Balkan influences or parallels in Old Russian architecture?

Abstract

The paper discusses the hypothesis widespread in scholarly literature of the middle and second half of the 20th c., according to which Old Russian architecture was subjected to influence from the Balkans. Analyzing some conspicuous examples of similarity between Old Russian and Serbian monuments of the 12th to 15th c., the author demonstrates that it rather resulted from parallel development in closely related architectural traditions than from influence or borrowing.