TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

Temple architecture occupies an exceptional place in architecture. Based on the same principles and methods of construction, church buildings are strikingly different from civil buildings.

Even the most best samples secular buildings - luxurious palaces, cannot compete in beauty and grandeur with grandiose temples, which in any culture were considered the apogee of the development of the art of construction.

One cannot but agree with this when admiring the architecture, for example, of the majestic St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg or the almost fabulous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Temple architecture embodies the best aspirations of the human spirit.

Many temples, due to their beauty, grace and monumentality, are not only the main attractions of cities, but can also lay claim to being their historical symbol. For example, the ancient Russian city of Vladimir is unthinkable without the Assumption Cathedral, and Sergiev Posad near Moscow is unthinkable without the temple complex of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

The architecture of the temple does not express the usual desire to organize a residential and comfortable space (which we see in civil architecture), but an attempt by man to express his path to God through monumental architecture. Temple construction is full of symbolism, as an expression of the faith that encourages a person to dedicate his best creation to his Creator.

Temples in Rus' were built in different styles: from wooden architecture to the majestic Empire style. But an invariable feature of Orthodox churches is its symbolic correspondence Orthodox faith. In architecture, this was expressed in the form of church buildings, which, as a rule, at the base of the foundation have either a Cross as a symbol of salvation, or a circle as a symbol of eternity, or resemble a ship as ancient symbol The Church saving its children in the raging sea of ​​worldly passions.

Church architecture is an integral component of Russian culture. However, it is not only in Russia that wonderful examples of temple architecture are presented. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church abroad has churches of amazing beauty: this is the majestic St. Alexander Church in Paris, which writers from Russia abroad loved to visit, and the Cathedral of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Munich, strict in its brevity, and the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville.

A temple differs from secular buildings not only in its rich symbolism and grace of architectural forms; a church building is, first of all, a place where the soul meets God, a place of a special spiritual state - prayer. Visiting the temple not only for native land, but also being in tourist trips abroad, you become familiar with the rich spiritual culture of Orthodoxy.

Temple architecture, of course, is a special area of ​​architecture in which the invisible soul of the craftsmen who decorate the temple and inside is present. At all times, the most important stage in the construction of temples was interior wall and ceiling painting. The subtle artistic taste of the fresco masters, coupled with a reverent attitude towards the theme of the work, ultimately created real masterpieces of church painting, which to this day serve as a standard for human spirituality and self-awareness.

THE FORMATION OF TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

The Lord, who created man from the dust of the earth, gave him the opportunity to recognize Himself in the entire universe surrounding man. According to the words of the Apostle Paul, “His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead... are visible through the consideration of creation” (Rom. 1:20). The all-wise Creator introduces man into the world He created as into a beautiful temple, in which “everything that breathes praises the Lord” (Ps. 150:6).
In the pagan understanding, the temple was, in the narrow sense, the dwelling of some “deity.” This revealed the limitations of paganism, which did not comprehend that God, being above all material things, simultaneously resides in the whole world.

Christianity, which became the dominant worldview in the Byzantine Empire from the 4th century, did not take the path of destroying the architectural achievements of antiquity: the Church only processed the experience accumulated over centuries in the light of Christ’s Truth. Christianity was preached as far as possible without violating established local traditions and way of life. The first buildings in which prayer meetings and divine services of ancient Christians took place after gaining freedom of religion were basilicas.

The basilica is a typically Roman type of building. These structures were erected in the centers of public life of ancient cities and were places of its concentration. Here, decisions of the city authorities were announced, legal proceedings were carried out, stock exchange transactions were carried out, trade deals were concluded, and business meetings were scheduled. The fact that Christian services were transferred to buildings with these functions suggests that the Church, after legalization on a state scale, is entering the very center of public life. Ancient Christians began to prefer the basilica also because buildings of this type were never used for ritual pagan purposes.

The layout of the basilica is quite consistent with the rank Christian worship: the interior space of a building is usually divided by two rows of columns into three parts (naves); the western apse, unlike similar structures of pre-Christian times, is usually absent, and a transverse nave (transept) is attached to the eastern apse to expand the altar; The central nave is much higher and wider than the side nave, in addition, it has additional lighting due to two rows of windows in the upper part. The right nave is reserved for men, the left for women, as required by the ancient charter of the Church; the bishop is given a central place, and in pre-Christian times the same place was usually occupied by a judge. These observations indicate the social structure of the Church. In contrast to the pagan understanding of the temple as the house of “deity,” the Christian temple is a place of worship, “domus ecclesia” - the home of the Church as an organization of believers. Becomes of great importance interior decoration Christian church: the walls protect believers from the outside world, revealing the spiritual world through frescoes and mosaic images, and all attention is directed to the holy altar, where the Sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. In the 4th century, the construction of basilica churches took place mainly in the East.

Along with basilicas, buildings of the centric type occupied an important place in ancient Christian architecture: mausoleums, baptisteries, temples. Ancient Christian mausoleums were a direct continuation and development in new conditions of the architecture of late antique mausoleums of the beginning of the 4th century. The upper volume of these structures was initially divided by deep niches, and later by windows, due to which a new architectural element appeared - a light drum, which served as a load-bearing basis for the dome.

From the first centuries of its existence, the Church of Christ established the custom of celebrating the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the places of suffering of the holy martyrs. In the 3rd-4th centuries, over the burial places of the holy martyrs, Christians began to build temples (martyriums), which in appearance resembled ancient mausoleums; At the same time, there was a tendency to transform burial structures of pre-Christian times into Christian churches.

At the same time, the formation of the architecture of churches of the cross-centric type took place. The earliest of the buildings of this kind is the Temple of San Lorenzo, which has survived to this day, built in the 70s of the 4th century in Milan. This is a square structure in plan, with semicircular apses attached on each side, which gives it a peculiar cross shape. Although some architectural analogies can be traced in some buildings of late Roman times (for example, individual rooms of palace complexes and baths), however, in the appearance of this type of temple one cannot help but see the desire of Christian architects to apparently glorify the Honest and Life-giving Cross of Christ - an instrument of human salvation and a symbol of eternal victory over death and the devil.

The idea of ​​a Christian temple as a reflection of the Kingdom of God, where everything comes from Christ and returns to Christ, was subsequently fully embodied in the unsurpassed masterpiece of the 6th century - the Cathedral of St. Sophia in the city of Constantinople, which became the basis for the formation of the Christian architectural canon for many centuries. The achievement of this ideal was preceded by many years of creative search by church architects, evidence of which are centric churches, in which the main idea of ​​the Cross of the Lord as the focus and basis of the entire Christian worldview is clearly visible.

Middle Ages and temple architecture

The life of a medieval person is closely connected with the earth. The aesthetic element is widely developed in his culture. This is the type of person who is self-sufficient, integral. In the heroic epic, in the epics, we see strong natures, whose words do not diverge from deeds, they are spontaneous, sincere; and the more power a person has, the more responsibility he bears. The culture of the Middle Ages was not based on personality. People live by norms intended for the whole group. Freedom is a negative category; it is understood as self-will. These features of thinking were reflected in architecture, primarily temple architecture.

In the Russian Middle Ages, processes took place that were in many ways similar to European ones. In Europe, the Middle Ages began with the destruction of the monuments of Antiquity - in Rus', pagan art was anathema. The Latin language remains the language of worship in the Catholic Church - Orthodox worship is conducted in Church Slavonic (modified Old Church Slavonic) (this is important, since the cultural values ​​of previous eras are accessible primarily to people close to the church). Christianity is gradually becoming the dominant ideology, and both in Europe and in Russia this process goes from south to north.

It is not purely our national feature that Russian art The Middle Ages were formed in the collision of two structures - patriarchal and feudal, and two religions - paganism and Christianity. The same thing is happening in Europe: dual faith, especially in the north and west, the gradual transition of pagan deities into the category of lower, demonic ones (and in our country the functions of the old gods were more often attributed to saints).

The Russian Middle Ages begins with the baptism of Rus'. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this event. Together with Christianity, Rus' adopted certain cultural foundations from Byzantium. In particular, stone architecture, examples of which were taken from Byzantium, began to meet new state and ideological tasks. A type of cross-domed church was created there, the basis of which is a rectangular room with four or more pillars in the middle, dividing the internal space into nine parts. The center of the temple is the space under the dome, where light penetrates through the windows in the drum. Adjacent to the under-dome space are cells covered with cylindrical vaults, forming a cruciform base of the plan. The corner parts are covered with domes or barrel vaults. The entire central space in the plan forms a cross. The dome appears in Byzantium in the Justinian period, even before the cross-dome (Sophia of Constantinople).

