Architectural monuments of ancient Rus'. How temples were built in Rus' Old Russian churches of Rus'

Despite the progress in our time and the constant discoveries being made, very few facts have reached us about the architecture of the ancient Slavs. All this is because in those days, basically all buildings were built from wood, and since this material is short-lived, the main historical monuments have not been preserved.

The ancient Slavs had good construction skills. And with the establishment of Christianity in Rus', many stone structures began to be built, such as temples and churches. The construction of cross-domed cathedrals was very developed at that time. All this is due to the fact that Christianity came to us from Byzantium, and accordingly, the construction of temples was carried out on the basis of Byzantine design schemes.

Story architecture of ancient Rus' began with the creation of the Kyiv state and this stage ended only with the advent of the Russian Empire. The first churches are considered to be Novgorod, Kyiv and Vladimir. The reign of Yaroslav the Wise (12th century) is considered to be the heyday of architectural architecture. In the 13th century, the development of church architecture in Rus' slowed down, this is due to the emergence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. And in the 15th century, already during the reign of Ivan III, the rapid development of architectural architecture began again.

Hagia Sophia in Novgorod

The history of this cathedral is very interesting. It was built in honor of the Novgorodians, who at one time helped Yaroslav the Wise sit on the throne of the Grand Duke. It took seven years to build and the temple was consecrated in 1052. The son of Grand Duke Yaroslav, Vladimir, who died on October 4, 1052, is buried in the Kyiv Church of St. Sophia.

It is worth noting that the cathedral was built from mixed materials - stone and brick. Its design is strictly symmetrical, and there are no galleries. Initially, the walls of this cathedral were not whitewashed. This is due to the fact that Slavic architects primarily focused on Byzantine designs, in which preference was given to mosaic and marble cladding. A little later, mosaics were replaced by frescoes, and marble by limestone.

The frame of the composition looks like a cross-domed church with five naves. This type of construction is characteristic only of temples built in the 11th century.

The first cathedral painting was carried out in 1109, but most of the frescoes could not be preserved to this day, with the exception of “Constantine and Helena”. Many frescoes were lost during the Great Patriotic War.

Several iconostases were constructed in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, or rather, there were three of them. The main icons located in the cathedral: the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”, Euthymius the Great, Anthony the Great, Saint Savva the Sanctified, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. It was possible to preserve the remains of holy books, of which the most surviving are six books: Princess Irina, Prince Vladimir, Princes Mstislav and Fyodor, Archbishops Nikita and John.

The cross of the central dome is decorated with a figure in the form of a dove, which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Hagia Sophia in Kyiv

The history of this cathedral begins in 1037, when it was founded by the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise. Sophia of Kiev has been very well preserved to this day; even picturesque decorations, such as frescoes and mosaics, have survived. These are two types of painting, combined not only in the Hagia Sophia, but also in almost all architectural monuments of Ancient Rus'. Now the church contains 260 square meters of mosaics and almost three thousand square meters of frescoes.

The temple contains a huge number of mosaics with images of the main saints. Such works are made on a golden background, which helps to highlight the richness of these masterpieces. Mosaics include more than 177 shades. But the names of the creative masters who created such beauty remain unknown to this day.

The main cathedral mosaics: Our Lady of the “Unbreakable Wall”, Annunciation, John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great.
In addition to frescoes and mosaics, a large number of graphic images (graffiti) have been preserved. There are more than seven thousand graffiti on the walls of the cathedral.

Five princes are buried in the St. Sophia Church: Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod, Rostislav Vsevolodovich, Vladimir Monomakh, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich.

Church of the Intercession on the Nerl

One of the outstanding architectural monuments of Ancient Rus'. The church is entirely made of stone and is considered the pinnacle of white stone architecture. It was built in 1165, by order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, in honor of his deceased son, who was killed by the Bulgars. The temple was erected in the Vladimir region, on the interfluve of the Nerl and Klyazma rivers.

This is the first monument in the history of architecture of Ancient Rus', which is dedicated to the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The design of the church is quite simple. It consists of four pillars, a cruciform dome and three apses. This is a one-domed church with exquisite proportions, due to which from a distance it seems as if the temple is floating in the air.
The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir

The date of foundation of the cathedral is considered to be 1197. This temple is famous among other architectural monuments of Ancient Rus' for its execution technique - white stone carving.

The temple was built personally for Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest and his family. Later, the church was consecrated in honor of the heavenly patron - Dmitry of Thessalonica.

The composition is based on the typical designs of Byzantine churches (four pillars and three apses). The dome of the church is gilded and topped with a neat cross, the weather vane of which is depicted in the form of a dove. The construction of the temple was carried out exclusively by Russian architects, but the decoration was carried out by Greek craftsmen, which is why in the cathedral you can find features characteristic of Western basilicas. Elements of Romanesque architecture are clearly expressed in the masonry technique and decoration.

The walls of the cathedral are decorated with various mythical images, horsemen, psalmists and saints. The temple houses a sculpture of David the musician. His miniature symbolizes the idea of ​​a god of a protected state. Also in the church there is an image of Vsevolod the Big Nest and his sons.

Although Demetrievsky Cathedral does not have external beauty, its interior is quite rich inside. Unfortunately, of the frescoes, only “The Last Judgment” has survived to this day.

Golden Gate of the city of Vladimir

The composition was erected in Vladimir, the basis for the construction of which was the order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1164. A total of 5 gates were built, of which only the Golden ones have survived to this day. They served as the entrance to the princely part of the city, which was considered the richest. The construction of the gate was carried out by Vladimir craftsmen.

There are rumors that at the end of the construction work, they fell on twelve people involved in construction. The townspeople thought that the masters had died, and then Bogolyubsky decided to turn with prayers to the icon of the Mother of God. When the collapse was cleared, the people littered with the remains of the gate were pulled out safe and alive. After this incident, a white stone chapel was built over the gate.

The height of the triumphal arch of the Golden Gate reaches fourteen meters. The main purpose of the structure was to protect the city of Vladimir from raids. The design was based on a combat platform from which enemies were fired upon. The remains of the site are still in the gate. It was possible to enter and exit the site using a stone staircase adjacent to it.

The Golden Gate is a symbolic image of princely power and greatness.

During the Mongol-Tatar invasion, many monuments from the Golden Gate were hidden by the townspeople. Most of them are included in the UNESCO list and are recognized as destroyed monuments. In 1970, a group of Japanese archaeologists came to the Soviet Union with the goal of clearing the bottom of the Klyazma River. At the end of the expedition, many objects that archaeologists considered lost were found. Among them were precious doors taken from the Golden Gate of Vladimir. Although this version is still more perceived as a legend. Since historical facts indicate that the residents of Vladimir did not have enough time to hide the relics, much less take them out of the city. If the doors were found, the location of the gold plates is unknown to this day.

Tithe Church

This is the first Russian church that was built of stone; it was consecrated in 996. The church is illuminated with the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its name is due to the fact that Grand Duke Vladimir allocated a tithe of the state budget, that is, a tenth, for the construction of the church.

The history of the church is directly related to the baptism of Rus'. The fact is that it was erected on the site where a clash between pagans and Christians took place. The building itself is a symbol of religious strife.

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

Another unique architectural monument of Ancient Rus' is the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. This monastery is included in the list of the first ancient Russian monasteries. Its construction was carried out in 1051, during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise. Its founder is considered to be the monk Anthony, whose roots came from Lyubech.

The location of the monastery is the city of Kyiv (Ukraine). Located on the coast of the Dnieper, on two hills. At first, on the site of the monastery there was an ordinary cave, into which the clergyman Hilarion came, but when he was appointed Metropolitan of Kyiv, the cave was abandoned. Around the same time, monk Anthony arrived in Kyiv, he found Hilarion’s cave and stayed in it. A little later, a church was erected over the cave, and already in 1073 it was lined with stone. In 1089 it was consecrated.

The frescoes and mosaics decorating the church were made by Byzantine masters.

Kirillovskaya Church

It is considered the oldest monument in the history of architecture of Ancient Rus'. The date of its foundation is considered to be 1139. The name of the church is associated with the names of Saints Athanasius and Cyril. The church is one of the main components of the composition of the Kirillov Monastery, which is located near Chernigov, in the village of Dorogozhychi. The Kirillovskaya Church was built under Prince Vsevolod Olgovich and subsequently became the tomb of the Olgovich family. Vsevolod’s wife, Maria, who was the daughter of Mstislav the Great, was buried there. Prince Svyatoslav was also buried in this church in 1194.

In 1786, the lands of the church were confiscated in favor of the state, and this was the end of the history of the Kirillov Monastery. The church was converted into a hospital church.

