Architecture of Kievan Rus'

The great churches of Kievan Rus', built after the adoption of Christianity in 988, were the first examples of monumental architecture in the East Slavic lands.

Major cathedrals often featured scores of small domes, which led some art historians to take this as an indication of what the pagan Slavic temples should have looked like.

Another great example of an early church of Kievan Rus' was the thirteen-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (1037–54), built by Yaroslav the Wise.

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (1045–1050),[citation needed] on the other hand, expressed a new style that exerted a strong influence on Russian church architecture.

Its austere thick walls, small narrow windows, and helmeted cupolas have much in common with the Romanesque architecture of Western Europe.

By the end of the 12th century, the divide of the country was final and new centers of power took the Kievan style and adopted it to their traditions.

The white stone masonry of Galician school of architecture was likely the inspiration of the development of a similar style in Vladimir-Suzdal.