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MASONRY CHURCHES OF MEDIEVAL CHERNIHIV 371ornamental compositions of the slate slabs of the parapets in Chemihiv'sCathedral of the Transfiguration, like those in St. Sophia in Kiev, 20 were inall likelihood designed by Byzantine artists, or executed by Rus' artisanswho followed Byzantine ornamental patterns. Archaeological investigationsnear the cathedral have uncovered traces of the final processing ofslate and of marble architectural details being done at the site, in the courseof the church's construction. 21It is possible that besides the imported Byzantine masons, native oneswere also involved in construction of the cathedral, and that bricks for itwere fashioned in Chernihiv by local Rus' artisans, who by that timealready knew how to produce them. For example, bricks from palace buildingsconstructed next to the cathedral in the years 1030-1060 bear marks inthe form of princely tridents and crosses. 22 They were quite likely made byChernihiv brickworkers who were dependent on the prince and bishop.Excavations in Chemihiv's Podil in 1951 revealed remnants of a brick kilnof clearly local manufacture, which archaeologists date to the second half ofthe eleventh century. Bricks from this kiln are analogous to bricks of theprincely tower (terem) built in 1050-1060 next to the Cathedral of theTransfiguration. 23 However, as was the case with all early masonrychurches in Rus', the architecture and the fresco and mosaic decoration ofChemihiv's Cathedral of the Transfiguration were the work of Byzantine,probably Constantinopolitan, artists working on orders of the Rus' princes.The Cathedral of the Transfiguration was the main church of the Chernihivprincipality and eparchy. According to written sources, many ofChemihiv's ruling elite were buried there and in the adjoining burial chapels:its founder Mstislav Volodimerovich (fl036); the princes Sviatoslav Iaroslavich(11076), Gleb Sviatoslavich (tl078), Oleg Sviatoslavich (f 1115),Igor' Ol'govich (f 1150), Volodimer Davidovich (tll51), Iaroslav Vsevolodovich(|1198), Igor' Sviatoslavich (the hero of the "Lay of Igor' 's Campaign");the Kiev metropolitan Constantine (tl 159); and the martyrs PrinceMikhail Vsevolodovich and his boyar Fedir, who were killed by theMongols at the Golden Horde. 24 The cathedral was part of the complex ofthe oldest princely palace of Chernihiv. The foundations of two masonry20V. G. Putsko, "Kievskaia skul'ptura XI veka," Byzantinoslavica 43, no. 1 (1982): 54-60.21Makarenko, "Chernihivs'kyi Spas," p. 17.22Kholostenko, "Chemigovskie kamennye kniazheskie terema XI v.," pp. 6-7, 10-11.23V. A. Bohusevych, "Arkheolohichni rozkopky v Chernihovi v 1949 ta 1951 rr.," Arkheolohichnipam"iatkyURSR (Kiev), 5 (1955): 10.24Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei (hereafter PSRL), vol. 2: Ipat'evskaia letopis', 2nd ed.(St. Petersburg, 1908), cols. 138, 190, 191, 282, 408, 707.