A bronze altar cross of the 12th – 13th centuries was accidentally found at the ancient Rus settlement of Knyazha Gora near the village of Pekari in the Cherkasy region at the end of the 19th century. Belongs to the collection of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko. The cross is one-sided, with a relief image of the Crucifixion with the Mother of God and John the Theologian in attendance. The six-pointed cross is the main axis of the composition, the horizontal bar on top symbolizes the tablet with an inscription that appears on later crosses. The lower part of the cross has the appearance of a console in the shape of a turned letter "B". The figures of the Saints are depicted on the sides of the Crucifixion: on the left – the Mother of God extends her hands to Christ, on the right – John the Theologian presses the book to his chest. The elongated figure of the crucified Christ is depicted in a long loincloth. The legs rest on a parallelepiped-shaped pedestal, characteristic of Byzantine iconography.
Several archaeological finds similar to the cross from Knyazha Hora are known. Saints are depicted on the consoles of Western European altar crosses of the 12th-13th centuries, made in the Byzantine tradition with elements of Romanesque art, as on the console of the cross from Knyazha Gora. A famous cross with a similar compositional solution is so-called "cross of St. Trudpert" from the monastery in Münstertal (Black Forest). The cross is processional, but it could also be used as an altar cross. Presumably, the altar cross from Knyazha Gora is an import or the work of a foreign master who worked in Rus or a local imitation of imported cult objects.
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