What is the most beautiful Russian church?
Igor Sklar
> Dear newsgroup,
>
> I'd like to know your opinion on the subject. From what I've been told
> I gather that St Basil's (Moscow) and Spasa na Krovi (St Petersburg)
> are the best. Any other suggestions?
>
> Hugs and kisses, Suzanne
Dear Suzanne,
the answer depends on what period and type of church you're interested
in. Here follows a brief overview of Russian church architecture, as
translated from my Russian site. Hopefully it will help you to find
the church you'd like most.
The very first churches of Rus were built and decorated by Byzantine
masters. A great example of an early Russo-Byzantine church was the
13-domed St Sophia Cathedral at Kiev (built 1037-54) but unfortunately
much of its exterior has been altered with time. St Sophia Cathedral
at Novgorod (built 1044-52) is a purely Russian structure however. Its
austere thick walls, small narrow windows, and helmeted cupolas have
much in common with the Romanesque architecture of Western Europe.
Even further departure from Byzantine models is evident in other
cathedrals of Novgorod: St Nicholas' (1113), St Anthony's (1117-19),
and St George's (1119).
St Sophia, Novgorod:
http://www.xenophongi.org/ruscity/novgorod/novgor30.jpg
By the end of the 12th century the centre of Russian political life
had moved from Kiev to the northern principalities of Vladimir and
Suzdal. The local churches were built of white stone by Romanesque
masters of Friedrich Barbarossa, whilst wall statuary was elaborately
carved by craftsmen of the Georgian Queen Thamar. These churches mark
the highest point of pre-Mongolian Russian architecture. The most
important Vladimir churches were the Assumption Cathedral (built
1158-60, enlarged 1185-98, frescoes 1408) and St Demetrios' Cathedral
(built 1194-97). Another miraculously preserved church is the graceful
Intercession-on-the-Nerl-River (1165), one of the most charming images
of medieval Russia.
The Assumption Cathedral, Vladimir:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/12/272906.jpg
http://www.history.uiuc.edu/steinb/219images/Usp-Vladimir.jpg
St Demetrios Cathedral, Vladimir:
http://international.loc.gov/mtfph/php/p341002r.jpg
http://www.stetson.edu/artsci/russian/russianart/demetriusdavid.html
Beautiful as these churches are, the contemporaries were even more
impressed by churches of Southern Rus, particularly the Svirskaya
Church at Smolensk (1191-94). As southern structures were either
ruined or rebuilt, restoration of their original outlook has been a
source of contention between art historians. The most memorable
reconstruction is the Pyatnitskaya Church at Chernigov (1196-99).
Pyatnitskaya, Chernigov:
http://chernigoff.narod.ru/fls/chf/ch012ch5.jpg
The Mongols looted the country so thoroughly that even major cities
(such as Moscow or Tver) couldn't afford building of stone churches
for more than a century. Novgorod and Pskov however managed to escape
the Mongol yoke, and evolved into successful commercial republics.
Many dozens of medieval churches, from the 12th century on, have been
preserved in these towns. The churches of Novgorod, such as the
Saviour-on-the-Ilyina-Street (1374), are steep-roofed and carved in a
rough manner. Some of them contain magnificent medieval frescoes. The
tiny and picturesque churches of Pskov feature many novel elements -
corbel arches, church porches, exterior galleries, and bell towers.
All these features were introduced by Pskov masons to Muscovy where
they built numerous edifices during the 15th century, e.g. the
Nativity Cathedral at Zvenigorod (1405), and the Holy Spirit Church at
St Trinity Lavra (1476).