Church of the Savior on the Nereditsa River

The cathedral was built in the city of Novgorod and the date of its construction is 1198. The style of construction stands out for its unusually simple design and strict motifs; it is worth noting that all Novgorod buildings are made in this style. The church is in perfect harmony with the landscape due to the simplicity of the composition. The Cathedral of the Savior on the Nereditsa River, like most buildings of that time, is white stone. The interior of the church fully matches the external style.

The execution of paintings is of a strictly strict nature, with a predominance of clear forms. In the images of saints, open views can be traced; one gets the impression that the images are not simply depicted on the walls of the temple, but are, as it were, boarded up in them. Overall, the cathedral is a symbol of power and strength.

Novgorod Kremlin

The basis of every ancient Russian city was considered a strong Kremlin, which could protect the townspeople and withstand the defense from enemies. The Novgorod Kremlin is one of the oldest. For the tenth century he has been decorating and protecting his city. It is worth noting that, despite the fact that the Kremlin of the city of Novgorod is an old building, it still retains its original appearance. The Kremlin is made of red brick. On the territory of the Kremlin there is the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral, which is also included in the list of architectural masterpieces of Ancient Rus'. Its exterior and interior are designed in a sophisticated style. The floor is decorated with mosaics, on which the best craftsmen of that time worked.

The Novgorod Kremlin is an ensemble of the best architectural monuments that city residents can be proud of even today.

By the beginning of the 9th century, a huge super-union, the state of Rus', or, as scientists rightly call it, Kievan Rus, was created from individual Slavic tribal unions headed by “bright princes” (“princes of princes”).

In the era of Kievan Rus, the type of cultural and historical development of the Russian people was set within the framework of the close interweaving of two vectors of their spiritual life: Christian and pagan. The culture of this era is distinguished by the rapid growth of local feudal centers, accompanied by the development of local artistic styles in the fine and applied arts, architecture and chronicles.

The era of Kievan Rus was a time of flourishing of culture in general and architecture in particular.

2.1 Architecture of Kievan Rus until the 11th century.

Until the end of the 10th century. There was no monumental stone architecture in Rus', but there were rich traditions of wooden construction, some forms of which subsequently influenced stone architecture. After the adoption of Christianity, the construction of stone churches began, the construction principles of which were borrowed from Byzantium. In Rus', the cross-domed type of church became widespread. The interior space of the building was divided by four massive pillars, forming a cross in plan. On these pillars, connected in pairs by arches, a “drum” was erected, ending in a hemispherical dome. The ends of the spatial cross were covered with cylindrical vaults, and the corner parts with domed vaults. The eastern part of the building had projections for the altar - an apse. The interior space of the temple was divided by pillars into naves (spaces between rows). There could have been more pillars in the temple. In the western part there was a balcony - the choir, where the prince and his family and his entourage were present during the service. A spiral staircase, located in a specially designed tower, led to the choir. Sometimes the choirs were connected by a passage to the princely palace.

The pinnacle of southern Russian architecture of the 11th century. is the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv - a huge five-nave temple built in 1037-1054. Greek and Russian masters. In ancient times, it was surrounded by two open galleries. The walls are made of rows of cut stone alternating with rows of flat bricks (plinths). Most other ancient Russian churches had the same masonry walls. The Kiev Sophia was already significantly different from the Byzantine examples in the stepped composition of the temple, the presence of thirteen domes crowning it, which was probably influenced by the traditions of wooden construction. In the 11th century Several more stone buildings, including secular ones, were erected in Kyiv. The Assumption Church of the Pechersk Monastery marked the beginning of the spread of single-domed churches.

Following the Kyiv Sofia, St. Sophia Cathedrals were built in Novgorod and Polotsk. Novgorod Sophia (1045-1060) differs significantly from the Kyiv Cathedral. It is simpler, more concise, stricter than its original. It is characterized by some artistic and constructive solutions unknown to either southern Russian or Byzantine architecture: masonry of walls made of huge, irregularly shaped stones, gable ceilings, the presence of blades on the facades, an arcature belt on a drum, etc. This is partly explained by the connections of Novgorod with Western Europe and the influence of Romanesque architecture. Novgorod Sophia served as a model for subsequent Novgorod buildings of the early 12th century: the St. Nicholas Cathedral (1113), the cathedrals of the Antoniev (1117-1119) and Yuryev (1119) monasteries. The last princely building of this type is the Church of St. John on Opoki (1127).

The first stone building was the Church of the Tithes, erected in Kyiv at the end of the 10th century. Greek masters. It was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240. In 1031-1036. In Chernigov, Greek architects erected the Transfiguration Cathedral - the most “Byzantine”, according to experts, temple of Ancient Rus'.

2.2 Architecture during the period of feudal fragmentation

With the death of Prince Yaroslav in 1054. construction activity in Kyiv did not stop, but the prince’s successors abandoned the construction of such colossal multi-domed city cathedrals as the Church of the Tithes and St. Sophia of Kiev. With great zeal they set about building monasteries, where they would renounce worldly affairs and were to be buried.

Along with monasteries, churches were built in Rus' - the so-called land cathedrals and cathedrals of the court and princes.

The Land Cathedral was the main temple of a particular principality. (During the construction of cathedrals, a departure from the Byzantine architectural canon was indicated. As a rule, these were six-pillar, three-nave, three-apse, single-domed cross-domed churches with a vestibule. It was necessary for people just about to be baptized, of whom there were many in lands remote from Kiev and who during the service they were not supposed to be in the temple.

The functional affiliation of the court-princely cathedral was determined by its very name. The temple was built in the prince's courtyard and was connected to the prince's mansions by a covered passage. It was a four-pillar, three-nave, three-apse, single-domed cross-domed church without a vestibule. An obligatory attribute of such a temple was the choir in the western part, intended, as a rule, for the female half of the feudal aristocracy. Often, porch galleries with numerous arcosolia were added to the temple on the northern and southern sides for the burial of the princely family. This type of court-princely temple was a temple-tomb - a necropolis.

XII-XIII centuries - a controversial and tragic period in the history of Rus'. On the one hand, this is a time of the highest development of art, on the other, the almost complete collapse of Rus' into separate principalities, constantly at war with each other. However, at the same time, the cities of Vladimir Zalessky in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, Chernigov, Vladimir Volynsky (southwestern Rus'), Novgorod, and Smolensk began to gain strength. There was no political and military unity, but there was a consciousness of linguistic, historical and cultural unity.

Architecture of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

Under Prince Vladimir Monomakh, rapid construction began in the northeast of Rus', in Zalesye. As a result, one of the most beautiful artistic ensembles in all of medieval Europe was created here.

Under Yuri Dolgoruky (son of Vladimir Monomakh), the so-called Suzdal sleep - white stone architecture - was formed. The first church, the ancestor of the style, made of white stone, the blocks of which were perfectly matched to one another, was the Church of Boris and Gleb in the village of Kydeksha, (4 km from Suzdal, on the very place where the holy princes Boris and Gleb allegedly stayed, when they walked from Rostov and Suzdal to Kyiv). It was a temple-fortress. It was a powerful cube with three massive apses, slit-like windows resembling loopholes, wide blades, and a helmet-shaped dome.

The son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, finally moved to the Vladimir residence. He did everything so that the city of Vladimir (named after Vladimir Monomakh) would overshadow Kyiv. In the fortress wall surrounding the city, gates were built, the main of which were traditionally called Golden. Such gates were erected in all major cities of the Christian world, starting with Constantinople, in memory of the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem through the Golden Gate of the city. The Golden Gate of Vladimir was crowned by a gate church, decorated with carved decor and a golden dome. At the opposite end of the city stood the Silver Gate, no less massive and solemn.

The white stone facades of the cathedrals were decorated with stone carvings. The presence of stone decoration is an echo of the Romanesque style and is due to the fact that Andrei Bogolyubsky summoned craftsmen not only from Byzantium, but from all lands to his place in Vladimir. The already famous Church of the Intercession on the Nerl bears the imprint of this style. The church is dedicated to the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, established by Andrei Bogolyubsky to commemorate the unification of Rus' under the leadership of Vladimir.

Andrei Bogolyubsky built this court-princely temple not far from his chambers in memory of his beloved son Izyaslav, who died in a victorious campaign against the Bulgarians in 1164. The elegant one-domed church seems to float above the wide expanse of flooded meadows. Its upward aspiration is created primarily by harmonious proportions, a tripartite division of the facades, which corresponds to the organization of the interior space of the church, and the arched completion of the walls (the so-called zakomari), which became the leitmotif of the building, repeated in the design of window openings, portals, and the arcature belt.