The canopy system on the sails is also formed there. On the eastern side of the building there are three faceted or semicircular apses. The middle one houses the altar. In the western part there is a room on the second tier - the choir. The transverse space in the western part is called the porch, narthex.

However, relying on the traditions of Byzantine art, Russian masters created their own national art, their own forms of temples, wall paintings and iconography, which cannot be confused with Byzantine, despite the commonality of iconography.

By mastering new technologies, a person changes the space around him, at the same time modernizing the material attributes of religion - the buildings of churches and temples. Such changes also affect the Orthodox environment, where the question of “modernizing” the church tradition of building churches is increasingly being raised. Catholics, on the contrary, are trying to take control of this process - not so long ago the Vatican officially stated: “Modern Catholic churches resemble museums and are built more with the aim of receiving an award for design than to serve the Lord...”. The works of Western architects are indeed often awarded in various professional competitions and awards; some of them later become widely known and become architectural symbols of cities.

We present to you photographs of modern churches built with elements of modernism and the “style of the future” - high-tech.

(Total 21 photos)

1. Protestant “Crystal” Cathedral in Garden Grove, Orange County, California, USA. This is the most famous example of the high-tech style, which involves straight lines in design and glass with metal as the main material. The temple is built from 10,000 rectangular glass blocks held together with silicone glue, and its design, according to the architects, is as reliable as possible.

2. The church can accommodate up to 2900 parishioners at a time. The organ located inside the Crystal Cathedral is truly wonderful. Operated from five keyboards, it is one of the largest organs in the world.

3. In many ways similar to the “Crystal” Cathedral, the Church of Light from Light (eng. Cathedral of Christ the Light) is a Catholic church in the city of Oakland, USA. The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Oakland and the first Christian cathedral in the United States to be built in the 21st century. The temple has been widely discussed in the American press due to the significant construction costs, as well as the surrounding garden, which is dedicated to victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

4. Interior of the Church of Light from Light.

5. Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, often called simply Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, is the main Catholic church in Liverpool, Great Britain. The building is a striking example of architecture of the second half of the 20th century. Serves as the see of the Archbishop of Liverpool and also acts as a parish church.

6. The interior interior with state-of-the-art lighting will amaze both believers and atheists.

7. The Church of the Holy Cross in Denmark is impressive with the geometry of the building in a minimalist style and its location - almost in the middle of a field.

8. Built in the late 90s, the Catholic church in the city of Evry (France) is called the Cathedral of the Resurrection. Pay attention to the floral decor in the form of green bushes located on the roof of the building.

9. The Church of the Merciful God the Father in Rome is large community center Italian capital. This futuristic building is specially located in one of the residential areas in order to architecturally “revive” it. As building material precast concrete was used.

10. Hallgrimskirja - Lutheran church in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. This is the fourth tallest building in the entire country. The church was designed in 1937 by architect Goodjoun Samuelson, and it took 38 years to build. Although the building was created long before the expansion of high-tech into the world of architecture, in our opinion, the general appearance of the temple and its unusual shape make it a very interesting example of modernism. The church is located in the very center of Reykjavik, visible from any part of the city, and its upper part is also used as an observation deck. The temple became one of the capital's main attractions.

11. In the center of Strasbourg, France, a modern cathedral is being built, which still only has a “working” name: Folder. Consisting of a series of pleated arches, the building would look extremely original as a venue for Catholic ceremonies, such as weddings.

12. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of St. Joseph was built in Chicago (USA) in 1956. It is known throughout the world for its 13 golden domes, which symbolize Jesus himself and the 12 apostles.

13. Church of Santo Volto in Turin (Italy). The design of the new church complex is part of the program of transformations provided for in the 1995 Turin master plan.

14. St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco is a fairly avant-garde building, but local architects call it a "reasonable conservative option."

15. The minimalist Church of Light was built in 1989, designed by famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando, ​​in a quiet residential area in the suburbs of Osaka, Japan. The interior space of the Church of Light is visually divided by rays of light coming from a cross-shaped hole in one of the walls of the building.

16. In the center of Los Angeles is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The church serves a general archdiocese of more than 5 million Catholics. It is in this temple that the archbishop conducts the main liturgies.

17. Harissa Church in the capital of Lebanon - Beirut. It consists of 2 parts: a bronze statue of the Holy Virgin Mary weighing fifteen tons, located at an altitude of 650 meters above sea level, made in the Byzantine style. There is a small chapel inside the statue.

18. The second part of the Harissa Church is a futuristic cathedral made of glass and concrete. This complex is a real Christian symbol in a somewhat unusual setting. It is also called the "Banner of Christianity in the Middle East."

19. Unusual in shape, materials and general concept The building is the relatively recently built Santa Monica Catholic Church. The temple is located an hour's drive from Madrid (Spain).

20. Interior of the Church of Santa Monica.

21. To conclude our review - a completely unconventional Trinity Church in the traditional and conservative capital of Austria - Vienna. The Church of the Holy Trinity (German: Kirche Zur Heiligsten Dreifaltigkeit) in Vienna, better known as the Church of the Holy Trumpets, is located on Mount Sankt Georgenberg. Built in 1974, the Temple belongs to Roman Catholic Church. Due to the complete inconsistency with traditional church forms, the construction of the building, of course, met significant resistance from local residents.

Cathedrals, temples, palaces! Beautiful architecture of churches and temples!

Beautiful architecture of churches and temples!

"Church of St. Prince Igor of Chernigov in Peredelkino."

Church of the Transfiguration in Peredelkino

Nicholas the Wonderworker of Mozhaisk

Shorin's country estate in the town of Gorokhovets, Vladimir region. Built in 1902. Now this house is a center for folk art.

St. Vladimir's Cathedral.

The idea of ​​​​creating the Vladimir Cathedral in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir belongs to Metropolitan Philaret Amfitheatrov. The work was entrusted to Alexander Beretti, the cathedral was founded on St. Vladimir's Day on July 15, 1862, construction was completed in 1882 by the architect Vladimir Nikolaev.

The Vladimir Cathedral gained fame as a monument of outstanding cultural significance mainly due to its unique paintings by outstanding artists: V. M. Vasnetsov, M. A. Vrubel, M. V. Nesterov, P. A. Svedomsky and V. A. Kotarbinsky under the general supervision of Professor A. V. Prakhova. the main role in the creation of the temple painting belongs to V. M. Vasnetsov. The ceremonial consecration of the Vladimir Cathedral took place on August 20, 1896 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Novodevichy Convent.

Temple named after St. Cyril and St. Methodius"

Orthodox church in Biala Podlaska, Poland. It was built in the period 1985-1989.

The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel (Arkhangelsk Cathedral) in the Kremlin was the tomb of the great princes and Russian tsars. In the old days it was called the “Church of St. Michael on the square." In all likelihood, the first wooden Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin arose on the site of the current one during the short reign of Alexander Nevsky's brother Mikhail Khorobrit in 1247-1248. According to legend, this was the second church in Moscow. Khorobrit himself, who died in 1248 in a skirmish with the Lithuanians, was buried in the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral. And the Moscow temple of the guardian of the gates of heaven, Archangel Michael, was destined to become the princely tomb of the Moscow princes. There is information that Mikhail Khorobrit's nephew, the founder of the dynasty of Moscow princes, Daniel, was buried near the southern wall of this cathedral. Daniel's son Yuri was buried in the same cathedral.
In 1333, another son of Daniel of Moscow, Ivan Kalita, built a new stone temple as a vow, in gratitude for delivering Rus' from famine. The existing cathedral was built in 1505-1508. under the leadership of the Italian architect Aleviz the New on the site of the old cathedral of the 14th century and consecrated on November 8, 1508 by Metropolitan Simon.
The temple has five domes, six pillars, five apses, eight aisles with a narrow room separated from it by a wall in the western part (on the second tier there are choirs intended for women of the royal family). Built of brick, decorated with white stone. In the treatment of the walls, motifs from the architecture of the Italian Renaissance were widely used (order pilasters with plant capitals, “shells” in zakomari, multi-profile cornices). Initially, the heads of the temple were covered with black-polished tiles, the walls were probably painted red, and the details were white. In the interior there are paintings from 1652-66 (Fyodor Zubov, Yakov Kazanets, Stepan Ryazanets, Joseph Vladimirov, etc.; restored in 1953-55) , carved wooden gilded iconostasis of the 17th-19th centuries. (height 13 m) with icons of the 15th-17th centuries, chandelier of the 17th century.The cathedral contains frescoes from the 15th-16th centuries, as well as a wooden iconostasis with icons from the 17th-19th centuries. The 16th-century murals were knocked down and painted again in 1652-1666 according to old copybooks by icon painters of the Armory Chamber (Yakov Kazanets, Stepan Ryazanets, Joseph Vladimirov).

