ABSTRACT

The stairs in the towers were built in a spiral around a central round post. Even when excavations revealed no sign of any such post, that the space was designed for stairs could still be determined from the fact that the foundations normally covered the whole site under the stair tower and not only under the walls. Such a solid foundation platform was found under the tower of St Sophia, Polotsk, as well as in the north-western corner of the Church of Sts Boris and Gleb at Vyshgorod and in the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Pereiaslavl'. Sometimes the stairs were for ceremonial purposes. A study of the northern tower of St Sophia, Kiev, has shown that the steps were made of red-slate slabs and the risers were covered with mosaic ornament. The walls of the staircase are decorated with frescoes.