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“Great Manor.” The church survived untii 1936, when it was pulled down (Karger, 1958-1961, vol. 2, p. 456, 460). It lay within the stronghold from Vladimir’s times, and, furthermore, over Borychevo. According to the chronicie, in 988 Vladimir ordered to draw the statuę of Perun “from the tnountain through Borychevo.” The Information about the building of the church in 1183 suggests that it replaced an earlier tempie, mentioned in Primary Chronicie in connection with the Christianization of Kiev. Al-though B.A. Rybakov (1987, p. 426-427) regards the fragment about St Vasiliy’s church from 988 as an interpolation, the chronicie seems reliable at this point. Vladimir was baptized Basil, i.e. Vasiliy, (SSS, vol. 6, p. 532), therefore the erection of a church under such an invocation in the place of the sanctuary of Perun, the former “patron” of the prince and his country, seems very probable. In the Kiev tradition the Vasilevsko-Trekhsvyatitel-skaya church was always regarded as built in Vladimir’s times (Karger, 1958-1961, vol. 2, p. 454). Thus, the traces of Perun’s shrine might have been removed during the construction of the church.

Fig. 54. Kiev. The mysterious object discovered in 1975 at 3 Vladimerskaya Street, an alleged pagan sanctuary. Aft er B.A. Rybakoy, 1987, p. 431 (following Tolochko).

Some Ukrainian archaeologists have recently tried to identify as Vladimir’s sanctuary a mysterious object discovered in 1975 at Vladimer-skaya Street at another point of the Kiev Mountain, which is not entirely convincing. Their hypothesis is contradicted not only by the written sources and tradition, but also by the excavation results themselves, as the supposed sanctuary was allegedly constructed of bricks, taken from a destroyed church from the times of St Olga. The existence of a brick building in the mid-lOth century Kiev is neither confirmed by any sources, nor highly probable (Tolochko, 1981, p. 16-21; 1983, p. 40-42; Rybakov, 1987, p. 412—454). The bricks might have come from a nearby building from the 12th-13thc. (Tolochko, 1981, p. 21). The only Orthodox church in Ruthenia mentioned before 988 is St Eiijah (Primary Chronicie, year 945), although we know that Olga had a Christian priest at her court (Primary Chronicie, year 969). Thus, there is a possibility that the princess had also a chapel, although the only mention about it is contained in the so-called Yoakimovskaya letopis from the 18th c., whose reliability is over-rated by B.A. Rybakov (1987, p. 391-396). More-over, the remains of an alleged pagan shrine do not bear any resemblance to other Slavonic cult places.

Fig. 55. Kiev. An alleged kapishche, discovered in 1908 by V.V. Khvoyka. From M.K. Karger, 1957, p. 51 (after Khvoyka’a drawing published by Bolsunovsky). No better documentation of the excavations bas been published.

Another construction supposed - this time perhaps on a stronger basis - to have been a cult object was discovered in Kiev in 1908 by V.V. Khvoyka (1913, p. 66). Inside the pre-Vladimirian stronghold dated to the 8th-10thc., called “Kiy’s stronghold,” situated at the Kiev Mountain (Hensel, 1987, p. 426), under a thick culture layer, he found an elliptical contour with the radii measuring 4.2 and 3.5 metres, shaped of raw cobblestones, with four projections orientated to the four geographical directions. As the interpretation of the excavations - which were not properly documented - was ąuestioned (Palm, 1937, p. 143-144), in 1937 verification research was carried out. It was revealed that the eilipsis was not as regular as Khvoyka’s idealized drawing (Bolsunovsky, 1909, p. 5-42 and fig. 1), closer to a reconstruction than to documentation, suggested. The arrangement of stones resembled rather a rectangle with curved comers, but the existence of orientated projections was confirmed. Other finds included a layer of clay overlapping with the position of stones, a fire-place near the western projection and a huge clod of scorched clay situated one metre far from the object, formerly noticed also by Khvoyko, who found fragments of pottery and animal bones around it. Unfortunate-ly, the verification research has not resulted in publishing any plan of the object, either (Karger, 1957, p. 45-52; 1958-1961, vol. 1, p. 105-112; Rybakov, 1987, p. 124-126). It might have been a sacrificial altar. If so, it could be interpreted as a zhertvennik of the prince’s manor, which probably stood inside the old “Kiy’s stronghold” before Vladimir’s times. The sacrificial place might have been connected with the cult hall about which we have hypothesized above.

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