"Orekhovo-Zuevo - Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary"

Palace of Alexei Mikhailovich in the village of Kolomenskoye

The ancient village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow stood out among other patrimonial possessions of Russian sovereigns - the grand ducal and royal country residences were located here. The most famous among them is the wooden palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (reigned 1645-1676)
The son of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, having ascended the throne, repeatedly rebuilt and consistently expanded his father’s residence near Moscow, which was associated with the growth of his family. He often visited Kolomenskoye, practiced falconry in its surroundings and held official ceremonies here.
In the 1660s. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich conceived large-scale changes to the Kolomna residence. The solemn ceremony of laying the foundation of the new palace, which began with a prayer service, took place on May 2-3, 1667. The palace was built from wood according to drawings, the work was carried out by an artel of carpenters under the leadership of the Streltsy head Ivan Mikhailov and the carpenter elder Semyon Petrov. From the winter of 1667 to the spring of 1668, carving work was carried out, in 1668 the doors were upholstered and paints were prepared for painting the palace, and in the summer season of 1669 the main icon-painting and painting works were completed. In the spring and summer of 1670, blacksmiths, iron carvers and locksmiths were already working in the palace. Having examined the palace, the king ordered the addition of picturesque images, which was done in 1670-1671. The Emperor closely monitored the progress of work, and throughout the construction he often came to Kolomenskoye and stayed there for a day. The final completion of the work occurred in the autumn of 1673. In the winter of 1672/1673, the palace was consecrated by Patriarch Pitirim; At the ceremony, Hieromonk Simeon of Polotsk said “Greetings” to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
The Kolomna Palace had an asymmetrical layout and consisted of independent and different-sized cells, the size and design of which corresponded to the hierarchical traditions of the family way of life. The cages were connected by vestibules and passages. The complex was divided into two halves: the male half, which included the tower of the king and princes and the front entrance, and the female half, consisting of the tower of the queen and princesses. In total, the palace had 26 towers of different heights - from two to four floors. The main living quarters were rooms on the second floor. In total, there were 270 chambers in the palace, which were illuminated by 3000 windows. When decorating the Kolomna Palace, for the first time in Russian wooden architecture, carved platbands and planking imitating stone were used. The principle of symmetry was actively used in the design of facades and interiors.
As a result of large-scale work in Kolomenskoye, a complex complex was created that shocked the imagination of both contemporaries and people of the “enlightened” 18th century. The palace was distinguished by its great decorativeness: the facades were decorated with intricate platbands, multi-colored carved details, figured compositions and had an elegant appearance.
In 1672-1675. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his family regularly traveled to Kolomenskoye; Diplomatic receptions were often held in the palace. The new sovereign Fyodor Alekseevich (reigned 1676-1682) carried out the reconstruction of the palace. On May 8, 1681, carpenter Semyon Dementyev, a peasant of the boyar P.V. Sheremetev, began construction of a huge Dining Chamber instead of a dilapidated tumbledown building. The final appearance of this building was then captured in various engravings and paintings.
Kolomna Palace was loved by all subsequent rulers of Russia. In 1682-1696. he was visited by Tsars Peter and Ivan, as well as Princess Sofya Alekseevna. Peter and his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, were here much more often than others. Under Peter I, a new foundation was laid under the palace.
Throughout the 18th century. the palace gradually deteriorated and collapsed despite all attempts to preserve it. In 1767, by decree of Empress Catherine II, dismantling of the palace began, which continued until approximately 1770. During the dismantling process, detailed plans of the palace were drawn up, which, together with inventories of the 18th century. and visual materials give a fairly complete picture of this remarkable monument of Russian architecture of the 17th century.
Now the palace has been recreated in a new location according to ancient drawings and images.

Chapel of Alexander Nevsky

The Alexander Nevsky Chapel was built in 1892. architect Pozdeev N.I. It is distinguished by the perfection of its brickwork and elegant decor. Yaroslavl.
St. Andrew's Cathedral - active orthodox cathedral on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, standing at the intersection of Bolshoy Prospekt and the 6th line, an architectural monument of the 18th century. In 1729, the foundation stone of a wooden church built between 1729 and 1731 by the architect G. Trezzini took place. In 1744, St. Andrew's Church was renamed a cathedral. In 1761, the wooden St. Andrew's Cathedral burned to the ground as a result of a lightning strike.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Nelazskoye. Built in 1696.

Church of the All-Merciful Savior in Kuskovo - the former home church of the Sheremetyev family, also known as the Church of the Origin of the Honest Trees Life-giving Cross The Lord's. Currently, it is part of the architectural and artistic ensemble of the Kuskovo estate. Kuskovo was first mentioned in the chronicles of the 16th century and already as the possession of the Sheremetyevs, whose family was one of the most noble in Russia. The first wooden house church has been known since 1624; the boyar courtyard and the courtyards of serfs were also located here. Around the same time, in 1646, Fyodor Ivanovich Sheremetyev built a large tented Assumption Church in the neighboring village of Veshnyakovo. In 1697-1699, Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev, together with John Pashkovsky, carried out diplomatic assignments of Peter I, traveled around Western Europe. According to legend, the Pope gave him a golden cross with a particle of the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross. This shrine was passed on by will to his son, Count Peter Borisovich Sheremetyev. Peter Borisovich, having inherited the Kuskovo estate after the death of his father, decided to reconstruct it so that it could amaze everyone with luxury and wealth. Construction began in 1737 with the construction of a new church. The main and only altar of the church was consecrated in honor of the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. Since its construction, the church has not been rebuilt and has reached our time in its original form. It is considered one of the rare architectural monuments of Moscow in the “Anne Baroque” style, that is, the Baroque architectural style of the era of Anna Ioannovna].

In 1919, the estate received the status of a State Museum. The church building was converted into museum outbuildings. The Church of the All-Merciful Savior was restored and re-consecrated in 1991.

The Staraya Russa Resurrection Cathedral was built on the site of a former wooden church, as can be seen from the description of the city of Staraya Russa. The original foundation of this church dates back to distant times. It was there before the Swedish destruction of the city of Staraya Russa, which took place in 1611-1617, and during the destruction it was left unharmed. When and by whom it was built is unknown, all that is known is that the Church of the Intercession, after the destruction (1611) by the Swedes of the Boris-Gleb Cathedral, built by Novgorod visiting merchants in 1403 and located near the Peter and Paul Church, on the north side, was instead of a cathedral. The wooden cathedral Church of the Intercession, due to its dilapidation, was dismantled and in its place, on the right bank of the Polist River and at the mouth of the Pererytitsa River, church elder Moses Somrov built the current stone Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ with borders on the north side in the name of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on the south side in name of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Construction of the cathedral began in 1692 and was completed in 1696. The chapels were consecrated during the reign of Peter the Great (Pokrovskaya on October 8, 1697. The Church of the Resurrection of Christ was consecrated on July 1, 1708).

The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl was built in 1165. Historical sources connect its construction with the victorious campaign of the Vladimir regiments against Volga Bulgaria in 1164. It was on this campaign that the young Prince Izyaslav died. In memory of these events, Andrei Bogolyubsky founded the Intercession Church. According to some news, the white stone for the construction of the church was delivered as an indemnity by the defeated Volga Bulgars themselves. The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is a masterpiece of world architecture. She is called the “white swan” of Russian architecture, a beauty, and is compared to a bride. This small, elegant building was built on a small hill, on a riverside meadow, where the Nerl flows into the Klyazma. In all of Russian architecture, which has created so many unsurpassed masterpieces, there is probably no more lyrical monument. This amazingly harmonious white stone temple, organically merging with the surrounding landscape, is called a poem captured in stone.

Kronstadt. Naval Cathedral.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ) in Moscow is the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church not far from the Kremlin on the left bank of the Moscow River.
The original temple was erected in gratitude for saving Russia from the Napoleonic invasion. It was built according to the design of the architect Konstantin Ton. Construction lasted almost 44 years: the temple was founded on September 23, 1839, consecrated on May 26, 1883.
On December 5, 1931, the temple building was destroyed. It was rebuilt in the same place in 1994-1997.

As if in contrast to the powerful volumes of the Resurrection Monastery, unknown masters created an elegantly proportioned, surprisingly slender church: an elegant hipped bell tower, a refectory, an elongated upward central five-domed cube of the temple, small single-domed chapels from the north and south.

All photographs and descriptions for them are taken from here http://fotki.yandex.ru/tag/%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%85%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BA% D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0/?p=0&how=week

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The development of the architectural form of the Christian church went through several stages, related both to the conditions of existence of Christianity in the first centuries and to the development of the liturgical canon.