The walls of the temple are decorated with stone ornaments made up of thin

columns connected at the top by semicircular arches (arcature belt), thin columns on “blades”, giving the dense mass of the wall lightness and airiness, zigzag (obliquely laid bricks) on a drum. The same composition of reliefs is repeated on all three facades. In the central zakomari there is a figure of the biblical psalmist David. The image of David was associated with Andrei Bogolyubsky himself, striving to end strife and restore order in the Russian land. On both sides of David, two doves are symmetrically located, which embody the idea of ​​peace, and under them there are figures of lions - defeated evil. Much lower are three female masks with hair braided, like symbols of the Virgin Mary, which were placed on all temples dedicated to her. Such stone decoration is a distinctive stylistic feature of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture. The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is the most lyrical monument of Russian architecture.

In 1185-1189 In Vladimir, a land cathedral was erected in honor of the Mother of God - the Assumption. The greatest Russian shrine was placed in the cathedral - the icon of the Mother of God, which, according to legend, was painted by the Evangelist Luke and secretly taken from Kyiv by Andrei Bogolyubsky. The cathedral was erected in the center of Vladimir, on the high bank of the Klyazma, towering above the city. Like any cathedral belonging to the land genre of religious architecture, the Assumption was a six-pillar, single-domed cross-domed church with a vestibule. According to the chronicler, “God brought craftsmen from all lands,” including newcomers from the Romanesque West, sent to Prince Andrew allegedly by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Expanded under Vsevolod the Big Nest, Andrei's brother, the cathedral acquired a more monumental appearance with extended facades divided into five sections and five domes.

During the time of Vsevolod, whose glory and power so amazed his contemporaries, the Suzdal land became a principality dominating the rest of Russia. During this period, the Dmitrievsky Cathedral, the third masterpiece of religious architecture, was erected in Vladimir.

Dmitrievsky Cathedral is a relatively small one-domed temple with a choir, such as were built in feudal courtyards. But despite its size, it looks majestic and solemnly magnificent. This is one of the most beautiful and most original cathedrals of Ancient Rus'. In plan it represents a Greek cross without any deviation from the Byzantine canon. But from the outside, St. Demetrius Cathedral is something so independent that it cannot be included among the buildings of the Byzantine type. It is no longer wide and flat “blades” that divide the walls into spindles, but long, thin columns. In the bas-reliefs of St. Demetrius Cathedral we see elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, even Gothic and, of course, Russian styles. The presence of rich stone decoration of the temple indicates that it was decorated by masters from the Romanesque West, although there is nothing apocalyptic in the bas-reliefs, i.e. hinting at the end of the world and the Last Judgment. The southern facade is decorated with emphatically flat carvings, reminiscent of wood carvings, undoubtedly made by Russian craftsmen; the predominance of floral and zoomorphic ornaments also indicates a traditionally Russian style. It can be assumed that the builder of the cathedral was an architect who was well acquainted with the Venetian Cathedral of St. Mark, since the decorative motifs of these two cathedrals are absolutely identical: unprecedented lions, birds and deer, flowers, leaves, fantastic horsemen, griffins, centaurs and even the scene of Alexander the Great’s ascent to heaven fill the planes of the walls.

The entire building is divided into three tiers in height. The lower one is the highest, almost without decorations; its surface is enlivened only by the deep spot of the portal and the arcature belt. The “columns” of the belt seem to hang down, like heavy braided cords with massive pendants. On the middle tier, above the arcature belt, all the decorative decoration of the cathedral is concentrated. The third belt is the massive head of the temple, raised on a square “pedestal”.

Architecture of Novgorod and Pskov

The Mongol-Tatar invasion severely struck Ancient Rus'. Naturally, in most cities of central and northeastern Rus', such as Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Rostov, large-scale construction has come to a standstill. However, Veliky Novgorod and Pskov, strong independent cities, continued to build, including stone churches, realizing that a rich cathedral church was a visible evidence of the power of the city. True, after the appearance of the Tatars in Rus', the construction of large city and monastery cathedrals completely ceased, and the custom arose of building very small churches.

There were monastery churches, built on the initiative of the Novgorod archbishops, and street churches, the builders of which were residents of one or another parish, and the lion's share of the costs was borne by wealthy “guests” - merchants.

Since the monastic community usually consisted of ten to twenty monks, there was no need for a monumental monastery church. In addition, in these cities the princely power lost its authority and gave way to a republic in which archbishops enjoyed enormous influence. The Church preferred to have many, albeit small, church buildings.

The first stone church after the Tatar invasion, built in 1292, was the monastery church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Lipensky Monastery. Another example of a monastery church was the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on Volotovo Field. Typically, a monastery church is a small square room with four pillars, three naves, one massive apse in the east, a vestibule in the west and one helmet-shaped dome.

Ulichansky churches are larger, and their entire appearance is more solemn. Almost all of them, like the monastery churches, are single-domed, with one massive apse, but without a vestibule. Instead, on the western wall there is a porch - a porch in front of the entrance.

The facades of all Novgorod churches usually have a three-lobed finish, and the roofs, as a rule, are eight-sloped. This deviation in the roof structure from the general Byzantine style was determined by local climatic conditions - frequent cold rains and snowfalls. The unconventional arrangement of internal vaulted ceilings also dictated the special organization of the internal space of the Novgorod temple: the pillars supporting the vaults are widely spaced and moved close to the walls. Because of this, the inside of the temple seems higher than it actually is.

Novgorod churches were built entirely of brick or multi-colored cobblestones with inserts of flat brick - plinths, which provided color shifts from grayish-blue to bright red-brown and gave the building an extraordinary picturesqueness.

The temples were decorated very modestly: with brick crosses inserted into the masonry; three small slits where there should have been one large window; “edges” above the windows and a typical Pskov-Novgorod pattern on the drum. This pattern consisted of squares and triangles. Above the ornamental belt, and sometimes instead of it, there was a chain of kokoshniks - arched stepped recesses. The altar apse was decorated with vertical ridges connected at the top by arches. Particular mention should be made of the so-called voice boxes, characteristic only of Novgorod churches: pots and jugs mounted horizontally into the walls, into the drum of the dome, into the “sails” and vaults and served as a kind of microphones.

The main religious buildings of Pskov were located on the territory of the Kremlin and in the Dovmontov city - an area closely adjacent to the Kremlin. All Pskov churches are small in size, squat, spacious at the bottom, and they look extremely stable. To create greater stability and external softness of the outlines, the craftsmen slightly “piled” the walls inward. All of them are single-domed, on four or six pillars, with one (rarely three) apse, a vestibule and a vestibule.

Church porches were very massive structures, the basis of which was made up of powerful stone pillars. One end of the arch was laid on them, and with the other it rested against the wall. Often the top of the arches was framed with a gable roof.

A distinctive feature of Pskov churches was the presence of a basement - a special basement intended for storing church property, goods and even weapons.

A characteristic feature of Pskov church architecture is the asymmetry created by the presence of a chapel and a belfry. An aisle is a small church with a dome and an apse in the east and dedicated to a saint, attached to the temple on the south or north side. They entered it through the main temple, but often it had its own vestibule. Belfries, which appeared for the first time in Pskov architecture, either rose above the western porch or above the porch of the chapel, being an integral part of the temple, or were a separate pillar-shaped bell tower structure with openings for bells and a gable roof topped with a dome.

The penchant of Pskov craftsmen for asymmetry is especially visible in the Church of St. Nicholas on Usokha, built on the border of a drained swamp - Usokha. The church is a single-domed temple with three apses, a basement, a vestibule, and a porch-porch. On the north side it is adjoined by a large chapel with a vestibule, over which a bell tower is erected. Attached to the southern apse is the single-domed chapel “The Unquenchable Candle”, which has a strongly protruding porch-porch. This entire structure is a complex asymmetrical composition.

Newly built churches were certainly decorated. And if in Kievan Rus and large principalities of the initial period of feudal fragmentation, churches were decorated mainly with mosaic compositions and frescoes, then in the second half of the 13th century. The leading role is given to the icon. In general, with the Tatar-Mongol invasion, types of artistic creativity developed more that did not require large financial outlays and whose objects could easily be moved if necessary.

Conclusion.

The world of Byzantium brought new construction experience and traditions to Rus'. Rus' adopted the construction of churches in the image of the cross-baptismal temple of the Greeks.

