Kurzfassung

This paper summarises for the first time in English over 200 years of Russian research on the 12th century bronze doors in the Western portal of St. Sophia cathedral in Novgorod (Russia) in order to create a more solid base for further international research on these doors. As researchers often copied the work of their predecessors, we will focus in particular on new results obtained by Russian research since the 19th century and how these influenced, or were influenced by, central European work on the bronze doors. We will also consider the confusion created by previous research referring to the doors – and the other medieval bronze doors in the same cathedral – as Korsunian, Sartunian or Sigtunian doors. Today there is no doubt that the production of the bronze doors in Magdeburg 1152–1154 is associated with the masters Riquin and Weissmuth. However, it remains unclear how the doors travelled from Płock, Poland, for which they were probably made, to Novgorod in the mid-15th century at the latest, when they underwent restoration work by the Russian master Avram.