Initially, during the period of persecution, for common prayers and receiving the Sacraments, Christians gathered secretly, in someone’s house, or (more often) in catacombs and caves. Such catacomb churches existed in different places - in Rome, Syria, Cyprus and Malta, etc. Under the ground, using natural caves and depressions, labyrinths of multi-story passages, corridors and tunnels were carved out. Within the walls, graves were made one above the other for the burial of the dead, keeping their remains from desecration. The tombs were closed with slabs with inscriptions and symbolic images. Most often, the shape of the temple was a ship (ark), which was reminiscent of the first salvation of the righteous (Noah's family) with the help of the ark. Thus, already in early Christianity, the Church was considered as the only Ark in the world in which a person could be saved from destruction and death.

From the beginning of the 4th century. (from the moment of the Edict of Milan in 313) until approximately the 6th century, when the type of Orthodox Christian church began to take shape in Byzantium, two types of ancient secular buildings were adapted for Christian services, in which new, previously unknown symbolic compositions were used:

- a centric building with a square, circle, octagon or equilateral cross in plan. Such buildings began to be used for baptisms or churches - martyriums – temples that were erected at the site of the burial or execution of holy martyrs;

– basilica , the elongated rectangular space of which was divided along long walls by two or four rows of columns into three or five “ships” (naves) parallel to each other, having an independent overlap. Often the middle nave was significantly higher than the side ones, and had independent lighting through the windows of the upper parts, which rested on the columns of the walls. The eastern short wall of the middle nave formed a semicircular rectangular or polygonal projection - an apse, covered with a semi-dome. In the apse there was an altar with a semicircular bench for the clergy, often with a chair for the bishop located in the middle of the wall. Under the altar there was a room for the tombs of martyrs. The altar was separated from the central nave by several steps, a low altar barrier, and sometimes a so-called triumphal arch. Initially there was no dome in the basilica. The side naves could be two-tiered and have galleries. The exterior of the basilicas was distinguished by its modest decoration, while the interior was richly decorated with mosaics (in the apse, above the columns of the central nave, and even on the floor).

Initially, churches of the centric type dominated in Byzantium, which was due to the need for a special allocation of the altar and the under-dome space where the pulpit was located. The need for a building that could accommodate many believers arose in the 5th-6th centuries. new synthesized type of temple – domed basilica, which combined a longitudinal basilica church with a centric one.

Dome structures began to appear in Byzantium already in the 5th century. and acquired a leading position in temple architecture in the 6th century. Such buildings most closely corresponded to the needs of Christian service and the Christian worldview. At this time, the formation of the main church rituals and services is completed, primarily the Divine Liturgy, at which the Sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. Formation of the ideological foundations of Christianity, where symbolic ideas and aesthetic expressiveness were of great importance, as well as the development and approval of the canon church services led to changes in the architecture of the temple. The internal structure and decoration of the temple are designed to help a person distance himself from the earthly, sensory world around him and completely immerse himself in the contemplation of the spiritual world, to discover their spiritual meaning behind visible things.

In the V – VI centuries. There was an evolution of the basilica towards a domed structure. The transformation of the Great Entrance of the Sacrament of Communion into a particularly solemn moment of the Liturgy led to the allocation of the middle space of the churches and crowning it with a dome. This evolution of the basilica to the domed church took place in two directions.

The first is the covering of the naves of the basilica with barrel vaults and the construction of a dome over the middle of the main nave. This is the Church of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus (VI century). Its western and eastern girth arches were fused with the outlines of the vaults, the northern and southern ones were highlighted, not fused with the walls, so that a slight cruciformity of space was outlined in the center.

The second is the construction of a large dome resting on the side walls. Much more churches of this type have survived.

The most complex and beautiful version of such a structure is the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople (532 – 537) – main temple The Byzantine Empire, which most fully embodied the ideological aspirations of the era. The interior of the temple amazes with its impressive size and unusual lighting, as it has numerous windows. Despite the fact that some of them were laid by the Turks, the walls still seem transparent. Contrary to the obvious, it is difficult to believe that this entire gigantic structure consists of brick and stone masonry - it seems so light and weightless. This was the main task of the builders, because the temple was supposed to be a semblance of the cosmos and represent something miraculous, and not the fruit of human efforts. The focus of the cathedral is the huge space under the dome. The large dome, like the vault of heaven, seems to have no supports. All other architectural features of the Church of St. are also subordinated to the idea of ​​​​Divine lightness. Sophia, therefore abstract theological concepts are embodied in it unusually clearly. This effect is achieved due to the fact that the entire architectural composition of St. Sophia was based on a system of struts. The massive dome rests on a drum cut like this a huge amount windows that seem to be woven from lace from the inside. However, on the outside, the walls between the windows are incredibly massive. Under the drum there are spherical triangles (sails), which provide a transition to the support pillars. These pillars are huge, but they are so drawn into the walls, covered with columns decorated with marble, that all their massiveness is completely hidden. Powerful pillars seem to be hidden in the outlines of the walls, dissolved, invisible. At the same time, from behind, from the side of the gallery, their massiveness and thickness are visible. From the east and west, the pressure of the central dome gradually spreads first to two large and then to six smaller half-domes, where it goes out completely. In the north and south, two-story vaulted galleries play the role of shock absorbers. All these construction techniques create an amazing ease of perception of the interior: concave hemispheres hang in the air, as if by some miracle, and the wall, cut through by dozens of windows, seems thin as paper. From the outside, this lightness is ensured by powerful buttress towers and arches, which tighten the entire structure with a stone hoop, making the temple look like a fortress.

The foundation of the building was constructed in a special way using a mixture of lime with tree bark and sand, moistened with barley decoction: such a hydraulic mass held the stone together, giving it the hardness of iron. The walls and vaults of the temple were built of brick. They have a perimeter of 79 x 72 meters and a height of 56 meters from base to top. A serious problem for construction was that the dome of the church was extremely large. For its vaults, special hollow bricks were used, so light that a dozen of them weighed no more than a piece of tile. To make such bricks, clay found on the island of Rhodes was used, products from which were lightweight and durable. The walls themselves were built slightly inclined (in the shape of a cone with an increase in the upper part). This led to the fact that in 558 the dome was destroyed and another one, of smaller diameter, was built, but even now it amazes with its size. In the X and XIV centuries. During earthquakes, the dome was partially destroyed. Now, after repairs and restoration work, its shape is no longer strictly circular (the diameter at the base is 31 by 33 meters).

In interior decoration Marble, granite and porphyry were widely used. By order of Emperor Justinian, rare varieties of marble were brought here - snow-white, light green, white-red and pink. Inside, the temple was decorated from top to bottom with gold and colored mosaic images. The top board of the throne was made of gold interspersed with precious stones, and the floor around is covered with gold sheets. Above the throne rose a golden canopy in the form of a canopy, which rested on four silver columns and was crowned with a cross sprinkled with diamonds. According to the chronicle narrative, it was the beauty of the decoration and worship in the St. Sophia Church that the Russian ambassadors who arrived to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich from Constantinople spoke about.

St. Sophia Cathedral remained a unique architectural structure, but its composition in some essential features was repeated in many subsequent buildings.

In the VI century. and subsequent centuries, the strengthening of proskomedia in the Sacrament of the Eucharist required the location of an altar next to the altar. A three-part and, as the most common option, a three-apse structure of the altar part of the temple arose. The evolution of Byzantine churches proceeded through the gradual formation of a cruciform middle space: from a domed basilica to a cross-domed structure.

In general, the domed basilica could not satisfy the ideological and aesthetic searches of its time, since it had a large space, its composition was not balanced and perfect, and did not set people up to contemplate the Heavenly Kingdom. Exactly cross-domed type of temple became an expression of the unity of heaven and earth, when the dome and vaults began to be associated with the heavenly world. The painting system interpreted these celestial spheres in detail, starting with the image of the Pantocrator or the Ascension in a dome surrounded by archangels. On the arches of the arms of the cross a New Testament story was told, in connection with which the cruciform spatial composition of the temple acquired a special symbolic meaning. The structure of the internal architectural lines, going down from the dome, turned it into a unifying and, as it were, blessing cover for all who came under its arches.

A variant of the cross-dome system and its most common type in both Byzantine and Russian architecture became four-column domed temple . It has the shape of an inscribed cross with equal branches and a dome in the center, which no longer rests on pillars or walls as the main supports, but on four columns forming a central square. Columns from decorative element turned into the main compositional, structural element. To create such a design, the main thing was the appearance drum – a cylindrical or multifaceted upper part of the building, resting on the vaults and serving as the base of the dome. With its spread, the temple space acquired a hall character. The choirs could no longer be built inside the temple structure, since their level would have crossed the columns. They remained only above the narthex (narthex) and the corner cells. Four-column domed churches began to appear already in the 7th – 8th centuries. (even before iconoclasm). This type of temple became most widespread in the 9th century.