Saviour-on-the-Nereditsa, Novgorod (1198):
http://www.novgorod-museum.ru/images/k4_3.jpg
Saviour-on-the-Ilyina, Novgorod (1374):
http://eng.novgorod-museum.ru/images/k3_7.jpg
The Nativity Cathedral, Zvenigorod:
http://sobory.narod.ru/moskva/odintsov/fotos/00385_3.jpg
The Holy Spirit Church, Sergiev Posad:
http://www.divo.ru/musobl/hlghst3.jpg
By the end of the 15th century Muscovy was so powerful a state that
its prestige badly needed magnificent multi-domed buildings, on the
par with pre-Mongolian cathedrals of Novgorod and Vladimir. As Russian
masters were unable to build anything like it, Ivan III invited to
Moscow Italian masters from Florence and Venice. They reproduced
ancient Vladimir structures in three large cathedrals of Moscow
Kremlin, and decorated them with Italian quatrocento motives. The
Kremlin cathedrals were imitated throughout Russia during the 16th
century, but new edifices tended to be larger and more ornate than
their predecessors (e.g., the Assumption Cathedral at Rostov, 1525).
Some of the most imposing cathedrals were built in the great
monasteries, such as St Trinity Lavra near Moscow, and the Solovki
Monastery in the White Sea.
New Maidens' Cathedral, Moscow (1525):
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/13/273726.jpg
St Trinity Lavra:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/03/18/176607.jpg
http://img.photosight.ru/2001/04/04/7335.jpg
The Solovki:
http://img.photosight.ru/2002/09/06/78375.jpg
http://img.photosight.ru/2001/12/28/36586.jpg
As most Europeans by the mid-16th century were feeling tired of
endless Gothic steeples, so the Russians thought they had enough of
Byzantine cupolas. They were searching for something new. First they
substituted the traditional helmeted cupolas with the onion-domed.
Then they started to produce stone replicas of wooden tent-roofed
churches. The first such church, the Ascension at Kolomenskoye, was
built at the tsar's suburbian residence in 1530-32. It was followed by
two multi-tented structures, St John the Baptist at Kolomenskoye
(1552), and the Intercession-on-the-Moat Cathedral on the Red Square
(1561, it is informally known as St Basil the Blessed). Building of
new multi-tented edifices was forbidden afterwards, so mostly
single-tented churches were built for the next 50 years. The most
striking example of this type is the Transfiguration Church, erected
by Boris Godunov at his estate in Ostrov near Moscow in 1590s. Such
rocket-like structures have been diversely interpreted by art
historians: as phallic symbols, as Russian minarets, etc.
The Ascension at Kolomenskoe, Moscow:
http://tsos.lan.krasu.ru/slaids/issk/dmitrieva/01/img/141.jpg
http://www.archi.museum.ru/photo/masterpieces/kolom.jpg
St John the Baptist at Kolomenskoe, Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2002/08/02/55876.jpg
The Tranfiguration at Ostrov, Moscow:
http://tsos.lan.krasu.ru/slaids/issk/dmitrieva/08/img/331.jpg
After the Time of Troubles the state and the church were bankrupt, and
could not finance any construction works. The initiative was taken by
rich merchants of the city Yaroslavl-on-the-Volga. In the course of
the 17th century, they built numerous large churches of cathedral
type, with five onion-like cupolas, and surrounded them with tents of
belltowers and aisles. At first the churches' composition was sharply
assymetrical, with different parts balancing each other on the
"scale-beam" principle (e.g., the Church of Elijah the Prophet,
1647-50). Subsequently the Yaroslavl churches were strictly
symmetrical, with cupolas taller than the building itself, and amply
decorated with polychrome tiles (e.g., the Church of John the
Chrysostom on the Volga, 1649-54). A zenith of Volga architecture was
attained in the Church of St John the Baptist (built 1671-87), the
largest at Yaroslavl, with 15 cupolas and more than 500 magnificent
frescoes. All the brick exterior of the church, from the cupolas down
to the tall porches, was elaborately carved and decorated with tiles.
St Elijah the Prophet's, Yaroslavl:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/05/04/202058.jpg
The Resurrection-on-the-Lowlands, Kostroma:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-6458.jpg
St John the Baptist's, Yaroslavl:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/26/283542.jpg
The 17th-century Moscow churches are also profusely decorated but
their size is much smaller. Earlier in the century, the Muscovites
still favoured the tent-like constructions. The chief object of their
admiration was the "Miraculous" Assumption Church in Uglich (1627): it
had three graceful tents placed in a row, like three burning candles.
