Russian pendant crosses and icons of the 17th-19th c. in the Siberian outlook

The article raises the question of the need for a new method of processing objects of Christian piety, primarily cast from copper alloys and metal in general. They are still studied in the same ways as the rather rare hanging icons made of stone, precious metals, wood and bone. In contrast, metal cast products in Russia in the 17-19th centuries. were exceptionally numerous. This popularity itself turns them into one of the signs of the uniqueness of the culture of the Muscovy, inherited and developed by the peoples of the Russian Empire. The excessive number of metal icons and crosses presupposes their statistical processing and mapping. But these methods are difficult to apply if each product is included in the catalog as a unique item with a detailed description. It is necessary, archaeologically fixing each find and including in the review all items of museum storage, to obtain, on their basis, a complete picture of the occurrence of individual form-types of products, establish their more detailed chronology, highlight and compare iconographic subjects in different parts of the country. Siberia is especially important, since Christian small plastic art has a lower limit of appearance here, the end of the 16th century. In addition, many monuments of the Russian development of Siberia did not exist for too long, the finds on them have narrow dates. It is assumed that certain plots of iconography, such as the apocryphal scene of Saint Nikita beating the demon, persisted longer and were more widespread than in European Russia, possibly due to the large percentage of adherents of the old faith. However, until now the publications of Siberian collections do not support this hypothesis. One way or another, the place of this saint in the folk religion of Russians in Siberia may shed light on the reasons for his high popularity, on the reasons for the singling out of this particular Byzantine saint among the host of other ascetics as revered mainly by Orthodox Russians. It is likely that a broader and more systematic coverage of the material will make it possible to more clearly identify the features of Russian religious plasticity, finally securing for this gigantic community the nature of the definition of the Russian presence, the bearer of special cultural features developed in the era of the Muscovite kingdom. It promises to be on a par with such already clearly identified, but far from so widespread in space and time, features of "Moscowness" as anthropomorphic sarcophagi, special tombstones, burial vessels and stone crosses, some forms of ceramic products, tiles from the 17th century. Such work with local, ethno-confessional-colored variants of the objective world contributes to the development of "Russian archeology" in Siberia and accelerates the formation of national archeology throughout Russia.

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