In cross-domed churches there is no clearly defined direction from west to east, as in the basilica cathedrals of Western Europe. It dominates here circular rhythm - a movement going around one, clearly emphasized center, which is the under-dome space of the temple. Thus, the architecture of an Orthodox church reflects the closest communication possible for a person with God during the Liturgy.

The originality of the design of Byzantine churches lay in the contrast between their external appearance and interior. The appearance was striking with the harsh smoothness of the walls, completely devoid, especially in the early period, of decorative elements, which contrasted with the rich decoration of ancient temples. According to patristic ideas, like a humble Christian with his rich inner spiritual life, the temple had to be emphasized strictly in its exterior.

The four-column domed temple became a model for all subsequent construction. It was he who embodied the unity of architectural composition and ideological ideas. In such churches a unique feeling is born: the hally nature of the central part helps to unite believers into a single spiritual group, but the independence of the development of space does not create a feeling of isolation. In this space, a person remains separate, even from those standing next to him. Only by looking up does he finally find a unified architectural system of divisions. A peculiar sense of the value of individual human will is combined with a feeling of being lost in a free, rhythmically endless space.

For a modern person, such a close connection between vision and inner experience may seem somewhat artificial. However, it corresponds to the actually existing specificity of ancient and Byzantine artistic perception. The transition to contemplation is an essential moment of the Byzantine path to knowledge, the transformation of the Christian’s consciousness, the elevation of man to in-depth contemplation of God’s creation - the universe as a whole.

An essential feature of such a temple was its interior decoration, luxurious interior decorations and icons. The painting system of the Byzantine temple testified to its perception as a microcosm: starting from the central dome, images were placed in vertical zones in accordance with their sacred significance. The inextricable connection between architecture and mural painting led to the creation of a single image, and the Liturgy helped the believer perceive its reality. According to Patriarch Photius (second half of the 9th century), “entering the interior, you imagine yourself suddenly transported to heaven. Everything here glitters with gold, silver, marble; the pillar and the floor and everything around dazzles and delights.” Architecture, temple painting and worship formed a whole; they became inseparable in their expressiveness and symbolism. Even though all the subtleties of interpretation were accessible to a small group of believers, everyone understood the general idea: the vertical development of an architectural organism united both worlds, forming a common cosmos.

Temple art of the West.

In addition to the Byzantine type, a new one was emerging in the Western Christian world by the 11th century. appearance temples. On the one hand, it had similarities with basilicas and Byzantine churches, and on the other hand, there were differences, thanks to which it received the name Romanesque style.

Roman style. The temple, built in the Romanesque style, like the basilica, consisted of a wide and elongated base - a nave (ship), contained between two side naves, half the height and width. On the eastern, front side, a transverse rectangular part called a transept was attached to these naves. Since its edges protruded from the body, this gave the building the shape of a cross. Behind the transept, as in the basilica, there was an apse intended for the altar. On the rear, western side, porches or narthexes were still built. A feature of the Romanesque style was that the floor was laid in the apses and transept higher than in the middle part of the temple, and the columns various parts The temples began to be connected to each other by a semicircular vault and decorated at the upper and lower ends with carved, molded and overlaid images and figures.

Romanesque churches began to be built on a solid foundation that came out of the ground. At the entrance to the temple on the sides there are pretends from the 11th century. sometimes two majestic towers were built, reminiscent of modern bell towers.

The Romanesque style, which appeared in the 10th century, began to spread in Western Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries and lasted until the 13th century, when it was replaced by the Gothic style.

Gothic style. Gothic is a period in the development of medieval art in Western, Central and partly Eastern Europe from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Gothic replaced the Romanesque style, gradually displacing it. The term "Gothic" is most often applied to a well-known style of architecture that can be briefly described as "intimidatingly majestic." But Gothic covers almost all works visual arts of this period: sculpture, painting, book miniatures, stained glass, fresco and many others. Gothic style originated in the middle of the 12th century in northern France. In the 13th century it spread to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, and England. Gothic penetrated into Italy later, with great difficulty and strong transformation, which led to the emergence of the “Italian Gothic” style. At the end of the 14th century, Europe was swept by the so-called International Gothic. Gothic churches are otherwise called “lancet”, because in their plan and external decoration, although they resemble Romanesque churches, they differ from the latter by sharp, pyramidal ends reaching to the sky: towers, pillars, bell towers. Pointedness is also manifested in the internal structure of temples: in vaults, column joints, windows and corner parts. Gothic temples were especially distinguished by the abundance of high and frequent windows; As a result, there was little space left on the walls for sacred images. But the windows of Gothic churches were covered with paintings. This style is most pronounced in the external lines. Such images, composed of pieces of multi-colored glass, are called stained glass.

Renaissance style. Gothic style Christian churches in the architecture of Western Europe from the 14th century, under the influence of the revival of ancient, classical knowledge and art, it gradually gives way to the Renaissance style. This style spread to Western Europe, starting in Italy. In the content of Renaissance art, there is a change in the hierarchy of the main life values. The humanistic culture of the Renaissance calls man the highest value, the cult of enjoying earthly life, the cult of beauty human body. The change in worldview and hierarchy of values ​​- the preference for the earthly over the Heavenly Divine - was reflected in the content of all types of art of this era and, above all, in the appearance of the Christian temple: in the style of temple construction and temple decoration.

Having become acquainted with ancient Greek and Roman art, European architects began to use some features of ancient architecture in the construction of temples, sometimes even introducing the forms of pagan temples into the appearance of a Christian temple. The influence of ancient architecture is especially noticeable in the external and internal columns and decorations of newly built temples.

The general features of Renaissance architecture are as follows: in terms of the temple, it is an oblong quadrangle with a transept and an apse-altar (this has similarities with the Romanesque style); the vaults and arches are not pointed, but round, domed (this is different from the Gothic and similar to the Byzantine style); The interior and exterior columns are ancient Greek in style. The most striking example of the Renaissance style is the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Rome.

Ornaments were used in the interior decoration of temples. They were created by craftsmen in the form of leaves, flowers, figures, people and animals (as opposed to Byzantine patterns associated with Christian symbols). In Christian churches built in the Renaissance style, you can see many sculptural images of saints, which is not customary in churches of the Basilica, Byzantine and Orthodox Russian style. In the painting of temples created by famous Renaissance artists Michelangelo, Raphael and others, external admiration of the earthly beauty of the beautiful human appearance predominates, to the detriment of the spiritual meaning of images of sacred events. Often the highest artistic skill of artists serves as a masterful depiction of small everyday details of medieval everyday life.

Old Russian architecture and its masters.

Russian church architecture began to develop in Rus' with the adoption of Christianity in 988. A need arose for the construction of new churches and, moreover, stone churches, while the Christian churches that existed before the Baptism of Rus' were small in number. They were built from wood.

Old Russian churches of the 11th – 13th centuries. Greek craftsmen were called in to build the first stone temples, since until that time the Slavs were not familiar with stone construction. However, they relatively quickly mastered a new type of architecture, and already in the 11th century, stone churches began to be built by their own craftsmen, who learned this art from the Greeks. Only the most important churches were built with stone: St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. Having adopted the Christian faith and features of worship from Byzantium, Rus' also borrowed the features of temple construction. In Greece at that time the Byzantine style dominated. Therefore, the ancient churches of Rus' in Kyiv, Novgorod, Pskov, Vladimir Suzdal and Moscow were built in the Byzantine style. In Kyiv and the Kyiv region, ancient temples that appeared before the 13th century are: the Tithe Church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, St. Sophia Cathedral, Kiev Pechersk Lavra, St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, Church of the Savior on Berestov, Kirillov Monastery and others.

In Novgorod and the Novgorod region there are the most ancient churches of the 11th – 14th centuries: St. Sophia Cathedral, Church of the Savior in Nereditsy, Church of St. Nicholas on Lipna, Church of St. Theodore Stratilates, Church of the Transfiguration on Ilinskaya Street, Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Church of the Assumption Mother of God in Volotovo and the Church of St. George in Ladoga. In Pskov - these are: the Spaso-Mirozhsky Monastery and the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, etc. In Vladimir Suzdal and its region - the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky, the Assumption Cathedral in Zvenigorod, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl near the Bogolyubov Monastery, the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir on Klyazma, Dimitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir, Church of the Assumption in the Vladimir Convent, Rostov Assumption Cathedral, St. George's Cathedral in the city of Yuryev Polsky and others.