This composition was extravagantly employed in the Hodegetria Church
at Vyazma (1638), and the Nativity Church at Putinki, Moscow (1652).
Thinking that such constructions ran counter with the traditional
Byzantine type, the powerful patriarch Nikon declared them
uncanonical. He encouraged building of fairy-like ecclesiatical
residences, such as the Rostov Kremlin on the Nero Lake, with 5 tall
churches, innumerable towers, palaces, and chambers. Nikon personally
designed his new residence at the New Jerusalem Monastery which was
dominated by the rotunda-like cathedral, the first of its type in
Russia (it is still being restored after the WWII destruction).
The Nativity at Putinki, Moscow:
http://hram.codis.ru/jpg/357-1.jpg
The New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/11/271857.jpg
The Metropolitan's Residence at Rostov:
http://zvon.yaroslavl.ru/fromla.gif
http://zvon.yaroslavl.ru/fromlakr.jpg
Since the tents were banned, the Muscovite architects had to replace
them with successive rows of korbel arches ("kokoshniki"), and this
decorative element was to become a hallmark of the 17th-century Moscow
"fiery style". An early example of the "fiery style" is the Kazan
Cathedral on the Red Square (1633-36). By the end of the 17th century,
more than a hundred churches in the "fiery style" were erected in
Moscow, and perhaps as much in the neighbourhood. Among the more
splendid specimens are the Moscow churches of St Trinity at Nikitniki
(1653), of St Nicholas at Khamovniki (1682), and of St Trinity at
Ostankino (1692). The last and the most brilliant "fiery style"
stucture was the Church of St Nicholas "the Grand Cross" near Kremlin,
brutally destroyed on the order of Stalin.
The Kazan Cathedral, Moscow:
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/europe/moscow04.jpg
St Nicholas on the Bersenevka, Moscow:
http://www.moscow-city.ru/img/picture.jpg?id=1671
St Nicholas at Nikitniki:
http://moscow.powermetal.ru/foto20-21/moscow02.jpg
St Nicholas at Khamovniki:
http://tsos.lan.krasu.ru/slaids/issk/dmitrieva/08/img/131.jpg
St Trinity at Ostankino:
http://svao.counter-strike.ru/images/photos/museum/hram.jpg
As the Russian architecture was degenerating into pure decoration, it
started to succumb to the baroque influences of Europe. The first
baroque churches were small chapels built on the Naryshkin family
estates near Moscow. Some of these churches are tower-like, with cubic
and octagonal floors placed on top of each other (e.g., the Saviour
Church at Ubory, 1697); others have a ladder-like composition, with a
belltower rising above church itself (e.g., the Intercession Church at
Fili, 1695). The baroque and "fiery style" decoration is often so
profuse that the church seems to be the work of jeweller and not of
mason (e.g., the Trinity Church at Lykovo, 1696). Perhaps the most
delightful jewel of the Naryshkin baroque was the multi-domed
Assumption Church on the Pokrovka Street at Moscow (built 1696-99,
demolished 1929). The architect who built it was also responsible for
the "red and white" reconstruction of several Moscow monasteries,
notably the Novodevichy and the Donskoy.
The Intercession at Fili, Moscow:
http://moscow.powermetal.ru/foto20-21/moscow04.jpg
The Novodevichy Monastery, Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/22/280839.jpg
http://tsos.lan.krasu.ru/slaids/issk/dmitrieva/08/img/140.jpg
http://tsos.lan.krasu.ru/slaids/issk/dmitrieva/01/img/133.jpg
The baroque trends quickly spread all over Russia, gradually subduing
more traditional and canonical architecture. The Stroganov merchants
sponsored construction of majestic baroque structures at Nizhny
Novgorod (the Nativity Church, 1703) and in the distant taiga region
(the Presentation Cathedral at Solvychegodsk, 1693). During the first
decades of the 18th century, remarkable baroque cathedrals were built
at Kazan (on the Volga), Solikamsk (near Perm), Verkhoturye (near
Ekaterinburg), Tobolsk (in Siberia), Irkutsk (on the Baikal Lake), and
elsewhere. But perhaps the most interesting was baroque interpretation
of traditional wooden churches by carpenters of the Russian North.
