The Saint Hedwig Beaker from Medieval Novogrudok

One of the most impressive finds in Novogrudok, Belarus, is the Saint Hedwig beaker, found in 1960 in building № 10 on the Small Castle, which is reliably (stratigraphically and by finds) dated to the second half of the 12th century. This is a beaker made of thick glass; wheel-engraving and cutting techniques were used in its ornamentation. On the walls of the beaker are images of 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 used for diplomatic gifts, at coronations, and served as tabernacles or reliquaries. At the moment, 25 such beakers are known, 14 complete and 11 in fragments. Most of them come from the territory that was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and from Poland. Outside these territories, only 2 finds were found, one of which is from Novogrudok. According to the new hypothesis of T.S. Bubenko and A.A. Metelskii, the area on the Small Castle where this St. Hedwig beaker was discovered, was not a rich quarter of a town – as F.D. Gurevich believed – but a citadel where the prince lived. This hypothesis allows us to reinterpret the unique collection of Byzantine and Oriental glass, which includes the St. Hedwig beaker, and other imported items, not as the property of wealthy goldsmiths (according to F.D. Gurevich), but as princely treasures. Thus, the St. Hedwig beaker from Novogrudok fits into a number of beakers discovered during excavations of European palaces, castles and citadels, and once again confirms their interpretation as unique precious vessels that only rulers and aristocratic families possessed.