Burial Structures at Ryska Kyrkan (Visby, Gotland): Clarification of Attribution

The paper deals with the chronology and cultural definition of two funerary objects found during the excavations of the “Russian Church” (Ryska kyrkan) in Visby (Gotland, Sweden). A comparative analysis of one of them, close to the Liljestenar tradition, shows that its own date lies within the 12th–14th centuries, and its artistic features are characteristic rather of Western Europe, primarily England, of the late Middle Ages. This is not a standard tombstone of this type, but a complex composition, including the image of large and succulent leaves, not similar to the schematic ornaments of Västergötland. The second object, a stone lining in the shape of a human body with a niche for the head, has so far been associated with the Russian (namely Novgorodian) tradition (O.M. Ionnisyan and others). But in this case it should be dated no earlier than the end of the 14th century, as only from that time anthropomorphic coffins came into use in Russia, and exclusively in the Moscow Principality. The lining from Visby obviously belongs to the western branch of the tradition of anthropomorphic stone receptacles for the human body: such cuttings are known in Europe from the 10th–11th centuries, they appear as a stone linings during the Crusades in the 12th century, and as whole sarcophagi – later, in the 13th century. They are well known in Scandinavia as well. As a result, the identification of the funerary object from Visby changes: this model is not brought here from Russia, there are simply no such products in Novgorod. As for the whole sarcophagi made of limestone, they will begin to appear in Russia not earlier than the end of the 14th century. Thus, during the excavations of Ryska kyrkan nothing of Russian origin was found. The new interpretation of the funeral complex in Visby also makes a change in the history of the burial structures of Russia. It allows to bring to the discussion of the problem of the appearance of white stone sarcophagi of Moscow a group of stone linings with a niche for the head, common in Northern Europe.