Zbruch Idol

The Zbruch Idol, Sviatovid (Worldseer, Światowid ze Zbrucza, Збручанський ідол) is a 9th-century sculpture, more precisely an example of a bałwan, and one of the few monuments of pre-Christian Slavic beliefs (according to another interpretation, it was created by the Kipchaks/Cumans). The pillar was commonly incorrectly associated with the Slavic deity Sviatovid, although current 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 Kyivan Rus, and acceptance of Christianity in Poland in 966, like various buried idols in Kyiv and Novgorod. In the 19th century, when the Zbruch River (a left 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 of Lychkivtsi, just north of Husiatyn, in 1848. The statue is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Kraków in Poland, with exact copies located in a number of museums. The Zbruch Idol is a four-sided pillar of grey limestone, in height, and has three tiers of reliefs engraved upon each of the four sides. The lower tier is ; the middle tier is ; and the top tier is . 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: Three sides of the lowest tier show a kneeling, bearded entity who appears to support the upper tier on his hands; the fourth side is blank. The middle tier shows a smaller entity with extended arms on all four sides. Only one of four sides has an entity with a tiny "child" figure.