Городище літописного міста Вишгород (ХІ – ХІІІ ст.)

The hometown of the chronicle city Vyshhorod (11-13th centuries)
The territory of Vyshgorodsky settlement is the northern edge of the Kiev Plateau, which is part of the Dnieper Highland.
The wooded hill on which the city arose, cut by numerous gullies and ravines. Thus, two broad wings restrict the settlement from the north and south.
From the side of the Dnieper, the height of the Vyshgorod hills is about 80 m. Today the settlement is about 7.5 hectares, and Roondabout town is still under 4 hectares.
One can be sure that the area of the settlement was initially larger: in the 1930's, the entire eastern edge of the plateau formed spurs that arose as a result of erosion and landslides.
The oldest archaeological materials date back to the middle of the 10th century. - a time when Vyshgorod was already known even outside of Rus (mentioned in the writings of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Bagrjanorodny). The main architectural dominant of the settlement in the 12-13th centuries. was the Borisohlibska church, built on the site of a number of earlier wooden temples.
Here, near the temple, in the early 19th century there was a well that could function at this place in the Old Russian time (it was the only source of water during the siege for the inhabitants of Vyshgorod). Although the remains of fences or streets were also not recorded, it can be assumed that the construction of the settlement consisted of separate estates. The territory most saturated with buildings adjoins the church fence. Instead, on the territory of the church estate itself, that is, directly in the radius of 10-15 m around the foundations of the ancient church of the remains of buildings almost never happened: probably in the 12-13th centuries there was a square near the church.
In 1996, the remains of a wooden fence were erected in a church courtyard with a 2 m wide gates. At 16 m on the fence of the Church of St. Boris and Hlib on the edge of modern slopes, four stoves of the 12th - first half of the 13th century were found. The stoves were large in size, located on one axis (three of them - close to each other) and the jaws were turned towards the Dnieper. Along with them a working platform of burnt clay was found. There is every reason to believe that all these furnaces did not have any craft appointment and were used for cooking.
In the northern part of the site, a few meters from the described furnaces, a number of economic holes, sometimes - clad with clay, associated with this furnaces, was situated. On the scale of the Vyshgorod settlement, this economic complex occupied a fairly large area. It could belong to some kind of wealthy court, such as described in "Reading about Boris and Hlib", whose needs it serviced. The largest and most southern plateau of the settlement is the so-called Olzhina mountain (Mountain of Olga). This area is almost surrounded by ravines on almost all sides and is connected only to the west with the main peak of the hill by a narrow isthmus. The settlement of Olzhina Gora, apparently, was already in the 11th century. According to Volodymyr Zotsenko, the face of the Old Russian Vyshhorod finally formed in the middle of the 11th century. and radically did not change until its death in the result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of 1240.
Throughout the entire 10th century.(during the time of Princess Olga and Prince Volodymir), only the upper part of the settlement was inhabited, at which later the stone church of St. Boris and Hlib was built.
At this time, the settlement is a monument of archeology of national importance. Security number 100007-N, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 09.09.2009, No. 928.


Dmytro Bibikov,
Head of the Department of Archeology of the Vyshgorod Historical and Cultural Reserve
Alla Plotnikova,
Head of the Department of the Protection of Monuments of the Vyshgorod Historical and Cultural Reserve