Синтрон Софийского собора в Новгороде (по материалам исследований В. В. Суслова)

The article concerns the problems of interpretation of the construction of the synthronon of St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. The draft records and photographs of the excavations made in the late 19th century, currently housed in the Museum of Academy of Arts, have been subjected to analysis. It is argued that the description resulting from the research conducted by Grigory Shtender in the1960s should be corrected in several points. The earlier synthronon, dated presumably to the1100s, had the internal quarter vault and three steps, plastered and painted to imitate marble. In the course of the repair, dated presumably to 1151, the decoration of the stone slabs inlaid with mosaic smalt was completed; in the central part, all three steps were widened and heightened, and at the western ends only the upper steps were altered. However, the precise dating of the construction and subsequent repair of the synthronon remain questionable because of the lack of any traces of the original 11th-century synthronon and due to the new discoveries of the mosaic smalt in Novgorod. The research was funded by Russian Science Foundation, grant № 24-18-00228, https://rscf.ru/project/24-18-00228