When Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Orthodoxy, Mount Athos was the musical center of the Orthodox world. Monks from all over Eastern Europe and Byzantium traveled to Mount Athos for musical training and to learn the ways of Orthodox chant. At Mount Athos, Russian monks learned the Byzantine neumatic notation for chant, which they readily adopted and brought back with them to Russia. This Byzantine chant quickly changed to a distinct Russian style, the Znamenny Chant.[3] The chant flourished and spread to the north (Novgorod principally) and southwest. From the sack of Kiev in 1240 and subsequent occupation of the Rus’ by the Mongols until their expulsion in 1480, few resources regarding Russian music date,[4] but what little records exist show little change to the Znamenny chant other than small notational changes. [From Wikipedia]