The dating of the Holy Gates of the Yaroslavl Spassky Monastery

Abstract

The article analyzes the sources of the generally accepted dating of the Holy Gates of the Yaroslavl Spassky Monastery in 1516, starting from publications in the middle of the XIX century. It was based on fragments of the chronicle about the structure of painting in the arches of the gate in 1632/33, haphazardly supplemented with later updates with texts from commemorative inscriptions of the XVI century, which were in the Spassky Cathedral. Reliable written sources say nothing about the construction of either a fence or a stone Holy Gate in 1516. When considering indirect evidence from the beginning of the XVII century, the authors came to the conclusion that this complex architectural structure, combining the functions of a watchtower and the main entrance to the monastery with a gate church, dates back to 1620–1621 – the time of reconstruction of the southern line of the monastery fence. This conclusion is also confirmed by the study of the decoration of the facades of the Holy Gates, which is close to the architectural solutions of the church monuments of Yaroslavl in the 1610s–20s. In addition, the authors reconstruct the chronology of the construction of the fence of the Spassky Monastery and offer an excursion into the history of the appearance, existence and transformation of stone monastery fences in the XVI–XVII centuries.