{short description of image}  
 

RUSSIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
THROUGH THE CENTURIES

 
 

Kiprian's Chronicle

 
 

Political unification of Russian lands, under the grand dukes of Moscow, facilitated the establishment of close economic connections between former independent principalities, and made possible the formation of all of Russian literature and art. Hundreds of builders, craftsmen, and artists from all parts of the country came to Moscow to participate in the construction and embellishment of the new capital. Many foreigners came too, some invited, the others on their own. Increased contacts with the western worked and the Slavic peoples considerably influenced the new all-Russian cultural trend. Their literature, which consisted largely of translations, depended in the beginning on texts received from the South Slavs. The number of Russian educated men with some knowledge of western culture kept increasing, and the people as a whole, realizing that they spoke one language, began thinking of themselves as one nation. A new Russian culture started to appear. It continued to have its roots and to draw its sources from Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal but, for the first time, it was conceived of on an all-Russian scale. The new unifying trend manifested itself even earlier, when the first Moscow Chronicle was written. It was initiated by Metropolitan Kiprian, who gathered most of the material for it. Under his direction the existing ancient chronicles and documents were compiled into a unified work which, could be considered the first written history of the entire Russian nation. It was completed in the first decade of the 15th century, already after the death of the Metropolitan. It became known also as Kiprian's Chronicle. Out of this intensive cultural activity came new literature and the Moscow School of Arts, the first to represent the entire Russian nation. All this could hardly have been possible if not for the interest and support given by the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III. He liked power and splendor, and realized that by turning Moscow from an oversized wooden Russian village into an interesting town, and the Kremlin into a magnificent fortified city, he could enhance his prestige both at home and abroad. To become an absolute ruler of a great country was his aim, and he knew the value of power to achieve its. He was severe with his own brothers and merciless with all others, particularly with the boyars. The encounter with the Tatars came soon after he became Moscow Grand Duke ...

.
 
 

GO BACK
NEXT

 

Return to Xenophon. Return to Ruscity. Return to Rushistory. Return to Ukraine.