Pagan Rus' did not know temple construction. After the adoption of Christianity, stone construction began in cities by order of the state and princes. Rus' left us majestic monuments of ancient architecture: the Virgin of the Tithes (the Tithe Church, built in honor of the adoption of Christianity), St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv, Novgorod, Polotsk, the Golden Gate in Kyiv, Vladimir. The principles of temple construction (cross-domed style) were borrowed from Byzantium. The temple was like a smaller display of the world order. Attention to vaulted arches was determined by the tradition associated with the grandiose symbol of the sky - the dome. The entire central space of the temple in plan formed a cross.

The peculiarity of the architecture of Kievan Rus was manifested, on the one hand, in the following of Byzantine traditions (in the beginning, the masters were predominantly Greek), on the other hand, there was immediately a departure from the Byzantine canons, a search for independent paths in architecture. So already in the first stone church - Desyatinnaya - there were such features that were not typical for Byzantium, such as multi-domes (up to 25 domes), pyramidality - this is a purely Russian heritage of wooden architecture, transferred to stone.

The historical merit of Kievan Rus was not only that a new socio-economic formation was created for the first time and hundreds of primitive tribes acted as a single state, the largest in all of Europe. During its state unity, Kievan Rus managed and managed to create a single nationality. The unity of the ancient Russian people was expressed in the development of a common literary language, which covered local tribal dialects, in the formation of a common culture, in the national self-perception of the unity of the entire people.

The temple on Russian soil has long been, and to this day, the center of church life and Orthodox culture. Many temples have been preserved on the territory of Russia, some were erected in ancient times. Today we will talk about how temples were built.

Wooden temples

In 988, under Prince Vladimir, the Baptism of Rus' took place, and the very next year Greek architects arrived from Constantinople to Kyiv, who founded the first stone church. It was the holy Prince Vladimir who became the first Russian Christian prince who gave a decree that after the baptism of the people and the Russian land, architects began to cut down churches in Russian cities.

This is how wooden temples began to appear. But the most ancient chronicle sources claim that wooden churches in Rus' were built long before Epiphany. Wooden temples have always been easier to build than stone ones, since the material for construction was more accessible. Moreover, wooden architecture has long flourished in Rus' and Slavic craftsmen built temples almost by eye, without using precise measurements and complex architectural plans.

Stone temples

However, after Epiphany, the first stone churches began to appear in Rus'. In 989, the year after the Baptism of Rus', Greek architects who arrived from Constantinople in Kyiv laid the foundation for the first stone temple of the Old Russian state - the Church of the Tithes.

This church was erected by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir on the site of the death of the first martyrs Theodore and his son John. During the construction of the Tithe Church, it was the largest Kyiv temple. From the chronicles, information has reached our days that the Tithe Church was called “marble”, since the interior of the temple was richly decorated with marble.

In 996, the construction of the Tithe Church was completed and the temple was solemnly consecrated. The long-standing tradition of donating to the temple convinced Prince Vladimir to donate tithes to the erected church, after which it was remembered in the chronicles as Tithes.

After the construction of the first stone church, other stone churches began to be built. It is important that it was in the image of the Church of the Tithes that the subsequent main churches of Russian cities and monasteries were built.

Where were the temples built?

Together with the Baptism of Rus' and the beginning of the construction of churches on Russian soil, a new life began. For a long time, on the site of a future settlement, and primarily a city, architects were looking for a special place to build a temple - not every land was suitable for this. First of all, the builders were looking for land that was not swampy or too dry for construction.

Moreover, the temple had to be built in a prominent place, in the main part of the settlement, so that every resident could reach it. The temple was necessarily built on an elevated, “red” place, which meant the most beautiful one.

So, first of all, the temple was built, and only after that a settlement began to grow around it. The church occupied the most important role in the life of Russian people, living both in cities and in villages.

People gathered in church for services on Sundays and other days; the Russian people always went to church on great church holidays. There, in the churches, children were baptized, newlyweds were married and funeral services were held for deceased relatives.

Moreover, thanksgiving and petitionary prayers were served in churches, and public meetings gathered near the temple.

Architecture and construction of temples of Ancient Rus'

The main type of construction of an Orthodox church is a cross-domed one. It was this type of temple that dominated the architecture of Ancient Rus'. It was this type that was erected the first stone church - Tithes.

From ancient times to this day, in Rus' and in modern Russia, temples and cathedrals have been built and restored according to the construction projects of cross-domed churches. The technique of constructing stone cross-domed churches was borrowed by the architects of Ancient Rus' from Byzantium.

Since the first churches after Epiphany were built by invited craftsmen, their work laid the foundation for the tradition of building churches under the influence of Byzantine architecture. However, soon, when Russian architects themselves began to build stone churches, their own, traditionally Russian, local style was added to the Byzantine style, which remained forever in Orthodox churches.

Since churches in Rus' played a vital role for Orthodox people, all the best was collected to decorate the churches. Temples were decorated with gold and precious stones. One of the most valuable elements of each temple were the icons, which were painted by talented icon painters.

Churches in Rus' were also built from bricks, but before that, in most cases, plinth was used for construction.

Russian craftsmen adopted plinth masonry from Byzantine builders. And until the 15th century, plinth was mainly used in the construction of churches in Rus'.

Plinth is a fired brick with approximately equal sides. Its size was usually 40x40 cm in length and width. The thickness of the brick was 2.5-4 cm, and the brick itself was light pink. Usually the plinths were held together with a thick layer of mortar, giving the building a striped appearance.

The mortars that were used for the construction of the temple, connecting the rows of plinths, were a mixture of lime, sand and crushed brick. It is known that more people built from plintha in the south of Russia, and in the north, closer to Kyiv, they preferred stone.

Later, at the end of the 15th century, a new material appeared in Rus' - brick. These are molded bricks, reminiscent of modern ones. Since such brick was cheaper and much more accessible than stone, it became widespread for the construction of temples.

The brick was fired by the builders, and a special sign was placed on it, indicating the classification of bricks for laying in a specific place of construction.

Meanwhile, wooden temples also did not stop building. However, the architecture of wooden churches also changed. All over Rus' they began to build single-domed churches, erected by builders on a powerful, massive square.

Each temple took a different amount of time to build. The simplest temple could take about a year to build, while more complex ones could take more than six years. Everything depended on the number of craftsmen building the temple.

Wooden churches in Rus' were built faster, since wooden architecture had long been developed in Rus'. The construction of stone and brick churches required more time; for example, the Church of the Tithes took about seven years to build. Other temples with more complex designs and expensive materials could take more than ten years to build.

The small temple was erected by builders and craftsmen, of whom there were at least 10-12 people. Much more craftsmen, about thirty, were invited to build large temples.

To whom were the temples dedicated?

Temples in Ancient Rus' were dedicated to the Life-Giving Trinity, Christ the Savior, the Mother of God, as well as numerous saints. Moreover, many churches were dedicated to great church holidays - the Intercession and Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Ascension of the Lord and many others.

Soon in Ancient Rus' a tradition arose of erecting monument temples in places where particularly important, memorable events took place - military victories, great battles or the deaths of those who laid down their lives for their faith and the Fatherland.

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Video: Vladimir Budko

In Rus', the first stone churches were built in Kyiv, Novgorod and Vladimir. In the main cathedral of Kyiv, Hagia Sophia, built from plinth, with nine domes, the influence of masters from Constantinople is felt. A new feature is the surrounding of the temple with an open gallery-promenade and its erection on a high plinth - basement. External decoration sometimes imitated traditional wooden carvings in stone. This particularly distinguished the cathedrals of Vladimir - the Assumption and Dmitrovsky, as well as the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl - the pearl of Russian architecture of the 12th century. The motifs of white stone carvings resemble not only traditional Slavic carved wooden patterns, but are in many ways similar to Romanesque sculpture in Western Europe. In the 13th-14th centuries, due to the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the architecture of Ancient Rus' faded out almost everywhere, except for Novgorod and Pskov, in order to experience a new rapid flourishing in the 15th century, especially during the reign of Ivan III. Novgorod Cathedral of St. Sophia. Until the end of his life, Yaroslav the Wise was grateful to the Novgorodians who placed him on the Kiev throne. He gave them his beloved son, Vladimir, as a prince, and when he and the Novgorod squad, on his father’s orders, defeated the Volga Bulgarians and captured rich booty, Yaroslav did not skimp: he gave everything to Novgorod. And the Novgorodians decided to build the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral, crowned with five chapters. Sophia of Novgorod took seven years to build, and its consecration took place in 1052. After the consecration of the cathedral, Saint Prince Vladimir lived for less than a month, died on October 4, 1052 and was buried in the Church of Hagia Sophia.