Working without hammer and nails, they constructed such bizzare
structures as 24-domed Intercession Church at Vytegra (1708, burnt
down 1963) and 22-domed Transfiguration Church at Kizhi (1714).
St Sophia Cathedral, Tobolsk, Siberia (1685):
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/18/277543.jpg
The Nativity Church, Nizhny Novgorod:
http://www.xenophongi.org/ruscity/volgacru/nizhni/strog1s.jpg
The Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul, Kazan:
http://kazan.eparhia.ru/www/photo/Petr_Sobor/pps-34.jpg
The Intercession Church near Vytegra:
http://www.archi.museum.ru/photo/prok_gorsk/bigs/vytegra.jpg
The churches on the Kizhi Island, Onega Lake:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/20/278811.jpg
Peter I's style signified a total rupture with national architectural
forms and building technologies. Scores of architects arrived to
Russia from Italy and France, and the forms of Dutch or Austrian
churches were much imitated. As the traditional onion-shaped domes
went out of fashion, they had to be replaced by steeples, crowns, and
whatnot. The first Russian church without a dome was the Church of the
Sign built by Prince Galitzine at Dubrovitsy near Moscow in 1690-1704.
Prince Menshikov had the "Menshikov Tower" Church (the tallest in
Moscow, 1705-07) topped by a golden vase. The most imposing example of
the Petrine baroque was erected in the new capital: Ss Peter and Paul
Cathedral of St Petersburg (1712-33), with its 122-metres-tall
belltower.
The Church at Dubrovitsy near Podolsk:
http://www.mosreg.ru/pages/pod_r/dd.jpg
All these structures seemed so alien for Russian eyes that their
popularity couldn't last long. By the mid-18th century, during the age
of Rastrelli baroque, Russian architecture regained some of its
essential features. Rastrelli designed his first churches for the
Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, and the Grand Palace at Peterhof.
His combination of current Italian fashion with Muscovite baroque
traditions impressed Empress Elizabeth so much that he was entrusted
with the grandiose commissions like St Andrew's Church at Kiev (built
by Moscow architects in 1749-54), and - most importantly - the Smolny
Cathedral at St Petersburg (built 1748-64 though never completed).
Among other examples of the high baroque style in Russia are the Naval
Cathedral at St Petersburg (1753-62), the city cathedrals at Yamburg
and Kursk, and the grand belltower of St Trinity Monastery.
The palace church at Peterhof:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/07/22/257208.jpg
The Smolny Cathedral, St Pete:
http://www2.ac-lyon.fr/enseigne/russe/divers/jumelage/image9.gif
http://img.photosight.ru/2002/10/10/96138.jpg
Empress Catherine suspended all works on Rastrelli projects, and
forced the aged architect to retire. Favouring the Neo-Classical
style, she invited fashionable Scottish and Italian architects to
rebuild major cities all over Russia. Many graceful churches in the
Neoclassical idiom were erected in Russian countryside, and some
monasteries were completely rebuilt in accordance with the newest
fashion. The most important churches of Catherine's reign were built
by Russians however: the Cathedral of Alexandro-Nevsky Monastery at St
Petersburg (1776-90) - by Ivan Starov, and the Elokhov Cathedral at
Moscow (1789-93) - by Vasily Bazhenov.
