“Naostas” as a Liturgical Marker of Religious Identity (Based on the Religious Architecture of Medieval Pskov)

This article examines the religious architecture of medieval Pskov as a material and symbolic expression of liturgical identity. The study focuses on the ecclesiastical complex situated within the Kremlin’s “church hill” and Dovmont’s Town (also known as Daumantas Town), an urban space distinguished by an unusually dense concentration of cathedral and parish churches. Combining imagological analysis with approaches derived from urban studies, the article investigates the logic underlying the placement of sacred buildings within this confined area and their role in shaping collective religious consciousness. Drawing on archaeological evidence relating to the construction and dedication of churches within the fortified centre of Pskov between the eleventh and early sixteenth centuries, the study seeks to elucidate the hierotopics of Dovmont’s Town (i.e. the logic of the exceptionally dense arrangement of konchan (end-quarter) cathedral-type and parish stone churches within the narrow space of the steep north-eastern slope of the Pskov “acropolis”). To achieve this aim, the study pursues two principal objectives: a) clarifying the archaeological data on the construction of parish churches within the fortress walls of Pskov during the pre-Ivan IV (Grozny) period (from the 11th to the early 16th centuries); b) constructing a model of a distinctive “iconostasis”, consisting not of icons but of the main altars and side chapels consecrated in honour of the Christian festivals, shrines and saints most revered by the Orthodox inhabitants of Pskov, the worship of whom formed the core of the city’s liturgical life (in accordance with the principle: “Where the House of the Holy Trinity is, there is Pskov”). As a result of the study, it was established that the Pskov churches, built according to a coherent urban design and tightly packed within the Kremlin, can be seen as a threedimensional “iconostasis” composed of altars. In this context, religious architecture functioned not merely as a setting for worship but also as a medium through which liturgical memory, civic identity, and communal religious experience found expression and acquired permanence. Conclusions: Our hypothesis, formulated in line with our developing theory of iconostasis urbanism, is that the temple complex of the Pskov “acropolis” and “agora” within the boundaries of Dovmont’s Town served not merely as yet another three-dimensional architectonic icon of the “heavenly Jerusalem”, but constituted an entire three-tiered “spatial iconostasis” with its own sacred logic (hierotopy) of altar placement, that is, the sought-after “temple-stance” (or “naostas”). The term “naostas” is introduced herein to unequivocally identify a rare phenomenon of a visually distinct ensemble of religious architecture, which explicitly represented the liturgical markers of religious identity reproduced in the paraliturgical act, enshrined in architectural form and toponymy.

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