warding off evil that it was often portrayed on amulets. Finally, the central zakomara of the west wall contained the large composition of the Transfiguration symbolising the Prince's power so mag­nificently endowed with Divine patronage and inter­cession.

We can only make a partial reconstruction of the south wall. There was another figure of the Virgin Orans above the south portal. The main zdkomara contained a large composition of the Ascension proclaiming the glory of God. As on the Cathedral of St. Dmitri in Vladi­mir, the east zakomara was decorated with Alexander the Great's ascent to Heaven, representing the apo­theosis of princely power. The theme of the Virgin on the south portal suggests that there may have been female masks on the capitals of the semi-columns, simi­lar to the frieze on the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.

Thus we can see that the Cathedral of St. George, which is now a mosaic puzzle of jumbled and damaged carving, was a true masterpiece of Vladimir architecture and sculpture embodying the historical, political and religious concept of the might and Divine election of northeast Russia under the Monomach dynasty and its right to political supremacy over all the Russian lands, which was never questioned even with the feudal dis­integration of the dynasty.

The political aims of the Vladimir princes found sym­pathy and support among progressive sections of the townspeople and men-at-arms. This explains why the ideas embodied in the cathedral's decoration extend beyond ecclesiastical and dynastic ideology. Not only the Vladimir dynasty was under Divine protection, but also those sections of freemen from various tribes who gave the prince armed support in his ventures and on whom the power of princes depended to a large extent. The sculpted heads of warriors on the capitals and the series of heads and half-length figures in the small, ogee-shaped and circular arches at the top of the dome drum represent the victorious warriors of Svyatoslav's armed retinue. The idea that the world was not built by saints, martyrs and earthly rulers alone was given concrete

form by the Vladimir sculptors. The range of Divine patronage had been extended to include the lesser ranks of the nobility to which the author of the Petition of Damilthe Prisoner belonged. This masterpiece of early thirteenth-century Vladimir literature exalts the concept of princely power supported by loyal warriors and citizens and is similar in many respects to the ideas embodied in the sculpture of the Cathedral of bt. George.

Unlike the decoration of the Cathedral of St Dmitri the sculptures of the Cathedral of St. George show a much greater interest in man, with the result that the animals and monsters which we saw swarming over the walls of Vsevolod Ill's royal cathedral are relegated to the background here. There is still a lot of them and they are executed in the same high relief as the saints. In this respect they have equal standing. Their symbol­ism is now secular as well as religious. It is interesting that the decoration contains no scenes of animals in com­bat and that the animals frequently discard their mon­strous, abstract character and turn into the familiar crea­tures of Russian fairy-tales. The figures of lions repre­sented both the immortality of Christ and the emblem of royal power, but the recumbent lions guarding the west entrance doze peacefully in the shade of their own tails which have turned into a strange tree. The centaurs on the north wall of the west narthex probably reminded people of the supernatural wise being who helped Solomon with his magnificent building. This as­pect would, no doubt, have appealed to the pride of Svyatoslav and the builders of the cathedral. But at the same time one centaur is shown wearing a Russian caf­tan and cap holding a mace and hare like a royal hunts­man, while another also wearing a caftan in a medallion on the right pilaster strip of the south narthex is hold­ing a small axe and looks like one of the prince's body­guard. The figures of griffins, obviously carved with great love and endowed with refined, proud beauty, appear as kindly creatures very different from the predatory monsters found in Romanesque carving. The cathedral's decorators were particularly fond of the siren motif. These proud figures, half-bird and half-maiden, were collected together by Yermolin and placed on the south wall. In Russian religious symbolism the siren re­presented the righteous. It is possible that the winged Deva Obida in the Lay oi Igor's Host may be related in some way to the siren. However, the sirens on the Ca­thedral of St. George are much closer to the familiar female birds in Russian folk tales like the Queen Bird (Tsar ptitsa) who stand for the element of joy in life. Thus the animal world of mediaeval plastic art was transformed by the introduction of features from folk art. The same process is particularly evident in the pat­terned background to the reliefs.