A village church near Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/07/29/262686.jpg
St Jacob's Monastery, Rostov:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/06/19/234485.jpg
The Nilov Monastery on the Seliger Island:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-6040.jpg
The Elokhov Cathedral, Moscow:
http://hram.codis.ru/jpg/036-1.jpg
For her personal use, Catherine preferred whimsical structures
blending Gothic elements with Muscovite baroque decoration, like the
Petrovsky Castle and the Tsaritsino Palace (both in Moscow). The most
representative churches of this fake Gothic revival are the Chesma
memorial at St Petersburg (1777-80), and the New Cathedral at Mozhaisk
(1799-1811)
The Chesma Church, St Pete:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/07/14/251646.jpg
The New Cathedral of St Nicholas, Mozhaisk:
http://www.archi.museum.ru/photo/prok_gorsk/bigs/mojaisk.jpg
The reign of Alexander I was marked by ponderous structures in the
cosmopolitan Empire style. These huge buildings were either copied by
Russians from the famous monuments of Italy and France (e.g., the
Kazan Cathedral at St Petersburg, 1801-11), or were entirely
contributed by foreigners (e.g., St Isaak's Cathedral at St
Petersburg, 1818-58). As their architects were quite ignorant of
Russian architectural heritage, these edifices were devoid of any
national flavour: they would have looked more natural in some other
European country or in America.
The Kazan Cathedral, St Pete:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/03/13/174227.jpg
Nicholas I was somewhat repulsed by such "a degenerate freemasonry",
so he commissioned his favourite architect Constantine Thon with
projects of churches all over Russia in the official "Byzantine
Imperial style". The best-known example of Thon's Neo-Byzantism is the
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour at Moscow (built 1839-83, destroyed
1931, rebuilt 1995-2000). This structure rivals St Isaak's as the
largest and the most richly decorated Orthodox church in the world.
The next generation of architects developed a more authentic version
of Neo-Byzantism, culminating in the enormous Naval Cathedral at
Kronstadt (1903-13).
Christ the Saviour, Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/04/07/186735.jpg
The Naval Cathedral, Kronstadt:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/02/13/157986.jpg
Spreading of Gothic Revivalism in Europe was paralleled by development
of the Russian Revival Style. Its proponents studied Russian churches
of 16th and 17th centuries in order to imitate their rich outline and
elaborate decoration. This movement resulted in many fine buildings,
the most magnificent being the Saviour-on-the-Spilt-Blood Cathedral at
St Petersburg (1883-1907), and Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral at Peterhof
(1895-1904).
Saviour-on-the-Spilt-Blood, St Pete:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/21/279348.jpg
http://enlight.ru/camera/news/jan12_1969_big.jpg
Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral, Peterhof:
http://enlight.ru/camera/202/index_e.html
The first post-perestroika churches were designed to commemorate
important battles of WWII, notably St George Chapel on the Poklonnaya
Hill at Moscow and the Prokhorovka Field Belltower. Among the newest
Russian cathedrals, I would recommend the Transfiguration Cathedral at
Togliatti (consecrated Aug-2002), and the
All-Saints-on-the-Spilt-Blood Cathedral at Yekaterinburg (consecrated
July-2003).
The Chapel on the Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/06/19/234478.jpg
The Transfiguration Cathedral, Togliatti:
http://www.sq.net.ru/studio/photo/0/6/800/inozemcev_sergey_16.jpg
The All-Saints Cathedral, Yekaterinburg:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/20/278680.jpg
The Kremlin mosque, Kazan:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/05/08/204657.jpg :))
With best wishes, Igor
Icono Clast
I did not look at all of the pictures you told us about, Igor, nor did
I read the information but I did look at many of the pictures and am
greatly impessed by their quality and beauty. I shall return and thank
you very much.
_____________________________________________________________
A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net
Igor Sklar
> ghirl...@hotmail.com (Suzanne) wrote in message news:<567d38e8.0308...@posting.google.com>...
> > Dear newsgroup,
> And besides well-known landmarks, if you just go to the countryside in
> the European part of Russia, many "ordinary" village churches are
> strikingly beautiful. That to me is even more remarkable than
> world-famous landmarks: many countries have a few exceptional
> architectural treasures built for their capitals and royalty, but
> these were built for and by ordinary villagers!
