Exhibition "Traces and Signs"

About exhibition

The exhibition is based on more than thirty items from the 11th–13th centuries that were discovered during investigations of architectural monuments in a number of major centers of the pre‑Mongol period of Ancient Rus'. Plinfa is a thin fired brick that was used in construction in Ancient Rome and Byzantium. The tradition of using this material arrived in Ancient Rus' from Byzantium in the 10th century and became widely used in church construction. Many objects retain raised relief images and stamped marks. These could be either hereditary princely signs of the church patrons or production marks of the craftsmen. Archaeologists often find plinfa whose surfaces are covered with various drawings and imprints left on the wet brick in antiquity: traces of humans and animals, and impressions of grass, fabric, sand, or rain. Visiting the exhibits will allow the viewer to immerse themselves in the history of church construction and in the everyday life of the medieval city.