Folia archeologica 22.

Zsuzsa S. Lovag: Byzantine Type Reliquary Pectoral Crosses in the Hungarian National Museum

RELIQUARY PECTORAL CROSSES 163 Rybakov attributes all these crosses to one master and connects their manufacture with theMongolian raid in 1239-1240. Between 1237 and 1238 the North-Eastern parts of Russia were devastated by the Mongols who consequently destroyed Preslav and Chernigov as well. In 1239 they already menaced Kiev from the opposite bank of the Dniepr but the actual siege took place as late as the end of the year 1240. Rybakov presumes that the rather unusual inscription (Sviataia Bogoroditse pomagai = Holy Mother of God, help us !) was put on the crosses because of the menace of the Mongol invasion. Several hundred crosses, cast in the same mould, were carried by the inhabitants of Kiev escaping from the Mongols or having been captured by them, to Bessarabia, the Northern Caucasus, to the abodes of the Mongols and to Western Europe. This type of crosses is generally found in Southern Russian towns, in the devastation layer caused by the raid of Batu.

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9 The fact that on every cross of this type a word of the inscription, and a very important one, the name of the Theotokos, is misspelt, is a proof for their common mould and a short period of manufacturing. This is in accord with the hypothesis of Rybakov and on this basis the two crosses of the National Museum may also be safely attributed to the first half of the thirteenth century, to the time of the devastation of Kiev. Reliquary pendant cross (Fig. 7. nos. ia-b), Russia. (Inv. no. 1942. 5.) In the form of a Latin cross rounded at the ends of the arms, with a small protuberance on each side before these rounded terminals. On the obverse the figure of Christ in relief, clad in a loin cloth, is filling almost the whole surface. Over his head the engraved letters : X С С On the reverse a cross of narrow arms, inlaid with silver, in the corners of the arms there are four pear-shaped knobs. H. : 4,6 cm; W. : 2,5 cm. It was found in Russia, in the ruins of a museum, and acquired by the Hungarian NationalMuseum by means of purchase. A cross very closely related to this is known from the Crimea, where it was unearthed at a site dated to the end of the twelfth century.

50 A cross almost identical to this as for its form, measures and the details of the design, with the figure of the Virgin on the reverse, dated also to the twelfth century, was in the Khanenko Collection.

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1 Russian crosses inlaid with silver and tin are generally attributed to the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

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2 On the basis of the silver inlay on the reverse and of the analogies in form we may assign our cross to the twelfth century. 4

9 A similar cross was found at Kiev, in the tunnel of the Mikhailovskii Monastery-the inhabitants of Kiev tried to escape through this tunnel in 1240. - Rybakov, B. A., Remeslo . . . 455, 527.; Id., Russkiie ... 39. 5

0 Iakobson, A. L., op. cit. 69., Fig. 27. no. 2. 5

4 Khanenko, В. I. and V. N., op. cit. 8., Pl. I. nos. 21-22. 5

2 Korzi/kbina, G. F., О pamiatnikah.

.. 135.; Zalesskaia, V. N., Tchasty bronzovogo krestaskladnia iz Khersonesa. Vizantiiskii Vremennik 25 (1964) 167.; Khanenko, B. I. and V. N., op. cit. 8., Pl. I. nos. 26-29., I5-> Pl- V. no. 64. 11 Folia Archaeologica 1971