The cathedral was built of simple hewn stone and brick. It has six domes, five of which are in the middle, and the sixth on the southwest side above the stairs leading to the choir. The largest chapter (middle) at first had the shape of an overturned cauldron, but then an onion-shaped top was built over it. The middle chapter in 1408 was lined with copper sheets gilded through fire, and the other chapters of the cathedral were covered with lead. The crosses on the domes were also copper, gilded through fire. At the top of the cross of the middle chapter there is a metal dove, which serves as a symbol of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit over the temple and all those praying. Initially, the St. Sophia Novgorod Cathedral (like all ancient churches in general) was built with one chapel in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God, but then five more chapels were built. In appearance, the cathedral is a regular quadrangle, rising without ledges from the base to the roof. From the eastern part it projects in three semicircles according to the number of its three components: the meal (throne), the altar and the deacon. Before the restoration in 1900, there were three entrances to the cathedral (on the western, northern and southern sides), and then instead of a window on the northeastern side, another entrance was built - for the clergy.

Power at the end of the 11th century rarely remained in the hands of one prince for a long time. The prince appeared in Novgorod for only two or three years, and then left. During this period, Sophia of Novgorod lost its inextricable connection with the prince in the minds of the townspeople and became a kind of symbol of the Novgorod Republic. A veche gathered next to the temple, where solemn prayers were held in honor of military victories, those elected were elevated to the highest positions, and the treasury was kept. Therefore, for 58 years the cathedral remained unpainted. There is no exact and definite information about the original wall painting of the cathedral. It is only known that Greek icon painters were specially called in to paint the main dome. Only in 1108, by order of Bishop Nikita, Sophia of Novgorod was decorated with frescoes. And after the death of Saint Nikita, the painting of the cathedral continued with the funds that remained after him. An ancient legend, recorded in the Novgorod Chronicle, has been preserved about the image of Christ Pantocrator in the dome of the cathedral. Tradition tells that the masters who painted the fresco depicted the Savior with a blessing hand. However, the next morning the hand was clenched. Three times the artists rewrote the image until a voice came from it: “Scribes, scribes! Oh, clerks! Do not write me with a blessing hand (write me with a clenched hand). Because in this hand of mine I hold this Great Novegrad; when this (hand) of mine spreads, then this city will come to an end.” Unfortunately, this image was lost during the Great Patriotic War. In the southern gallery of the temple there is an image of Constantine and Helen, which is still being debated among researchers. The images of the Byzantine emperor, who proclaimed Christianity as the state religion, and his mother, who in 326 found in Jerusalem the cross on which Christ was crucified, could not be more suitable for the main cathedral of Novgorod. They clearly demonstrated the triumph of Christianity and the holiness of pious kings. The technique of execution and stylistic features of the image were unusual. Scientists have found that both the painting technique and the selection of colors were atypical for Russian masters. Therefore, researchers suggested that this image was painted by a Western European or Scandinavian master in 1144 (or around that year). This hypothesis has a basis, because Novgorod, by its geographical location, gravitated towards the northern countries of Europe. And in the very appearance of Sofia of Novgorod, features of Romanesque architecture appeared (in particular, the technique of laying walls from huge, irregularly shaped stones). The mighty walls of the temple, made of wild stones with their uneven, rough surface, were not plastered until the middle of the 12th century. But then the plaster gave the cathedral integrity and an epic character. Very little remains of the cathedral's ancient frescoes. Only in the main dome of Sophia of Novgorod does the Pantocrator-Almighty look down from heaven in all his luminous grandeur.

Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary on the Nerl. For more than eight hundred years, the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary has stood in Suzdal, on the banks of the Nerl. On clear summer days, under a cloudless sky, among the greenery of a vast water meadow, its slender whiteness, reflected by the surface of a small lake (the Klyazma oxbow), breathes poetry and fairy tales. In harsh winters, when everything around is white, it seems to dissolve in an endless sea of ​​snow. The temple is so in tune with the mood of the surrounding landscape that it seems as if it was born along with it, and not created by human hands. The Nerl River is clean and fast. And the temple was placed here with great meaning: the path along the Nerl to Klyazma is the gate of the land of Vladimir, and above the gate this is how a church should be. It is not for nothing that the dedication to the Intercession was chosen for her. The cover is protection and protection, hope and mercy for the Russian people, shelter and amulet from enemies. The Greeks did not celebrate the Intercession, this is a purely Russian holiday, which Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky personally established. So the temple stood at the mouth of the Nerl, at its confluence with the Klyazma, closing an important waterway of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Nearby, just one and a half kilometers away, stood the towers and heads of Prince Andrei’s palace castle. Apparently, the place for the construction was not chosen by the architect by chance, but dictated by the prince’s will. Here the ships sailing along the Klyazma turned towards the princely residence, and the church served as a forward element of the luxurious ensemble, its solemn monument. The task set before the architects was very difficult, since the site planned for construction lay in a floodplain. Therefore, the architect, having laid the foundation, erected a stone plinth almost four meters high on it and covered it with earth. The result was an artificial hill, which was lined with hewn stone slabs. On this base, like on a pedestal, the church was erected.

The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl was born on a restless, but also bright morning for the land of Vladimir, when in the eyes of contemporaries the heavenly veil seemed to really overshadow the power of Grand Duke Andrei. Supported by the “little people,” the power of the Vladimir ruler over the selfish boyars grew stronger, and his hand was high against his enemies. Kyiv and Novgorod saw rearing leopards on the shields of Andreev's warriors under their walls, and the golden sun of the southern steppes flowed over the spears of the Suzdal squads. From distant Vyshgorod, the prince took to the Zalessk region the famous Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Child, which was destined to become, under the name “Vladimir”, a real palladium of Ancient Rus'. The arrival of the icon was marked by miracles, in which the people of Vladimir could see the special favor of the queen of heaven towards them. The presence of the icon in the Vladimir troops during the campaign against Volga Bulgaria (1164) predetermined its victorious outcome in the eyes of his contemporaries. In the atmosphere of these miracles, a church arose dedicated to a new holiday in honor of the Virgin Mary - the Intercession.

The initiative to create the holiday is attributed to Andrei Bogolyubsky himself and the Vladimir clergy, who did without the sanction of the Kyiv Metropolitan. The emergence of a new Mother of God holiday in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality seems to be a natural phenomenon, arising from the political aspirations of Prince Andrei. In the “Word on the Intercession” there is a prayer for the Mother of God to protect her people with divine protection “from the arrows flying in the darkness of our division”, a prayer for the need for the unity of the Russian lands. Legend says that the temple at the mouth of the Nerl was dedicated to the victorious campaign of the Vladimir regiments in Volga Bulgaria in 1164, and the Bulgarians allegedly brought a stone here as a kind of indemnity. In the successful outcome of this military campaign, contemporaries saw clear evidence of the Mother of God’s patronage of the Vladimir prince and the Vladimir land. An indirect indication of the connection between the holiday and the Church of the Intercession with the military events of Prince Andrei can be the fragments of the now lost fresco painting of the drum of the Nerl temple sketched in the last century by F.A. Solntsev. In the spaces between the windows here were placed not apostles or prophets, but martyrs, campaigning “for the Christian faith.” The fallen Vladimir soldiers (and among them Prince Izyaslav, son of Andrei Bogolyubsky) should have been numbered as martyrs.

The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is so light and bright, as if it were not made of heavy stone squares. All constructive and decorative means of expression here are subordinated to one goal - to convey the graceful harmony of the building, its upward aspiration. The rhythm of the architectural lines of the Church of the Intercession can be likened to the rhythm of the chants of those praying in honor of the Virgin Mary carried away under the arches. It’s like a lyrical song materialized in stone. It is not for nothing that the ancients perceived the artistic image of an architectural structure as “wonderful voices from things,” similar to the voice of trumpets praising God and the saints.

The sculptural figure of the biblical singer crowns the middle zakomari of the temple facades according to the principle of trinity, popular in the Middle Ages. It apparently owes its appearance on the walls of the Nerl church to the life of Andrei the Fool. One of Andrei’s visions speaks of David, who, at the head of a host of righteous people, sang and praised the Mother of God in the Temple of Sophia. “I hear David singing to you: The virgins will be brought after you, they will be brought to the temple of kings...” David was considered one of the prophets who foreshadowed the divine mission of Mary. Our Lady was called the “Prophecy of David.” The theme of the glorification of Mary is also heard in the maiden masks stretched out in a row above the upper windows of the facades. These maiden faces with braids are also on the facades of other Vladimir Mother of God churches, and only of the Mother of God.

The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is the greatest masterpiece of Russian art; its like cannot be found in other countries, for only on Russian soil could it have arisen, personifying the ideal that could only have taken shape in Russian soil. It is in such monuments that the soul of our people is revealed.

