Virtual tour page with view of St. George’s Cathedral of St. George’s Monastery. Photo: Courtesy of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The virtual tour “Archaeology of St. George’s Cathedral” appeared on the website of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The excursion presents a new format that combines the results of many years of scientific research, the digital reconstruction of the architecture and interiors of St. George’s Cathedral of St. George’s Monastery. The project accumulated the results of scientific research on the history, architecture of the cathedral and the technologies used in the painting of the temple.
“Data from many years of research formed the basis of the virtual tour and made it possible to build not only a colorful excursion, but also to obtain a multidimensional “portrait” of the cathedral, developing over time, from the first stages of its existence to the present,” says Marina Vdovichenko, scientific secretary of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Virtual tour: fragment of the interior of St. George’s Cathedral. Photo: Courtesy of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The tour is based on the results of archaeological excavations that have been carried out since 2013. The necropolis of the monastery has already been explored, burials have been discovered and studied both inside the cathedral, including the tomb of Saint Theoktistus of Novgorod, and outside it, on the south and north facades.
Outside the temple, on the monastery grounds, hundreds of thousands of fragments of the original fresco painting have been discovered, torn down from the walls and placed at the base of the floor during renovations begun in the 1820s. The fresco fragments recovered from the ground were transferred to the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve.
Fragments of frescoes from the St. George’s Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery. Photo: Courtesy of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
A digital model of St. George’s Cathedral was also built, including information about the lost and dismantled parts of the building and its extensions. The virtual tour is carried out in 360º format and allows you to “tour” the cathedral on all sides and explore it completely. Hot spots are used for movement, transporting spectators to different parts of the temple, including those closed to the public.
Fragment of the image of the stair tower of the St. George’s Cathedral of the St. George’s Monastery. Photo: Courtesy of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Extensive research made it possible to understand what “special effects” medieval architects used when decorating the interior of the temple. Thus, St. Petersburg geologists, after studying the original floor slabs of the cathedral, determined that the stone for them was mined from local quarries on the Sheloni River. And the floor is different from other temples: in southern Russia and in many Byzantine temples, the floors were made of glazed ceramic tiles or marble slabs. These floors reflected light, shined and were multicolored.
“The floors of St. George’s Cathedral are matte, monochromatic and this had a completely different effect: it was a monumental, calm and inert surface, which gave additional meaning to the interior of the monument,” says the corresponding member of the Russian Academy . of Sciences Vladimir Sedov.
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