Scientific results:
The main purpose of the research is to study frescoes of the 12th century of The St. George's Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod, which were extracted from the archaeological layers inside and outside the cathedral, as well as which were preserved in situ on the lower parts of the walls after excavations in the interior of the temple. A wide range of wall paintings from the 12th century are used as analogies to these fragments.
To obtain an extensive fund of natural science data on the composition of the painting plaster and pigments and including these data in the context of history, art history, architecture and the history of material culture.
The results obtained are concentrated in the field of studying and preserving the architectural and archaeological heritage of Russia.
- The methodology of natural science study of the wall paintings and building materials of medieval Novgorod has been developed and implemented;
- the data on the elemental composition of the colorful pigments, plaster and the technology of applying preparatory and colorful layers of fresco paintings of The St. George's Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery were obtained;
- received similar data on the fresco paintings synchronous on the chronology of monuments of Ancient Russia;
- the data on the archaeological context of The St. George's Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery based on natural scientific research were obtained;
- the systematization, cataloging and digitization of the collection of archaeological frescoes stored in two workshops of the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve and in The Yuriev Monastery has been carried out;
- an art historical analysis of the wall painting was carried out, substantiating the version of the origin and team members of the artel of the masters who worked on the painting, and substantiating the dating of the original wall painting of the cathedral;
- historical and archival materials have been published, that fill gaps in the history of the monastery ensemble and historical and anthropological description of the necropolis of The St. George's Cathedral;
- the collection of scientific articles, including all the research not related to the fresco material, has been published;
- a catalog of the fresco paintings of The St. George's Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery has been prepared for publication.
Implementation of research results:
A virtual tour "Archaeology of The St. George's Cathedral" has been prepared on the topic of the study (with financial support from the History of the Fatherland Foundation):
https://archaeolog.ru/ru/online-museum/arkheologiya-georgievskogo-sobora-yureva-monastyrya-v-novgorode-freski-konstruktsii-pogrebeniya
Together with the studio "12 frame", a documentary film was shot about the project and the study of frescoes (45 min), which is shown on the film platform Premier:
https://www.archaeolog.ru/ru/scientific-activity/megagrants/freski-georgievskogo-sobora-yureva-monas...
https://premier.one/show/liki-drevnego-novgoroda
Organizational and infrastructural changes:
The Laboratory of Architectural Archaeology and interdisciplinary study of architectural monuments has been established;
The final international scientific conference on the research topic: "Architectural archaeology: the material world of ancient monuments" was organized and held, April 25-27, 2023, Veliky Novgorod. The conference brought together researchers from 6 countries (Russia, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Iran, Turkey), 46 reports were made;
The Laboratory staff participated in eight international conferences;
Within the project it has been purchased the expensive scientific equipment: a TESCAN VEGA scanning electron microscope, an automatic DCR spraying unit for creating carbon coatings, manufactured by Nano-Structured Coatings Company, Iran (supplier company Teskan LLC)
Education and personnel occupational retraining:
In 2022, a new part of the GAUGN field archaeology program was developed and implemented. The new section "Architectural Archaeology" consists of the following topics: "Field architectural and archaeological studies of medieval stone structures", "Archaeometry of medieval frescoes and building materials". The topics are prepared based on the materials of the ongoing project.
In 2022 and 2023, under the guidance of Dr. A. Giumlia-Mair, internships were conducted for students and postgraduates of the Laboratory of Architectural Archaeology and Interdisciplinary Study of Architectural Monuments using scientific equipment of the mobile Laboratory "AGM Archeoanalisi" in the laboratory at the University of Pavia (Italy), in the laboratories of the National Museum of Serbia and The University of Belgrade (Serbia), in the laboratory The Miskolc University (Hungary).
Within the framework of the project, two performing students defended their bachelor's degrees at The Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise at the Faculty of History:
- D.A. Ulanova. The Frescoes of The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos of the Antoniev Monastery as a historical source
- by E.A. Rumyantsev. The Frescoes of The St. Nicholas Cathedral as a historical source;
Within the project, two students-performers defended their master's degrees at the historical faculties of The Moscow State University and GAUGN:
-
Yanovskaya E.G. Building materials of Veliky Novgorod of the pre-Mongol period based on the results of excavations of The Yuriev Monastery and the church of Boris and Gleb;
- Zubavicius E.Ya. Catalog of wall letters of The St. George's Cathedral of the Yuriev Monastery: technological aspect
Cooperation:
- In cooperation with The Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia) it was conducted joint research on the technique and technology of fresco painting;
- In cooperation with the SIC "Kurchatov Institute" (Russia) it was conducted joint research on the technique and technology of fresco painting;
- In cooperation with Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve (Russia) it was conducted joint research on the technique and technology of fresco painting;
- In cooperation with The University of Pavia (Italy) it was conducted joint research on the technique and technology of fresco painting;
- In cooperation with the AGM Archeoanalisi (Italy) it was conducted joint research on the technique and technology of fresco paintings;
- In cooperation with the RSSDA Laboratory (Russia) it was co-production of 3D models;
- In cooperation with The Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise it was co-production of 3D models;
- In cooperation with the TESKAN LLC (Russia) it was held personnel training, installation and maintenance of the TESCAN VEGA Compact LMH scanning electron microscope.
