Tombs and Belongings of the First Russian Princes: from myths to facts and from facts to myths

The Mongol-Tatar invasion annihilated the graves of the first Russian Princes of the Rurik dynasty. All attributions of antiquities belonging to these princes were questionable. In the Modern Time, with ongoing attempts of nation building, there was a growing need for the antiquities that belonged to the first Russian Princes. Attempts were made to discover their tombs and acquire their belongings. The paper considers various attributions of these places and things existing in history and historical memory, and undertakes their verification. Evolution of myths about these antiquities is linked to the following five stages: 1) the origin of providential myths in the Middle Ages; 2) pre-modern period (the 16th-18th cc.); 3) romanticism, nationalism and nation building (the 19th-early 20th cc.); 4) development of scientific discourse in the 20th c.; 5) partial return of mythological interpretations in the early 21th c. under the influence of contemporary ideology.