Assumption Cathedral. The Kremlin's Cathedral Square is spacious and bright. The architectural ensemble, erected on it more than 500 years ago, is unique in its beauty and splendor. Here there are majestic temples-heroes, and temples that are light and whimsical, as if they were toys in comparison. The existing cathedrals now stand on the site of older ones. The Assumption Cathedral plays a leading role in the ensemble of Cathedral Square. Researchers believe that it was preceded by three temples: a wooden church of the 12th century, Dmitrovsky Cathedral of the 13th century and a white stone temple from the time of Ivan Kalita.

By the end of the 15th century, the white stone temple became cramped for Moscow, became very dilapidated and was in danger of falling. Therefore, Ivan III and Metropolitan Philaret decided to destroy the old temple and build a new cathedral in its place. Traditional bidding competitions were announced, the winners of which were architects Ivan Krivtsov and Myshkin, whose name for some reason is not mentioned in the documents. In 1472, the craftsmen began construction, which was not destined to be completed. Two years passed, and the temple was already built up to the very vaults. That day, the workers and stonemasons, an hour before sunset, lowered their sleeves, put on their hats and went home to have dinner. However, while it was light, many more Muscovites climbed onto the stage to have a look. “Wonderful, great and exceedingly great!” - they said about the new cathedral. But after sunset they too left. And then an unheard of thing happened - the earth shook. The northern wall fell first. Behind it, the western choir and the choirs built with it were half destroyed. The whole city was saddened by the death of the cathedral, and Grand Duke Ivan III decided to call upon craftsmen from other countries. In all European countries, Italian work was then valued above all else, and in July 1474 the Russian ambassador went to Venice. From faithful people they learned that a good architect from Bologna, Aristotle Fioravanti, served under the Venetian Doge. About 20 years ago he came up with such a mechanic that he moved the bell tower with all the bells 35 feet. In the city of Cento, where the bell tower was crooked, Aristotle straightened it without removing a single brick. But Doge Marcello absolutely did not want to let his best architect go to distant unknown Rus', and it was unprofitable to quarrel with Ivan III. It was he who set the Tatar Khan against the Turks - the original enemies of Venice. And Aristotle himself did not object to the trip. Despite his 60 years, he was as inquisitive as a youth. The mysterious, unknown country irresistibly attracted him to it. The journey to distant Muscovy lasted almost three months - they left in the winter, and arrived in Moscow in early April 1475. The Italian master examined the unusual architecture with interest. What attracted him most was the wooden carvings of window frames, porches and gates. Despite the tiring journey, the Italian refused to rest and went to the construction site that same day. He examined the remains of the destroyed cathedral, praised the excellent work of the Russian stonemasons, but immediately noted the low quality of the lime. Fioravanti did not agree to rebuild the northern side of the cathedral, deciding to break everything and start over. However, the architect was in no hurry to start construction. He understood that he could not help but take into account the customs and tastes of the Russian people, and should not artificially transfer here the forms of Western architecture familiar to him. And therefore, having finished laying the foundation, Aristotle Fioravanti went to travel around the country to get acquainted with ancient Russian architecture.

Prince Ivan III advised the Italian to take the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral as a model, and Fioravanti went to the famous capital of the Suzdal princes - the city of Vladimir. Entering the Assumption Cathedral, the architect stopped. The reflections of lamps flickered on the multi-colored majolica tiles of the floor. The vaults, pillars and walls of the temple were covered with a huge fresco depicting the End of the World. Broad, seemingly careless strokes made human bodies and faces alive, almost tangible. The humanity of the images in the frescoes amazed the Italian architect. Even Fioravanti, who grew up among the beautiful art of Italy, was delighted with the talent of the Russian artist and immediately asked the translator about his name. “His name was Andrei Rublev,” the interpreter answered proudly. The scope, grandeur and at the same time austere beauty, the remarkable ability of the builders to combine the beauty of the temples with nature and the surrounding city made a deep impression on the Italian. Full of new thoughts, he returned to Moscow.

For four years, under his leadership, Russian masons and carpenters built the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. The brick was fired in a special, completely new kiln. It was narrower, longer than before, but so hard that it was impossible to break it without soaking it in water. Lime was dissolved as a thick dough and smeared with iron spatulas. And for the first time in Rus', everything was done using compasses and a ruler. Fioravanti taught Muscovites to install iron ties in the walls instead of quickly rotting oak ones, to reduce cross vaults, and to make beautiful double arches with “hanging stone.” Soon the Italian techniques became Russian, native, and in the general appearance of any decoration they did not even leave a trace of the actual Italian character. A building of strict and solemn architecture grew on the Kremlin hill. Crowned with five gilded domes, the cathedral was visible from various points in Moscow, although it was not at all large. The architecture of the Assumption Cathedral amazed contemporaries not only with its solemn monumentality and severity, but also with its unusualness. Repeating the forms of the Vladimir original, Fioravanti decorated the facades of his creation with an arcature belt and completed them with semicircles of zakomaras characteristic of Russian architecture. The white stone walls were enlivened by pilasters, a belt of arches and narrow slit-like windows. The Italian designed the interior space of the temple in a particularly original way: it is without a choir and, most importantly, amazes with its bright spaciousness, which opens at first sight. And inside the cathedral, pillars painted with frescoes and decorated with mosaics supported the vaults of a spacious hall, the floor of which was paved with small stones. Above the facades, five helmet-shaped domes rose majestically and solemnly on light drums, picking up the vertical array of pilasters dividing the walls. Much in the Assumption Cathedral was reminiscent of ancient Russian architecture, but at the same time it was not a simple repetition of the Vladimir temple. The talented Italian architect managed to combine the achievements of the masters of his homeland with the heritage of the ancient builders of the country that hospitably received him. Fioravanti introduced such new elements as the geometric division of the volumes and facades of the cathedral, equal dimensions of the zakomars, five (instead of three) altar apses, only slightly protruding from the surface of the wall. The talented foreign architect was able to understand that Vladimir was already the old capital, and now a new one was rising - Moscow. And he also felt that the role of the new temple was great not only in the architectural space of the Kremlin Cathedral Square, but also in the life of the entire state.

In the summer of 1479, when the scaffolding was removed, a new temple, built “with all cunning,” appeared before the eyes of Muscovites. The chronicler noted that the Assumption Cathedral is like a monolith - “like one stone.” Muscovites were delighted. The Assumption Cathedral became the main one in Rus'. It announced state acts, and the most important state documents were kept in the altar of the temple. Here the metropolitans and patriarchs of all Rus' were ordained and buried. Here, at the tomb of Metropolitan Peter and in front of the all-Russian shrine - the icon “Our Lady of Vladimir”, appanage princes and “all ranks” took the oath of allegiance to Moscow and the Grand Duke, and subsequently to the Tsar. Before military campaigns, governors received blessings in the cathedral; later Russian princes and tsars were crowned kings.

The most significant wedding ceremonies for the state took place in the Assumption Cathedral: Prince Vasily I, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, and the Lithuanian princess Sofia Vitovtovna, Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog, Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. The importance of the cathedral was also emphasized by its rich decoration. The painting inside the temple was completed soon after its consecration. In 1481, “horseman Dionysius, priest Timofey, Yarets, and Konya” decorated the cathedral with a three-tiered iconostasis. Perhaps they also painted the altar, and the cathedral was completely painted by 1515. Some picturesque compositions have survived to this day. Among them are “Seven Sleeping Youths of Ephesus”, “Forty Martyrs of Sebaste”, paintings of the Praise Chapel in the altar, etc. The icons of the cathedral are of exceptional value, for example, “Our Lady of Vladimir” of the Byzantine letter of the 11th century (now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery), “St. George” - a work by a Novgorod artist of the 12th century with the image of “Our Lady Hodegetria” on the reverse side. Saint George was revered as the patron saint of warriors. The icon depicts him as a young man in armor against a golden background. In his right hand he holds a spear, in his left - a sword. His face is full of courage and fortitude. This image of a warrior, the patron saint of warriors, embodied the grandeur and solemnity characteristic of all the art of that time.

The architecture of the Assumption Cathedral was imitated by many builders during the 16th-17th centuries, and the Assumption Cathedrals in Rostov the Great, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda and some others were built under the direct influence of the Kremlin. Joseph Volotsky called the Assumption Cathedral “an earthly sky, shining like a great sun in the middle of the Russian land.”