Despite the fact that most of these churches have not survived to this day in their original form, and some of them either completely disappeared or were remodeled (including such as the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral and the Tithe Church, the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral), scientists Still, they were able to form an idea of ​​the original appearance of these churches. At the same time, it was discovered that between the ancient Kyiv, Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal churches there was an identity in plan, method of construction and internal structure. But in some particular features a difference is noticeable: Novgorod churches differ from Kyiv ones in their roofs (gables) and separate belfries. In Vladimir-Suzdal there are even more characteristic differences from Kyiv and Novgorod, namely: a horizontal belt covering the temple in the middle and consisting of a number of columns, arched vaults under the roof of the temple, an abundance of bas-relief decorations on the walls of the temple. These features of the Vladimir-Suzdal churches and the somewhat elongated quadrangle in plan give the right to some researchers to bring this type of Russian churches closer to the Romanesque style.

Russian-Greek style . The plan of the first Russian churches built in the Byzantine style included a rectangular base with three altar semicircles. Inside the temple, four pillars with arches topped with a dome were erected. However, despite the great similarity between ancient Russian temples and contemporary Greek ones, there is also a noticeable difference between them in domes, windows and decorations. In multi-domed Greek temples, the domes were placed on special pillars and at different heights compared to the main dome. In Russian churches, all domes were placed at the same height. The windows in Byzantine churches were large and frequent, while in Russian ones they were small and sparsely spaced. Door openings in Byzantine churches were horizontal, while in Russian ones they were semi-circular. Large Greek churches sometimes had two porches - an internal one, intended for catechumens and penitents, and an external one (or porch), furnished with columns. In Russian churches, only small internal porches were installed. In Greek temples, columns were a necessary accessory, both in the internal and external parts; in Russian churches, due to the lack of marble and stone, there were no columns. Thanks to these differences, some experts call the Russian style not just Byzantine (Greek), but mixed - Russian-Greek. Characteristic feature and the difference between Russian domes and Greek domes is that above the dome under the cross there was a special dome, resembling an onion.

Wooden architecture . There were few stone churches in Rus'. If the first stone temples built by Greek or Russian craftsmen were supposed to be similar to Byzantine ones, then this similarity was not entirely observed during the construction of wooden churches. Wooden churches, due to the abundance wood materials(especially in the northern regions of Russia), there were much more. In the construction of these churches by Russian craftsmen (often simple carpenters), who had managed to develop certain of their own techniques and forms of architecture by the time of the adoption of Christianity, they showed more independence than in the construction of stone ones. In the field of wooden architecture, Russian masters stood ahead of the Byzantines, who built exclusively from stone and brick.

During the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the influence of a foreign culture penetrated into different aspects of the way of life and art of Rus'. However, it did not affect wooden architecture at all. The yoke only delayed, as evidenced by the decline of stone architecture of that period, the development of architectural forms and construction. The shape and plan of ancient wooden churches was either a square or an oblong quadrangle. The domes were round or tower-shaped, sometimes in large quantities and various sizes. Examples of wooden temple construction are the churches of the North, for example, in Kizhi.

Stone architecture of the XV-XVI centuries. Until the 15th century, Moscow churches were usually built by craftsmen from Novgorod, Vladimir and Suzdal and resembled the temples of Kiev-Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal architecture. But these temples have not survived: they either completely died from time, fires and Tatar destruction, or were rebuilt in a new way. Other churches built after the 15th century after the liberation from the Tatar yoke and the strengthening of the Moscow state have been preserved. Beginning with the reign of Grand Duke John III (1462 - 1505), foreign builders and artists came to Russia and were invited, who, with the help of Russian craftsmen and according to the guidance of ancient Russian traditions of church architecture, created several historical temples. The most important of them are the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (rebuilt in 1475-1479), where the crowning of the Russian Sovereigns took place (builder by the Italian Aristotle Fioravanti), the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin - the tomb of Russian princes and tsars (builder by the Italian Aleviz Novy; the cathedral was rebuilt in 1505-1509), the Annunciation Cathedral (rebuilt in 1484-1489). At the beginning of the 16th century, construction began on the Ivan the Great Church and Bell Tower, the tallest building in the Moscow Kremlin.

Tent style. WITH Over time, Russian builders developed their own national architectural style of temple construction. The first type of Russian style is called « tent" (or pole). It is a type of several separate churches united into one church, each of which looks like a pillar or a tent, topped with a dome and dome. In addition to the massiveness of the pillars and columns in such a temple and the large number of onion-shaped domes, the features of the tented temple are the variegation and variety of colors of its external and internal parts. Examples of such churches are the Church of John the Baptist in the village of Dyakovo (1547), the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530-1532), St. Basil's Cathedral (Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Moat) in Moscow, built in 1555-1560 in memory of the victory over Kazan. About the origin of the tent or pillar type, some historians suggest that wooden churches were first built in the form of pillars, and then stone ones.

Temples of the XV-XVII centuries. A feature of 17th-century churches is their brightly decorated exterior: the façades are topped with carved pyramids, painted kokoshniks, and carved window frames. This elegant style was called “Russian patterned”. An example of a temple of this style is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putniki in Moscow (1649-1652).

Temples of the 18th - 19th centuries. The time of distribution of the tent type in Russia ends in the 17th century. Later, a reluctance towards this style and even a prohibition of it on the part of the spiritual authorities was noticed (perhaps due to its difference from the historical Byzantine style).

Starting from the middle of the 17th century, the “Russian patterned” style was replaced by the monumental style of “Russian Baroque”, which reflected the features of Western European classical culture in architectural forms. Examples are the Resurrection Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg (architect Rastrel), St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv, the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Fili in Moscow (1693-1694). IN last decades In the 19th century, a revival of the tented type of temples was awakening. Several historical churches are being created in this form, for example, the Trinity Church of the St. Petersburg “Society for the Propagation of Religious and Moral Education in the Spirit of the Orthodox Church” and the Church of the Resurrection (Savior on Spilled Blood) on the site of the assassination of Tsar-Liberator Alexander I (1907). During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, for the construction of military churches in St. Petersburg, the architect Konstantin Ton developed a style called “Tonovsky”. An example is the Church of the Annunciation in the Horse Guards Regiment.

Of the Western European styles (Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance style), only the Renaissance style was used in the construction of Russian churches in the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. The features of this rational classical style are visible in the two main cathedrals of St. Petersburg - Kazan (1737) and St. Isaac's (1858). Sometimes in the external appearance of the temple one notices a mixture of styles - Basilica and Byzantine, or Romanesque and Gothic.

In the 18th – 19th centuries, house churches, established in palaces and houses of rich people, at educational and government institutions and at almshouses, became widespread. Such churches can be compared with ancient Christian ikos.

Famous architects who built churches in Russia were such masters as Aristotle Fioravanti (XV century) - builder of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Barma and Postnik Yakovlev (XVI century) - architects of the Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral ) on Red Square, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (XVIII century) - creator of the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Vasily Ermolin (XV century), Pavel Potekhin (XVII century), Yakov Bukhvostov (XVII - early XVIII century) , Osip Bove (XVIII - early XIX century), Konstantin Ton (19th century). Each of them brought their own unique creative features to temple construction, preserving the features of the Russian type of church architecture.

Questions to control the mastery of competencies:

1. What are the structure and symbolism of the Old Testament tabernacle of the prophet Moses?

2. Which one internal structure has an Orthodox church? Reveal the symbolic meaning of each part.

3. How is the liturgical character of Orthodox architecture reflected in the architecture of an Orthodox church?

4. How does the composition of the iconostasis reflect the idea of ​​the heavenly hierarchy and the path of Christians to Christ? Tell us about the images on different tiers of the Russian iconostasis.

5. List the main types of Christian churches, determine the stages of their creation and give examples of the most typical structures.

6. What type of temples is most widespread in Rus' and why?

An Orthodox church in historically established forms means, first of all, the Kingdom of God in the unity of its three areas: Divine, heavenly and earthly. Hence the most common three-part division of the temple: the altar, the temple itself and the vestibule (or meal). The altar marks the realm of God's existence, the temple itself is the realm of the heavenly angelic world(spiritual sky) and the porch-region of earthly existence. Consecrated in a special manner, crowned with a cross and decorated with holy images, the temple is a beautiful sign of the entire universe, headed by God its Creator and Maker.

The history of the emergence of Orthodox churches and their structure is as follows.

In an ordinary residential building, but in a special “large upper room, furnished, ready” (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12), the Last Supper of the Lord Jesus Christ with His disciples was prepared, that is, arranged in a special way. Here Christ washed the feet of His disciples. He himself performed the first Divine Liturgy - the sacrament of transforming bread and wine into His Body and Blood, talked for a long time at a spiritual meal about the mysteries of the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven, then everyone, singing sacred hymns, went to the Mount of Olives. At the same time, the Lord commanded to do this, that is, to do the same and in the same way, in His remembrance.

