Novgorod architecture question

[ammarsh at socrates.berkeley.edu]

Dear All,

I recently used a number of miniatures from Old Russian manuscripts as
"illustrations" for an intro talk on Russian history that I was giving my
first year Russian language class.  One of the students promptly asked
what the purpose of "the hole in the roof" of one particular building was.
Needless to say, I was stumped.

The building is a multistoried building with a dome-shaped roof that is
open on two sides.  From the picture, it appears that the building
underneath is thus only partially roofed, with a large square opening
covered over by this two-sided dome.  Is this common?  Does any one know
what it is?

 The picture I have is entitled "Dozhdi v Novgorode v 1251
godu." It's a sixteenth-century water-color  and  was taken from "Litsevoi
letopisnyi svod," Laptevskii volume, f. 998.

Please respond to me off-list at ammarsh at socrates.berkeley.edu

Thanks very much for your help!

Ann Marsh-Flores
UC-Berkeley