ИСТИНА

The St. George cathedral of Yuriev Monastery– one of the largest churches in Great Novgorod – was built at the beginning of the XII century by Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich. Now the Yuriev Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During the archaeological excavations in 2013-2021 carried out by the Department of Archaeology-and-Architecture of the Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), samples of limestone mortars of the different building periods were taken. The 17 samples of the lime mortars were investigated in this study. The analyses of the samples were carried out by using optical microscopy, petrography and SEM-EDS to determine the various compositions of mortars in the different constructions and the development of building techniques. The research was carried out within the state assignment of Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (theme «Pre-Mongol frescoes in Novgorod: archaeological context and scientific research: The frescoes of St. George’s Cathedral, Yuriev monastery from the 2013/2020 excavations»), agreement № 075-15-2021-576