Intercession Cathedral. When Russian troops took Kazan and firmly established themselves on the banks of the Volga, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered to build a church with eight chapters at the walls of the Moscow Kremlin - according to the number of victories won. He recently returned from a campaign, Moscow greeted him with great jubilation: bells were ringing, people, laughing and sobbing, threw festive clothes under the hooves of the royal horse: many had relatives and friends languishing in Horde captivity. His beloved wife Anastasia Romanovna was delivered of her child as an heir - this was also a holiday. The chronicle reads: "... the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich... ordered the Church of the Intercession to be erected from the borders of the Kazan victory, that God conquered the Bezserman clan of the Kazan Tatars to the Tsar...". The brilliant architects Barma and Postnik were entrusted with perpetuating this victory. There are legends that after the construction was completed, the king ordered the eyes of the architects to be gouged out so that they could not build anything like that again. The architects violated the king's orders - to build an eight-domed temple. Unafraid of the royal wrath, they remained faithful to the principles of art and built not an 8-domed, but a 9-domed temple, thereby including in the construction that missing element, which determined the perfection of the entire composition. A fantastic stone flower bloomed on Red Square - “on the moat” at the Spassky Gate. The walls were full of red and white, the domes shone with dazzling silver - one over each temple, and also four small domes on the entrance chapel to Jerusalem, and eight domes at the base of the central tent. And the tent was not simple - in plan it had the shape of an eight-pointed star, as if repeating the plan of the temple itself. It was covered with green tiles, and here and there green tiles flashed with lights, like emeralds. Where is the beginning, where is the end? Everything is round, everything is merged in the new church; It seems as if she is slowly spinning, as if she is dancing among the hubbub and hustle and bustle of the large Moscow market. And it’s invisible to the eye that there are only three forms in the church - a tent, a tower and a small temple. A marvelous bush grows in the square, shoots stretch out - after all, there is perfect balance in a flower, but it is not dry, not boring, and whose soul will not rejoice when looking at it? In 1588, on the north-eastern side of the cathedral, a chapel was built over the grave of the holy fool St. Basil the Blessed, who died at the age of 82 and whom, as they say, Ivan the Terrible himself revered and feared, “as a seer of the hearts and thoughts of men.” Since then, the name of the temple, which was used in common parlance, has taken root.

The basis of the construction of the Intercession Cathedral is formed by a slender and elongated main tent, crowned with a small dome. It is surrounded by four lower and massive towers with powerful heads. Between them are four other, even smaller chapters. But, growing towards the center, the towers do not form a pyramid. Rather, it is a kind of friendly conversation in which each interlocutor, listening to others, maintains his own opinion. The middle tent rises above the side ones, but does not dominate them, does not put pressure on them. The side pillars are heavier and more massive than it, but the rapid upward movement is not so pronounced in them. Small domes in the corners serve as an intermediate step; in their slenderness they are similar to the middle tent, and in shape they are similar to the side ones. In the Church of the Intercession there is no complete symmetry (as, for example, in the Gothic cathedral with its two identical towers bordering the facade), but here the only living balance of parts was found. The architectural decorations of the cathedral were made of white stone and at first completely covered the brick walls. The wealth of decorative forms gave it such a fabulous character that no ancient Russian temple had before it. But for all the splendor of the decorations, the decorations of St. Basil's are decidedly different from the decor of the Muslim East. The flat patterns and colored tiles of the East are of such a fractional nature, with their variegated colors creating the impression of such shimmering, that even the most massive dome loses its materiality, since it seems to be covered with a carpet.

The Intercession Cathedral was often compared to Indian temples. But in them the forms are dissected rather weakly, they seem to swell, they contain a simply monstrous accumulation of reliefs, floral ornaments and all kinds of carvings. All this amazes the human imagination, like an outlandish fairy tale. On the contrary, the Western European temple of the Renaissance consistently and logically subordinates each individual part to the whole, hence the persistent attraction to geometric forms - cube, cylinder, etc. The Russian temple was created on the edge of two worlds - East and West, it forms a well-appointed and orderly whole: each part of it expands freely, stretches upward and grows like a lush flower. Over its more than four-century history, this unique work of world architecture has survived numerous fires. Reconstructions and repairs increasingly changed the original appearance of the temple. In 1930, when the stone Mausoleum was built and Red Square was reconstructed, the monument to Minin and Pozharsky was moved to the cathedral, thanks to which almost all the domes can now be seen from the square at one glance. In 1934, the demolition of the dilapidated quarter opened up views of St. Basil's Cathedral from the Moscow River.

Cathedral of the Archangel. In 1505, the Venetian architect Aloysius (Aleviz the New, as he was called in Rus') laid the foundation for a new cathedral - the Archangel Cathedral, which was completed in 1508. This temple, the second largest after the Assumption Cathedral, was supposed to serve as the tomb of the Russian great princes, which it was until Peter I, when kings began to be buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Compared to the strict and majestic Assumption Cathedral, the Archangel Cathedral is more elegant. Its southern and northern facades are divided into 5 sections vertically, which corresponds to the internal structure, and into two floors horizontally. This technique, taken from Venetian architecture, violates the generally accepted principle of revealing the internal structure of a building from the outside. There is no choir inside the temple. Therefore, all external decoration does not bear any structural load, as was the case in the Assumption Cathedral. The architect superimposes details and elements of the classical order onto the traditional Orthodox basis of the church building, without giving it any special significance. Aleviz fills the semicircles of traditional Russian zakomars with very decorative details in the form of huge sea shells, never seen before in Rus'. The construction of Aleviz had a very great influence on the decorative design of Russian churches in subsequent decades.

Ivan the Great belltower. In 1505-1508, another Italian architect, Bon Fryazin, erected a church “under the bells” of John Climacus on the site of the old building. At first it was two-tiered, its tent rose 60 meters. It simultaneously served as a bell tower and a watchtower. With its stern appearance, it resembled the dungeon of a Western European castle. In 1600, Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the bell tower to be built, making it two tiers higher, and crowned with a golden dome, as evidenced by the eloquent inscription placed high on the dome drum in three horizontal belts. As a result of the superstructure, the height of the bell tower became 81 meters. Since then, it has acquired the appearance that we now know, and rightfully began to be called Ivan the Great, becoming the main Moscow vertical for many centuries. In Moscow, it was strictly forbidden to build buildings higher than Ivan the Great. This was primarily explained by the fact that the bell tower remained the main watchtower and fire tower. But this, of course, also had a symbolic meaning.

Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye. The development of wooden architecture led to the transfer of the 8-sided tent shape to stone architecture. This type of temple became widespread in the 16th century. The most striking example of stone hipped-roof architecture of the 16th century is the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, erected in honor of the birth of Ivan IV (the Terrible) in 1532 on the high bank of the Moscow River. Its height is 62 meters, the thickness of the walls is from 2 to 4 meters. This is no longer a cross-domed church inherited from Byzantium. In plan, the building is an equilateral cross. This pillar-shaped church has no supports inside, and there is no usual apse outside. The building was erected on a high basement, surrounded on all sides by galleries. The interior of the temple is very small: 8.5 x 8.5 meters with a very significant height of 41 meters. The upward thrust of all volumes of the Church of the Ascension, the rhythm of decorative details, perfectly corresponds to the task of creating a memorial temple. It is clear that the main figurative impression should be created by the external appearance of the building. In Rus' until the 18th century there were no sculptural monuments. If it was necessary to immortalize some event or place, then a temple or chapel was erected.

Church of the Intercession in Fili. In the architecture of the 17th century, two stages are clearly visible: the 1st half - the middle of the century and the second half - the end of the century. The first stage is characterized by the formation of the “classical” type of the Old Russian townsman temple - a small 5-domed pillarless building with a “false five-domed structure,” brightly colored, with an abundance of decorative details, with a “ship” construction of three parts: a bell tower, a refectory, and a church. A striking example of this type of temple is the Trinity Church in Nikitniki in Moscow or the Church of the Nativity in Putinki. The last bright stage in the development of ancient Russian architecture was the “Naryshkin Baroque”. This style has nothing in common with European Baroque. Here, in stone architecture, traditional forms of Russian wooden architecture are used: “octagon on a quadrangle”, the connection of a church with a bell tower under one dome - “a church like bells”, love for carved patterns, a beautiful centric plan. The most remarkable monument of the “Naryshkin baroque” is the Church of the Intercession in Fili, built in 1692-94. Its plan is similar to a quatrefoil, in each “petal” of which there is a porch with a dome. On the central quadrangle, raised on a high basement and surrounded by a walkway gallery, three octagons were erected, the top ones with a ringing sound. The temple fits very beautifully into the surrounding landscape. The white stone pattern seems to encircle and frame all the details with lace, elegantly standing out against the dark red background. The pyramidal silhouette, centricity, and upward direction allow this monument to rightfully be classified as a temple-monument.

