TRADE CONTACTS BETWEEN GALICIA-VOLHYNIA RUS AND CZECHIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS OF THE ХІ-ХІІІ CENTURIES

Abstract

Numerous articles of decorative and applied arts from the territory of the Galicia-Volhynia state testify to the significant role of Western cultural influences on the artistic processes of Western Rus. Trade between Ruthenians and Western European countries boomed in the late ХІ–ХІІ centuries. During this time period, metal, bone and stone artwork of religious and secular nature were supplied to Rus. The thoroughfare connecting the south of Rus with Romanesque European countries ran from Kiev through Volhynia and the Carpathian Mountains to Krakow and Prague and from there to Western European countries.

Czech-Ruthenian economic relations were only one of the components of the overall developing international trade in Ancient Rus, they belonged to a complex system of cultural and economic relations with Poland, Hungary, Bavaria (Regensburg). Scientific research based on archaeological remains from Ukrainian and Czech territories made it possible to figure out the large scale of cross-border trade relations, determine categories of goods and distinguish the artistic component of the Ruthenian-Czech trade, represented by articles of decorative and applied art.