This is the beginning of a Christian church, as a specially designed room for prayer meetings, communion with God and the performance of the sacraments, and all Christian worship - what we still see in developed, flourishing forms in our Orthodox churches.

Left after the Ascension of the Lord without their Divine Teacher, the disciples of Christ remained primarily in the upper room of Zion (Acts 1:13) until the day of Pentecost, when in this upper room during a prayer meeting they were honored with the promised Descent of the Holy Spirit. This great event, which contributed to the conversion of many people to Christ, became the beginning of the structure of the earthly Church of Christ. The Acts of the Holy Apostles testify that these first Christians “continued with one accord every day in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart” (Acts 2:46). The first Christians continued to venerate the Old Testament Jewish temple, where they went to pray, but they celebrated the New Testament sacrament of the Eucharist in other premises, which at that time could only be ordinary residential buildings. The apostles themselves set an example for them (Acts 3:1). The Lord, through His angel, commands the apostles, “standing in the temple” of Jerusalem, to preach to the Jews “the words of life” (Acts 5:20). However, for the sacrament of Communion and for their meetings in general, the apostles and other believers gather in special places (Acts 4:23, 31), where they are again visited by the special grace-filled actions of the Holy Spirit. This suggests that the Temple of Jerusalem was used by Christians of that time mainly to preach the Gospel to Jews who had not yet believed, while the Lord favored Christian meetings to be established in special places, separate from the Jews.

The persecution of Christians by the Jews finally broke the connection of the apostles and their disciples with the Jewish temple. During the time of the apostolic preaching, specially designed rooms in residential buildings continued to serve as Christian churches. But even then, in connection with the rapid spread of Christianity in Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, attempts were made to create special temples, which is confirmed by later catacomb temples in the shape of ships. During the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the houses of wealthy Roman believers and special buildings for secular meetings on their estates - basilicas - often began to serve as places of prayer for Christians. The basilica is a slender rectangular oblong building with a flat ceiling and a gable roof, decorated from the outside and inside along its entire length with rows of columns. The large internal space of such buildings, unoccupied by anything, and their location separate from all other buildings, favored the establishment of the first churches in them. Basilicas had an entrance from one of the narrow sides of this long rectangular building, and on the opposite side there was an apse - a semicircular niche separated from the rest of the room by columns. This separate part probably served as an altar.

Persecution of Christians forced them to look for other places for meetings and worship. Such places were the catacombs, vast dungeons in ancient Rome and other cities of the Roman Empire, which served Christians as a refuge from persecution, a place of worship and burial. The most famous are the Roman catacombs. Here, in granular tuff, pliable enough to carve out a grave or even an entire room with the simplest tool, and strong enough not to crumble and preserve the tombs, labyrinths of multi-story corridors were carved. Within the walls of these corridors, graves were made one above the other, where the dead were placed, covering the grave with a stone slab with inscriptions and symbolic images. The rooms in the catacombs were divided into three main categories according to size and purpose: cubicles, crypts and chapels. Cubicles are a small room with burials in the walls or in the middle, something like a chapel. The crypt is a medium-sized temple, intended not only for burial, but also for meetings and worship. The chapel with many graves in the walls and in the altar is a fairly spacious temple that could accommodate big number of people. On the walls and ceilings of all these buildings, inscriptions, symbolic Christian images, frescoes (wall paintings) with images of Christ the Savior, the Mother of God, saints, and events of the sacred history of the Old and New Testaments have been preserved to this day.

The catacombs mark the era of early Christian spiritual culture and quite clearly characterize the direction of development of temple architecture, painting, and symbolism. This is especially valuable because no above-ground temples from this period have survived: they were mercilessly destroyed during times of persecution. So, in the 3rd century. During the persecution of Emperor Decius, about 40 Christian churches were destroyed in Rome alone.

The underground Christian temple was a rectangular, oblong room, in the eastern and sometimes in the western part of which there was a large semicircular niche, separated by a special low lattice from the rest of the temple. In the center of this semicircle, the tomb of the martyr was usually placed, which served as a throne. In the chapels, in addition, there was a bishop's pulpit (seat) behind the altar, in front of the altar, then followed by the middle part of the temple, and behind it a separate, third part for the catechumens and penitents, corresponding to the vestibule.

The architecture of the oldest catacomb Christian churches shows us a clear, complete ship type of church, divided into three parts, with an altar separated by a barrier from the rest of the temple. This is a classic type of Orthodox church that has survived to this day.

If a basilica church is an adaptation of a civil pagan building for the needs of Christian worship, then a catacomb church is a free Christian creativity not bound by the need to imitate anything, reflecting the depth of Christian dogma.

Underground temples are characterized by arches and vaulted ceilings. If a crypt or chapel was built close to the surface of the earth, then a luminaria was cut out in the dome of the middle part of the temple - a well going out to the surface, from where daylight poured.

The recognition of the Christian Church and the cessation of persecution against it in the 4th century, and then the adoption of Christianity in the Roman Empire as the state religion marked the beginning new era in the history of the Church and church art. The division of the Roman Empire into the western - Roman and eastern - Byzantine parts entailed first a purely external, and then a spiritual and canonical division of the Church into the Western, Roman Catholic, and Eastern, Greek Catholic. The meanings of the words “Catholic” and “catholic” are the same - universal. These different spellings are adopted to distinguish the Churches: Catholic - for the Roman, Western, and catholic - for the Greek, Eastern.

Church art in the Western Church went its own way. Here the basilica remained the most common basis of temple architecture. And in the Eastern Church in the V-VIII centuries. The Byzantine style developed in the construction of churches and in all church art and worship. Here the foundations of spiritual and external life Church, since then called Orthodox.

Temples in the Orthodox Church were built in different ways, but each temple symbolically corresponded to church doctrine. Thus, churches in the form of a cross meant that the Cross of Christ is the basis of the Church and the ark of salvation for people; round churches signified the catholicity and eternity of the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven, since a circle is a symbol of eternity, which has neither beginning nor end; temples in the form of an octagonal star marked the Star of Bethlehem and the Church as a guiding star to salvation in the life of the future, the eighth century, for the period of the earthly history of mankind was counted in seven large periods - centuries, and the eighth is eternity in the Kingdom of God, the life of the future century. Ship churches were common in the form of a rectangle, often close to a square, with a rounded projection of the altar apse extended to the east.

There were churches of mixed types: cruciform in appearance, but round inside, in the center of the cross, or rectangular in outer shape, and round inside, in the middle part.

In all types of temples, the altar was certainly separated from the rest of the temple; temples continued to be two - and more often three-part.

The dominant feature in Byzantine temple architecture remained a rectangular temple with a rounded projection of altar apses extended to the east, with a figured roof, with a vaulted ceiling inside, which was supported by a system of arches with columns, or pillars, with a high domed space, which resembles the internal view of the temple in the catacombs. Only in the middle of the dome, where the source of natural light was located in the catacombs, did they begin to depict the True Light that came into the world - the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course, the similarity between Byzantine churches and catacomb churches is only the most general, since the above-ground churches of the Orthodox Church are distinguished by their incomparable splendor and greater external and internal detail. Sometimes they have several spherical domes topped with crosses.

The internal structure of the temple also marks a kind of heavenly dome stretched over the earth, or a spiritual sky connected to the earth by the pillars of truth, which corresponds to the word Holy Scripture about the Church: “Wisdom built herself a house, she hewed out its seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1).

An Orthodox church is certainly crowned with a cross on the dome or on all domes, if there are several of them, as a sign of victory and as evidence that the Church, like all creation, chosen for salvation, enters the Kingdom of God thanks to the Redemptive Feat of Christ the Savior.

By the time of the Baptism of Rus', a type of cross-domed church was emerging in Byzantium, which unites in synthesis the achievements of all previous directions in the development of Orthodox architecture.

The architectural design of the cross-domed church lacks the easily visible visibility that was characteristic of basilicas. Internal prayer effort and spiritual concentration on the symbolism of spatial forms are necessary so that the complex structure of the temple appears as a single symbol of the One God. Such architecture contributed to the transformation of the consciousness of ancient Russian man, elevating him to an in-depth contemplation of the universe.

