The Church of Boris and Gleb is a church built in 1152, on the orders of Prince

Yuri Dolgoruky Yuri I Vladimirovich ( rus, Юрий Владимирович, Yuriy Vladimirovich), commonly known as Yuri Dolgorukiy or the Long Arm ( rus, Юрий Долгорукий, Yuriy Dolgorukiy, meaning "Far-Reaching", c. 109915 May 1157) was a Rur ...

, in

Kideksha Kideksha (russian: Кидекша) is a village ('' selo'') in Seletskoye Rural Settlement, Suzdalsky District of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kamenka and Nerl Rivers, east of Suzdal. The settlement was founded b ...

on the Nerl River, "where the encampment of Saint Boris had been". It was probably part of the princely (wooden) palace complex, but was only used by Dolgorukii for a few years before he left to become

Grand Prince of Kiev The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes grand duke) was the title of the ruler of Kiev and the ruler of Kievan Rus' from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the grand prince of Vladimir and ...

in 1155. The village, four kilometers east of Suzdal, was an important town before it was destroyed by the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

and declined in stature. The church, built in limestone probably by architects from Galicia, is a four-piered, three-apse church. It is one of the oldest in the district and one of the few churches built by Dolgorukii that is still extant. It retains fragments of frescoes dating back to the twelfth century. In the medieval period it was the site of a monastery and was then a parish church. The building has been significantly altered over the centuries. It lost its original vaulting and dome (the current roof and small dome date to the seventeenth century) and the apses are thought to be half their original height (their tops too were lost with the roof); a porch was added in the nineteenth century. The church is a part of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal The White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal in Russia have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The patrimony embraces eight medieval limestone monuments of Zalesye from the late 12th and early 13th centuries. They include Russian Ortho ...

" along with the seven other medieval monuments located in

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

and its surroundings (The Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Preserve), and belongs to the monuments of the

Golden Ring of Russia The Golden Ring of Russia (russian: Золото́е кольцо́ Росси́и ) unites old Russian cities of five Oblasts – usually excluding Moscow – as a well-known theme-route. The grouping is centred northeast of t ...

. The church, along with other structures built around it in later centuries - namely the St. Stephen's Church and bell-tower) appears on a three-ruble silver commemorative coin struck by the St. Petersburg Mint in 2002.See the Bank of Russia website:

References

# {{cite web, url=http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/may/2nd.cfm, title=May 2nd (V - 15), author=, work=St Luke Orthodox Church, saints by day, accessdate=2005-11-19 Boris Churches completed in 1152 12th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings 12th-century churches in Russia White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Vladimir Oblast