МАЭ № 6080-25

Yaroslav the Wise

1939

plaster

Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise (year of birth unknown; died in 1054), was the Great Kievan Prince, son of Russia’s Baptist Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Rogneda, the Princess of Polotsk. During his reign, Russkaya Pravda (Russian Legal Code) was compiled – the first Russian collection of punitive laws. In 1939, in the Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, a special commission opened up a marble tomb ascribed to Yaroslav. The male skeleton found there was that of a man no younger then seventy, who had suffered from a bad limp. This enabled the specialists to identify the remains since, according to the chronicles, Yaroslav was indeed affected with lameness. Because the Prince belonged to the Rurik dynasty, whose male founders were Norse whereas their wives and concubines might be Russian, the appearance of Yaroslav, whether showing predominantly Slavonic or Norse features, was a topic of debate. In Gerasimov’s words, certain cranial traits “might indicate Norse admixture. Still, the general physical type is undoubtedly that of a native, not of an immigrant from the north”. Yaroslav’s headgear and clothing were reproduced after 12th-century frescoes and archaeological finds.

Anthropological plastic reconstructions, lifetime masks. 19th - 20th centuries