The Study of the Early Byzantine Architecture of Chersonesos in the Сrimea: Progress or Dead End?

The Early Christian basilicas of Chersonesos in the Crimea have been studied for over a century and a half. There are about 20 monuments known today; almost all of them were discovered in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Despite this, they remain poorly studied. Anatolij L. Yakobson’s book “Early Medieval Chersonesos” (1959) remains the only generalizing work in which the architecture, the mosaic and marble décor of the churches are examined together and in the context of the history of the city. This outcome is due largely to the way in which Chersonesos has been studied. During the last decades of the 19^th century and the first decades of the 20^th century, the main role was played by the St Petersburg Archaeological Commission. Unfortunately, it never succeeded in assigning professional archaeologists and architects to the works in Chersonesos. Because of this, we don’t have exact information regarding the current location of many of the finds; also absent is a precise documentation (plans, sections, elevations, details) for the greater part of the architectural monuments of Chersonesos. It reveals that in the post-Soviet era, the “item-centric” approach has prevailed: the fragments of ceramics and the coins were analyzed rather than the architecture. The meaning of the large collection of marble works from Proconnesos’ workshops is completely denied for the dating of the monuments.