I quite agree with you. A few days ago I visited a village on the
Volga River near Yaroslavl. The local inhabitants built several
churches in the mid-17th century that were meant to rival by their
beauty the greatest cathedrals of Moscow. Unfortunately the village is
unable to find money even for the most basic restoration works. I'm
sure they never saw a single tourist in their area. You may see some
pictures I took here:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/09/03/289699.jpg
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/09/03/289726.jpg
Almost a century ago (in 1911) the same village was visited by Sergej
Prokudin-Gorskij who was the first to take color photos of the
neighbourhood:
http://www.prok.uniyar.ac.ru/img/n/01229.jpg
http://www.foto.orthodoxy.ru/oldfotos/prokudin-gorskii/bch7.jpg
http://www.foto.orthodoxy.ru/oldfotos/prokudin-gorskii/bch6.jpg
Prokudin-Gorskij was also one of the first to discover majestic wooden
churches of the Kizhi village in Karelia:
http://img.photosight.ru/2003/08/30/286705.jpg
So we may just compare what the churches looked like in 1911 and
2003!
With best regards, Igor
Igor Sklar
> "Igor Sklar" <skla...@yandex.ru> wrote in message
> news:5a635d65.0309...@posting.google.com...
> > "Don" <one-if-by-land.concord.com> wrote in message
> news:<3f541...@binaries.vphos.net>...
> > > "Igor Sklar" <skla...@yandex.ru> wrote> > > Within the domes, are there carved wood rafters?
> > > If so, are the rafters arranged radially with a compression ring/post?
> > > Or are they constructed like a truss?
> >
> > It is believed that this particular church was built of multi-colored
> > blocks of (lime-)stone. It was painted white many centuries later.
> > Only the vaults and cupolas were made of brick and covered with lime
> > mortar. The vaults are cylindrical which is very untypical of
> > Byzantine churches. The transition from the under-cupola square to a
> > round form of cupola is achieved through series of intricate
> > triangular "sails". The domes are only one-brick thick. The bricks are
> > larger to the bottom of the dome; the upper third of its height
> > ('skufia') is constructed from diagonal rows of small bricks. In
> > smaller domes upper aperture is so small that there is no need of
> > skufia: the aperture was filled with vertically lined bricks. After
> > that the brick dome construction was covered with a row of lime
> > mortar, then with a row of concave tiles, then again with mortar. The
> > central dome of Novgorod cathedral is 6.2 metres in diameter: rather
> > small compared to the 8.6-metred dome of the Assumption Cathedral in
> > Kiev.
> >
> > These techniques were used several years ago during the reconstruction
> > of the lateral domes of the St-George-on-the-Market Cathedral in
> > Novgorod (1106-36, http://www.novgorod-museum.ru/images/nikolo~1.jpg).
> >
> > regards
>
> Thanks for the reply, Igor.
> Jeez, seems like they did that the hardest way they could think of, eh?
> Just imagine if one of those little diagonal bricks, about halfway up the
> dome, tipped while the mortar was wet and brought the whole thing down.
> (they prolly had some internal temporary forms to keep that from happening)
I think this technology was imported from Byzantium. It was used until
the Mongol conquest when domes were still fairly large, and
multiple-domed churches were quite rare. Later the domes were
constructed of tilted iron rafters. At least during the reconstruction
of the 17th-century churches(when the coloured tiles covering a dome
are removed) one may often see a metallic skeleton of the dome.
> Is this style of dome called *onion* shape?
No, this is *helmet* form which is typical of earlier Russian
churches. The *onion* shape was first introduced in Novgorod and Pskov
in the 14th century but the helmet shape continued to dominate Russian
architecture until the 17th century. The onion shape was more
practical: it didn't allow the snow to remain on the top of the dome
for a long time, an important consideration for Northern regions.
Therefore most of the helmet-domed cupolas were substituted with
onion-shaped in the course of the 17th century. By the end of the 17th
century, new baroque forms of domes were imported from Ukraine: the
*pear* shape and the *bud* shape.
regards
Aida Lott
Russians conduct holy pilgrimages to there daily.
Rudy Beuc
Rudy
Don
"Rudy Beuc" <Rudy...@Compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:bj7e1g$1nj$1...@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...
Aida Lott
"Rudy Beuc" <Rudy...@Compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:bj7e1g$1nj$1...@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...