Zbruch idol

The Zbruch Idol (Polish: Światowid ze Zbrucza; unearthed in Poland, Ukrainian: Збручанський ідол, Russian: Збручский идол) is a 9th-century sculpture, more precisely an example of a bałwan, and one of the few monuments of pre-Christian Slavic beliefs. The pillar is commonly associated with the Slavic deity Swiatowid, although opinions on the exact meaning of all the bas-reliefs and their symbols differ. It is thought that the three tiers of bas-relief represent the three levels of the world, from the bottom underworld, to the middle mortal world and the uppermost, largest, world of heavenly gods.

It is suggested that the sculpture was disposed of or was buried in a pit some time after the baptism of Kievan Rus, and acceptance of Christianity in Poland in 966, like various buried idols in Kiev and Novgorod. In the 19th century, when the Zbruch River (a tributary of the Dniester) changed its bed, the area where the pillar was buried became submerged. It was discovered during a drought near the village called Liczkowce part of Poland, now Lychkivtsi (Личківці), Ukraine, just north of Husiatyn, in 1848. The statue is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Kraków in Kraków, Poland, with exact copies located in a number of museums, including the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

The Zbruch Idol is a four-sided pillar of grey limestone, 2.67 m (8.8 ft) in height, and has three tiers of reliefs engraved upon each of the four sides. The lower tier is 67 cm (26 in); the middle tier is 40 cm (16 in); and the top tier is 167 cm (66 in). It is possible that during the 1848 excavation of the monument its lower layer was broken off and lost. The reliefs are in rather poor condition, though some traces of original polychrome were found in the 1960s. The reliefs depict the following characters:

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