Чаша на света Ядвига от средновековния Новогрудок
The Saint Hedwig Beaker from Medieval Novogrudok

Summary/Abstract: : One of the most impressive finds in Novogrudok, Belarus, is theSaint Hedwig beaker, found in 1960 in building № 10 on the Small Castle, whichis reliably (stratigraphically and by finds) dated to the second half of the 12thcentury. This is a beaker made of thick glass; wheel-engraving and cuttingtechniques were used in its ornamentation. On the walls of the beaker are imagesof a lion, a griffin, a stylized tree of life and two half-palmettes are carved.St. Hedwig beakers were very expensive objects that were made to order and usedfor diplomatic gifts, at coronations, and served as tabernacles or reliquaries. Atthe moment, 25 such beakers are known, 14 complete and 11 in fragments. Mostof them come from the territory that was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and fromPoland. Outside these territories, only 2 finds were found, one of which is fromNovogrudok.According to the new hypothesis of T.S. Bubenko and A.A. Metelskii, thearea on the Small Castle where this St. Hedwig beaker was discovered, was not arich quarter of a town – as F.D. Gurevich believed – but a citadel where the princelived. This hypothesis allows us to reinterpret the unique collection of Byzantineand Oriental glass, which includes the St. Hedwig beaker, and other importeditems, not as the property of wealthy goldsmiths (according to F.D. Gurevich), butas princely treasures. Thus, the St. Hedwig beaker from Novogrudok fits into anumber of beakers discovered during excavations of European palaces, castlesand citadels, and once again confirms their interpretation as unique preciousvessels that only rulers and aristocratic families possessed.

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