Together with Orthodoxy, Rus' accepted examples from Byzantium church architecture. Such famous Russian churches as the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral, St. Sophia of Novgorod, Vladimir Assumption Cathedral were deliberately built in the likeness of the Constantinople St. Sophia Cathedral. While preserving the general and basic architectural features of Byzantine churches, Russian churches have much that is original and unique. IN Orthodox Russia Several distinctive architectural styles emerged. Among them, the style that stands out most is the one closest to Byzantine. This is a classic type of white-stone rectangular church, or even basically square, but with the addition of an altar with semicircular apses, with one or more domes on a figured roof. The spherical Byzantine shape of the dome covering was replaced by a helmet-shaped one. In the middle part of small churches there are four pillars that support the roof and symbolize the four evangelists, the four cardinal directions. In the central part of the cathedral church there may be twelve or more pillars. At the same time, the pillars with the intersecting space between them form the signs of the Cross and help divide the temple into its symbolic parts.

The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and his successor, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, sought to organically include Rus' into the universal organism of Christianity. The churches they erected served this purpose, placing believers before the perfect Sophia image of the Church. This orientation of consciousness through liturgically experiential life determined in many ways the further paths of Russian medieval church art. Already the first Russian churches spiritually testify to the connection between earth and heaven in Christ, to the Theanthropic nature of the Church. The Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral expresses the idea of ​​the Church as a unity consisting of multiple parts with a certain independence. The hierarchical principle of the structure of the universe, which became the main dominant of the Byzantine worldview, is clearly expressed both in the external and internal appearance of the temple. A person entering a cathedral feels organically included in a hierarchically ordered universe. Its mosaic and picturesque decoration is inextricably linked with the entire appearance of the temple. In parallel with the formation of the type of cross-domed temple in Byzantium, the process of creating unified system temple painting, embodying the theological and dogmatic expression of the teachings of the Christian faith. With its extreme symbolic thoughtfulness, this painting had a huge impact on the receptive and open-to-spirit consciousness of Russian people, developing in it new forms of perception of hierarchical reality. The painting of the Kyiv Sophia became the defining model for Russian churches. At the zenith of the drum of the central dome is the image of Christ as the Lord Pantocrator (Pantocrator), distinguished by its monumental power. Below are four archangels, representatives of the world of the heavenly hierarchy, mediators between God and man. Images of archangels are located in the four cardinal directions as a sign of their dominance over the elements of the world. In the piers, between the windows of the drum of the central dome, there are images of the holy apostles. In the sails are images of the four evangelists. The sails on which the dome rests were perceived in ancient church symbolism as the architectural embodiment of faith in the Gospel, as the basis of salvation. On the girth arches and in the medallions of the Kyiv Sophia there are images of forty martyrs. The general concept of the temple is spiritually revealed in the image of Our Lady Oranta (from Greek: Praying) - the “Unbreakable Wall”, placed at the top of the central apse, which strengthens the chaste life of religious consciousness, permeating it with the energies of the indestructible spiritual foundation of the entire created world. Under the image of Oranta is the Eucharist in a liturgical version. The next row of paintings - the holy order - contributes to the experience of the spiritual co-presence of the creators of Orthodox worship - Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Gregory Dvoeslov. Thus, already the first Kyiv churches became, as it were, mother soil for the further development of the spiritual life of Russian Orthodoxy.

The genesis of Byzantine church art is marked by the diversity of church and cultural centers of the empire. Then the process of unification gradually occurs. Constantinople becomes a legislator in all spheres of church life, including liturgical and artistic. Since the 14th century, Moscow began to play a similar role. After the fall of Constantinople under the blows of the Turkish conquerors in 1453, Moscow became increasingly aware of it as the “third Rome,” the true and only legitimate heir of Byzantium. In addition to the Byzantine ones, at the origins of Moscow church architecture are the traditions of North-Eastern Rus' with its universal synthetic nature, and purely national system Novgorodians and Pskovians. Although all these diverse elements were included to one degree or another in Moscow architecture, nevertheless, a certain independent idea (“logos”) of this architectural school, which was destined to predetermine all further development of church building, is clearly visible.

IN XV-XVII centuries In Russia, a significantly different style of building temples developed from the Byzantine one. Elongated rectangular, but certainly with semicircular apses to the east, one-story and two-story churches with winter and summer churches appear, sometimes white stone, more often brick with covered porches and covered arched galleries - walkways around all walls, with gable, hipped and figured roofs, on which they flaunt one or several highly raised domes in the form of domes, or bulbs. The walls of the temple are decorated with elegant decoration and windows with beautiful stone carvings or tiled frames. Next to the temple or together with the temple, a high tented bell tower with a cross at the top is erected above its porch.

Russian wooden architecture acquired a special style. The properties of wood as a building material determined the features of this style. It is difficult to create a smoothly shaped dome from rectangular boards and beams. Therefore, in wooden churches, instead of it there is a pointed tent. Moreover, the appearance of a tent began to be given to the church as a whole. This is how wooden temples appeared to the world in the form of a huge pointed wooden cone. Sometimes the roof of the temple was arranged in the form of many cone-shaped wooden domes with crosses rising upward (for example, the famous temple at the Kizhi churchyard).

The forms of wooden temples influenced stone (brick) construction. They began to build intricate stone tented churches that resembled huge towers (pillars). The highest achievement of stone hipped architecture is rightfully considered the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, a complex, intricate, multi-decorated structure of the 16th century. The basic plan of the cathedral is cruciform. The cross consists of four main churches located around the middle one, the fifth. The middle church is square, the four side ones are octagonal. The cathedral has nine temples in the form of cone-shaped pillars, together making up one huge colorful tent.

Tents in Russian architecture did not last long: in the middle of the 17th century. Church authorities prohibited the construction of tented churches, since they were sharply different from the traditional one-domed and five-domed rectangular (ship) churches. Russian churches are so diverse in their general appearance, details of decoration and decoration that one can endlessly be amazed at the invention and art of Russian craftsmen, the wealth artistic means Russian church architecture, its original character. All these temples traditionally retain a three-part (or two-part) symbolic internal division, both in the structure of the internal space and external design follow the deep spiritual truths of Orthodoxy. For example, the number of domes is symbolic: one dome symbolizes the unity of God, the perfection of creation; two domes correspond to the two natures of the God-man Jesus Christ, two areas of creation; three domes commemorate the Holy Trinity; four domes - Four Gospels, four cardinal directions; five domes (the most common number), where the middle one rises above the other four, signify the Lord Jesus Christ and the four evangelists; the seven domes symbolize the seven sacraments of the Church, the seven Ecumenical Councils.

Colorful glazed tiles are especially common. Another direction more actively used elements of both Western European, Ukrainian, and Belarusian church architecture with their compositional structures and stylistic motifs of the Baroque that were fundamentally new for Rus'. By the end of the 17th century, the second trend gradually became dominant. The Stroganov architectural school pays special attention to the ornamental decoration of facades, freely using elements of the classical order system. The Naryshkin Baroque school strives for strict symmetry and harmonious completeness of a multi-tiered composition. Like some kind of harbinger new era Peter's reforms, the activities of a number of Moscow architects of the late 17th century are perceived - Osip Startsev (Krutitsky Teremok in Moscow, St. Nicholas Military Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Brotherly Monastery in Kiev), Peter Potapov (Church in honor of the Assumption on Pokrovka in Moscow), Yakov Bukhvostov (Assumption Cathedral in Ryazan), Dorofey Myakishev (cathedral in Astrakhan), Vladimir Belozerov (church in the village of Marfin near Moscow). The reforms of Peter the Great, which affected all areas of Russian life, determined the further development of church architecture. The development of architectural thought in the 17th century prepared the way for the assimilation of Western European architectural forms. The task arose to find a balance between the Byzantine-Orthodox concept of the temple and new stylistic forms. Already the master of Peter the Great's time, I.P. Zarudny, when erecting a church in Moscow in the name of the Archangel Gabriel ("Menshikov Tower"), combined the tiered and centric structure traditional for Russian architecture of the 17th century with elements of the Baroque style. The synthesis of old and new in the ensemble of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra is symptomatic. When constructing the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg in the Baroque style, B. K. Rastrelli consciously took into account the traditional Orthodox planning of the monastery ensemble. Nevertheless, it was not possible to achieve organic synthesis in the 18th-19th centuries. Since the 30s of the 19th century, interest in Byzantine architecture has gradually revived. Only towards the end of the 19th century and in the 20th century were attempts made to revive in all their purity the principles of medieval Russian church architecture.

The altars of Orthodox churches are consecrated in the name of some holy person or sacred event, which is why the entire temple and parish get their name. Often in one temple there are several altars and, accordingly, several chapels, that is, several temples are, as it were, collected under one roof. They are consecrated in honor of different persons or events, but the entire temple as a whole usually takes its name from the main, central altar.

However, sometimes popular rumor assigns to the temple the name not of the main chapel, but of one of the side chapels, if it is consecrated in memory of a particularly revered saint.