As we have mentioned earlier, the large religious com­positions stood out against a patterned foliate carpet similar to the repousse frame used to cover icons. The arabesques twisted in and out between the figures of saints weaving a wonderful tapestry of plants and trees. We see here the development of a feature which we ob­served in its earlier stages in the twelfth-century paint­ings on the choir-gallery in the church at Kideksha and the thirteenth-century frescoes in Suzdal cathedral, where brightly coloured patterns formed the basis of the decoration with the figures of saints incorporated into it. It is possible that the foliate decoration on the Ca thedral of St. George was sketched by Suzdal artists. The large religious compositions take place, as it were, in a magical garden. They are enveloped by the intricate arabesques of plants and trees. This fairy-tale thicket is inhabited by kindly animals, birds and monsters, who stand before the miracles depicted on the zakomaras as if they were witnessing or taking part in them, and keep guard over the windows and entrances into the cathed­ral. The practice of combining high relief carving with fine foliate ornamentation was an old one belonging to early East European applied art, including that of Sla­vonic pagan times. It can be seen in Russian jewellery of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, such as the sumptuous medallions of the Ryazan treasure trove where precious gems are mounted against a background of fine filigree gold (skan). What is new in the decora­tion of the Cathedral of St. George is the daring intro­duction of this type of ornament on a Christian church. The luxuriant foliate decoration on the cathedral linked all its sculpture with nature and the earth. The trees are firmly implanted at the bottom of the wall by the socle with beautiful birds sitting on either side of their tri­angular roots. The cathedral is decorated, as it were, in three tiers: the lower one represents the Earth, the middle one from the band of blind arcading to the zakomaras symbolises the Church, and the upper tier from the compositions in the zakomaras to the dome stands for Heaven. It was probably the masters them­selves who turned the patterned carpet from a neutra background into one which reflected a traditional, semi pagan outlook on life in which the eternal Tree of Life the symbol of the great goddess. Mother Earth, can stil be found.

Thus we see that the cathedral's decoration contain pronounced features from traditional Russian folk art as well as giving expression to religious and politica concepts. These features are most evident in the anima carvings and the magical carpet of exuberant pattern which almost eclipses the religious and political concept underlying the decoration. All this, together with th changes introduced into the architecture of the building particularly its bright interior without the usual choir gallery, is a clear expression of popular taste, the tast of the townspeople who had begun to play an increas ingly important role in Russian life of the thirteenth cen tury.

The question of who actually decorated the cathedra is one which we find treated in early chronicles. On chronicler concluded from the inscription under the Cru cifixion  saying  the   Cross   had  been  laid  by  Svyato slav that the prince himself was the craftsman respon sible for the whole of the cathedral's decoration. Natu­rally this is out of the question. It is likely, however, that   Svyatoslav   played   a   considerable   part   in   the overall planning of the cathedral. He was a well-travelled person who had been to Novgorod, fought in the Baltic lands, ruled in Pereslavl in southern Russia, and led a campaign against the Volga Bulgars. Another chronicler who was familiar with the legend about white stone being brought to Vladimir from the land of the Bulgars thought that the cathedral was the work of a Bulgar craftsman.

The information which we now possess about the Vla-dimir-Suzdalian school of architecture, of which the Ca­thedral of St. George was the last great creation, enables us to give a firm answer to the question. It was the work of craftsmen whose art was so organically linked with twelfth-century traditions and so closely bound up with the whole of Russian culture in the pre-Mongol period that they must have been Russian masters for the most part, mainly from the Vladimir-Suzdalian school. They still had various models at their disposal, such as speci­mens of applied art and miniatures of both Russian and foreign origin. But the cathedral's elaborate carving did not depend on these for its richness and unity. The secret of its artistic perfection lies in the skill of the crafts­men who had absorbed and developed earlier traditions. A study of the cathedral's decoration has shown that two teams of craftsmen worked on it. One, consisting of twelve masters, produced the high reliefs and the other of between eighteen to twenty-four worked on the low relief patterning. In spite of the unity of the whole one can still detect the individual styles of the different craftsmen. A study of the high relief figures has shown them to be the work of eleven masters. The chief among them, Bakun, considered that he was entitled to leave his signature on the north narthex.

The Cathedral of St. George was the last magnificent building produced by the Vladimir-Suzdalian school. A mere four years after it had been decorated Russia was overrun by the Mongols.

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