Sobor Svi︠a︡toĭ Sofiĭ v Kyi︠e︡vi =

This monograph presents the results of fifty years of restoration and study. Illustrated as beautifully as an album, the book also makes a scholarly contribution, publishing new and significant conclusions concerning the history of the cathedral{u2019}s construction and the creation of the mosaics and frescoes. The author has revised the year of St. Sophia{u2019}s foundation and inferred how many fresco painters and mosaic craftsmen were at work on different parts of the cathedral at different times. Built in the early eleventh century, the cathedral took its form from Byzantine prototypes, but the scale exceeds Byzantine models. Byzantine practice shaped the use of mosaics and frescoes in the interior, specifying, for example, the hierarchy of images and the prominence of mosaics: what is unique in the Kyiv church is the scale: Greek masters working with local craftsmen covered many hundreds of square meters with a superb array of frescoes and mosaics (e.g., there were originally 640 square meters of mosaics). It is remarkable that so many of the frescoes and mosaics have survived (approximately one-third) after almost 1,000 years, and the toll of the twentieth century. Nicely photographed and printed in large format, the illustrations make available for study a unique work of medieval art and architecture, which represents the height of the Byzantine achievement and the first attainments of Rus{u2019}. -- Summary written by John W. Emerich, Bronze Horseman Literary Agency.