Mural painting of the great temple of Zarubsky monastery

Mednikova E.Y., Yegorkov A.N.

(evidence from plaser fragments collected by M.K.Karger in 1948-49)

The Great temple of Old Russian Zarubsky monastery (now in Ukraine, south of Kiev, ruined) has been existing for a short time (end XI – beg. XII cen.) caused by a drift of the soil. For internal painting it was plastered with slaked lime containing pounded limestone and only a small amount of other ingredients insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid (the yield of remainder is 3-9%) such as powdered brick and sand. The pigments of paints are earths, cinnabar, lime white. Attempts of analytical revealing organic binder were not successful probably due to using of a low fat organic material or its deep degradation, but impasto painting, number of layers and spots of paint on the flank surface of plaster fragments suggest a tempera painting on the dried and cracked plaster.