Православные девоционалии в Вильнюсе. Местоположение, датировка и значение древнерусских энколпионов в культурных слоях города
ENOld Russian encolpions are quite rare finds, especially in city cultural layers. In archaeological material of Lithuania any find of an Old Russian encolpion presents the exclusive rarity which has deserved exclusive attention. During the archaeological excavations of Vilnius several encolpions and their fragments - mainly in the Eastern part of the present old city and on the territory of the Vilnius Nizhny Castle were found. The analysis of encolpion location has guided us to the assumption that since the 16th century orthodox masters could be engaged in construction ceramic production in Vilnius. One more version about locations of Old Russian encolpions, has appeared when we «imposed» the former roads and trade ways on the plan of Vilnius. It has turned out that all encolpions were found at the former roads, some of them existing now. 4 encolpions were found at the roads of eastern directions - to Polotsk and Vitebsk. The author succeeded in establishing two most probable periods when the encolpions could have appeared in Vilnius: they either appeared there at an early stage in 13th - 14th centuries, during the Russian End florishing, or later, in the16th century during florishing of the city itself.