Kizhi. The word “Kizhi” is short and somehow strange, mysterious, not Russian... Once upon a time, in distant pagan times, the Karelians called this a place for games, kizhat, or rather, pagan Old Believer games. In the old days it could be called “Kizhasuari” - Island of Games, one of one thousand six hundred and fifty islands of Lake Onega. The lake is wide, free, gloomy in bad weather, as if leaden, and on clear days sparkling under the rays of the sun, dim in the northern way and therefore especially gentle and desirable. Reflected clouds slowly float in the transparent depths of the lake, and wooded islands have capsized into the coastal waters. And for a moment, the idea of ​​where the real, tangible world ends and the illusory, almost fantastic world begins is lost... Kizhi is a small island off the northwestern shores of Lake Onega. Unlike its neighbors, it is almost treeless, with only a few alder trees or willow trees here and there along the banks. From a distance it appears flat, barely rising above the water. From south to north, the island stretches 7-8 kilometers in length and up to one and a half kilometers in width. On Maryanina Gora (the name of the low hill in the center of the island), one of the earliest Orthodox churches in these parts was built in ancient times. As a rule, they arose on the site of pagan temples. But then the church fell into disrepair, services had not been held there for almost a hundred years, and soon it burned down from a lightning strike. Maryanina Mountain was empty, and a new church - Transfiguration - was erected in another place, closer to the southern tip of the island. It was erected here in 1714, at the height of the Northern War. This was that significant time when Russia was firmly established on the shores of the Baltic and became a powerful maritime power. For Karelia, Pomerania and Transonezhye, the Northern War was of particular importance. The border with Sweden - this eternal source of danger for the peasants of border churchyards - was again moving to the west. The people breathed more freely; the opportunity to return to peaceful work and creative activity was again open to them. It was in this atmosphere of national patriotic upsurge that the image of the Church of the Transfiguration arose - a majestic hymn to the Russian people in honor of their historical victories. It is no coincidence that an ancient legend directly connects the construction of the Church of the Transfiguration with the personality of Peter I. “Peter I,” it says, “traveling from Povenets along Lake Onega, stopped at the Kizhi Island, noticed a lot of felled forest and, having learned about the construction, drew a plan with his own hand.”

The Transfiguration Church rises 37 meters - this is the height of an 11-story building. It is entirely made of wood - from the base to the top, to the tip of the wooden cross on the upper dome. It is commonly said that “without a single nail”! Only the scaly clothing of the domes - the ploughshare - is nailed with forged nails, one nail for each ploughshare. Forged means tetrahedral in cross-section. This is so that the scales stand exactly and firmly and do not move. All other parts of the church were made without nails - because there was no need for them, such was the tradition of Russian carpentry. Accuracy and long-term stability were achieved by more reliable means. By virtue of this very tradition, the Church of the Transfiguration was built using only an ax and a chisel, without the slightest intervention of a saw, although the saw had been in use for a long time. The Russian carpenter's ax is an amazing tool! An ax in the hands of a northern carpenter is a truly universal tool. Of course, it would have been more convenient to cut the logs with a saw, but the force of habit, the power of ancient traditions was too great, and the logs were cut with an ax, so much so that not the slightest notch remained. At the same time, the capillaries of the tree were compressed, and it absorbed less moisture. And with the same ax and chisel they wove the finest lace of ornamental valances. You’re amazed when you look at the placement of the logs. After all, log houses were usually caulked (and are still being caulked!) - some with oakum, some with moss. Here it was simply impossible - the logs of the crowns fit one to another so tightly, so precisely.

The Church of the Transfiguration has twenty-two domes. The pointed “barrels” spread their wings to the sides - like the kokoshniks of Russian beauties. And on the ridges there are slender drums and onion-shaped heads with crosses, covered with the scales of a silver ploughshare. On northern white nights they glow with a mysterious phosphorescent sheen; on a gloomy day they appear dull silver; on fine days they turn blue. Sometimes they turn bright white, like polished aluminum, sometimes dull and leaden, or mossy and green, or brown like the earth... But most strikingly they change when the sun sets behind the distant islands: then the domes slowly flare up under the cold green sky, pouring hot and do not cool down for a long time. One tier, another, third, fourth... Higher, higher, and now the top chapter, crowning this entire grandiose pyramid, crashed into the very sky. There is a legend among the people about the builder of the Church of the Transfiguration that, having finished the work, he threw his ax far into Lake Onega and said: “Master Nestor built this church; it was not, is not and will not be like this.” Yes, there is no such thing anymore and there never will be! Domes, domes... They are literally stunning at first. Sometimes, especially at sunrise or sunset, it seems that the church is not the creation of human hands, but a miracle of nature itself, an unprecedented flower or a magical tree that grew in this harsh northern region. It has something of the fairy-tale mansions, and at the same time it exudes heroic, epic epicness, the simple simplicity of peasant buildings. But the most amazing and wonderful thing is different. The more and more carefully you look at the Church of the Transfiguration, the more you are struck not by the fantastic cascades of domes, but by the impeccable architectural composition, a one-of-a-kind combination of artistic improvisation and strict classicism of all proportions and details. It’s all very simple, because it’s not for nothing that people say: “Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, but where it’s tricky, there’s not a single one.” The inseparability of beauty and utility is the most important feature of real architecture, and in the Church of the Transfiguration both of these principles are firmly connected.

At the base of the church there is an octagon, an octagonal frame. This form was used in the old days for tall, voluminous buildings, and in addition, it had many other advantages. The octagonal base provided more opportunities for arranging chapels, galleries, and porches, which was convenient and gave the entire structure majesty and picturesqueness. So, in the plan there are three successively smaller octagons, placed one on top of the other and built from below with four cuts - at the cardinal points. The Church of the Transfiguration does not have a facade; there is no division into main and secondary. You perceive it all as a living organism, like an unprecedented tree that stretches its domed branches to the sky. The stepwise rising onions of the domes seem to be all the same, but if you look closely, there is a barely noticeable alternation of larger and smaller ones. The ancient architects understood perfectly well that without such alternation, unity would turn into dull monotony. It is built from pine, especially strong and resinous, grown on very dry soil. Walls were cut from it, and aspen was used for ploughshares. What appears to be a scale from below is in fact quite large (up to 40 centimeters long), a plate hewn with an ax, convexly round, tapering stepwise downwards. This is a kind of special wood shingle. These plates are laid overlapping, on the 22 domes of the Church of the Transfiguration - 30,000 such plates! Aspen is used for plates because it lends itself well to processing, does not crack or warp in the rain and sun. The hewn plate, rounded with an ax, is silky to the touch; over time it only seems to turn grey, acquiring a bluish gloss and at the same time a kind of mirror-like properties.

There are almost no purely decorative details in the Church of the Transfiguration. The artistic basis in them is inseparable from strict practical expediency. The builders of the Church of the Transfiguration thought not only about the beauty of lines and architectural volumes. They were also worried about the path of a small raindrop from the very top to the ground. After all, in the end, it also depended on how long this beauty would last in Kizhi. The path of a raindrop from the cross of the central chapter to the ground can tell a lot. From ploughshare to ploughshare, from the head to the barrel, from the barrel to the platform, then to the water reservoir, from tier to tier, from ledge to ledge... Everything is combined into a technical system, thought out to the smallest detail, for draining water and protecting the building from precipitation. There is even a possibility that if raindrops do penetrate through the roof, fall into the “sky” and damage his painting. Provided for and warned... Inside the lower octagon, a second gable roof is made - from thick boards, a layer of birch bark and birch bark lathing. Under the junction of its slopes lies an inclined dugout tray, along which water (if it does penetrate inside) flows out. Even if the tray becomes leaky, in this case a second tray of the same type is made underneath it as an insurance.

By its type, the Church of the Transfiguration is a summer (or cold) church. It was served only on especially solemn occasions, on local patronal holidays, and even then only during the short northern summer. It does not have winter frames or double doors, or an insulated floor or ceiling. In summer churches there is less dampness; through cracks and openings there is continuous natural ventilation and drying of all rooms, parts and structures. They have a stronger air draft, which means the wood dries out faster and there is less risk of rot, dangerous fungi and insects. The Transfiguration Church became, as it were, the swan song of ancient Russian wooden architecture. This is not an ordinary rural church, but a memorial building, a monument. After the construction was completed, Master Nestor threw the ax into Lake Onega so that no one else could build anything like it. For the glory of the native land, the Transfiguration Church has stood in Kizhi for two and a half centuries.