Modern church architecture: features, meanings, tasks. Style and architecture of Russian churches

At the lecture “How to be surprised by Moscow: architecture in details,” organized by Level One, the architectural historian spoke about the significant stages in the development of Moscow architecture of the 14th-20th centuries, and also taught how to accurately determine the style and time of construction by “telling” details.

Moscow churches of the 12th-14th centuries: the time of the capital's first ambitions

Moscow was first mentioned in chronicles in 1147. But stone buildings on the territory of the Moscow principality appeared only a century and a half later, and not in the city itself, but on the outskirts.

St. Nicholas Church in the village of Kamenskoye, Naro-Fominsk district

Reached to this day St. Nicholas Church in the village of Kamenskoye, Naro-Fominsk district. This church is very simple, even primitive, in architectural terms. The decoration includes a perspective portal with a keel-shaped arch (such an arch with a “tongue of flame” will become a purely Moscow architectural feature for centuries).

Church of the Assumption on Gorodok in Zvenigorod

Built at the end of the 14th century Church of the Assumption on Gorodok in Zvenigorod. He is only a few decades older than Nikolsky, but before us is a much more mature work. We see the same perspective portal and keeled arch, but columns and an ornamental belt appear, as well as narrow windows and tiers.

Where did the columns come from? Of course, from antiquity. Have Moscow architects gone on a creative trip to the Peloponnese? Obviously not. They were inspired by the architecture of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which was the center of pre-Mongol Rus'. During the heyday of the principality, Vladimir-Suzdal architects managed to achieve perfection in understanding the ancient heritage.

One of the peaks of white stone architecture of that time has survived to this day - this Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. Here we see reinterpreted antique elements - columns, ornamental belt, plinth, cornice in a very harmonious design.

Moscow masters at the end of the 14th century were guided by the architecture of the Vladimir land (especially since in terms of statehood Moscow was supposed to become its successor), but not yet very skillfully.

XV-XVI centuries: Italians in Russia

Assumption Cathedral

The main buildings of this time were the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin. Assumption Cathedral– the last one, built in the “Old Moscow” style with its inherent asceticism. It was built by an Italian, who was given instructions to “make it like in Vladimir,” explains Dmitry Bezzubtsev.

Cathedral of the Archangel

And here Cathedral of the Archangel, decorated with Venetian shells, is reminiscent of the European Renaissance. It is richly decorated, and this decor is done very skillfully - you can feel the hand of an Italian. In general, according to Dmitry, this is a “new level of awareness” for Moscow architecture.

Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Khoroshev

Temple Life-Giving Trinity in Khoroshev, once built on the estate of Boris Godunov, is another monument of this time. Presumably it was built according to the design of the Russian architect Fyodor Kon, but the Italian influence is felt - the laws of symmetry are observed here perfectly.

17th century: irrational pattern making

In the 17th century, Italians no longer built in Russia. Domestic craftsmen completely update architectural language. The main distinctive features of the new style, which is called patterning, are irrationality and picturesqueness. This is “the juiciest thing that has been created by Moscow architecture,” comments Dmitry Bezzubtsev.

Examples of such buildings can be found in the very center of Moscow - this is a bright Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki And Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putinki(it became white in our time, but was originally painted).

If you look closely at these temples, you can see a huge variety of architectural details scattered throughout the building in a whimsical and asymmetrical manner. Look, for example, at how the windows of the St. Nicholas Church are made: all the platbands are of different shapes (but almost everyone has a reference to the Moscow keel shape), the windows are located at different distances relative to the edge of the walls and each other (this is called “staggered windows”), in some places the platband “ crawls" onto the cornice. The structure as a whole is asymmetrical: the refectory is attached to the main volume of the temple randomly, the bell tower is offset from the central axis.

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putinki

We see the same in Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Putinki. It is interesting to pay attention to the joints here different parts buildings that literally “crawl” into each other, due to the fact that the external architecture does not reflect the internal structure of the building.

Resurrection (Iveron) Gate

An example of a more aristocratic, orderly pattern can be found on Red Square - these are recreated in the 90s of the 20th century Resurrection (Iveron) Gate. The shapes and decor characteristic of the 17th century are arranged neatly and symmetrically.

Verkhospassky Cathedral in the Kremlin

One more example - Verkhospassky Cathedral in the Kremlin. Its elegant domes are clearly visible from the Alexander Garden.

18th century: Naryshkinsky and simply baroque

In the 18th century, Moscow architecture again looked to the West. The connecting link between the architecture of old patriarchal Moscow and the new style of St. Petersburg, built in the Western European spirit - Peter's Baroque - was the Naryshkin style.

Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary in Fili

The most famous examples Naryshkin baroque - Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary in Fili, Spassky Church in the village of Ubory, Odintsovo district.

Spassky Church in the village of Ubory, Odintsovo district

The peculiarity of Naryshkin's style is the mixture of contradictory trends and currents. On the one hand, we see the features of European Baroque and Mannerism, echoes of Gothic, Renaissance, Romanticism, on the other – the traditions of Russian wooden architecture and ancient Russian stone architecture.

In Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane - interesting monument civil architecture of the Naryshkin baroque. It recently became available to the public as a museum.

But there is almost no genuine, high-class baroque, similar to what can be found in St. Petersburg, in Moscow. One feels that at this time Moscow is a province. However, on Red Square itself we can admire house of the provincial government, on Staraya Basmannaya - Temple of the Martyr Nikita.

In general, baroque is “an excellent student who is trying to pretend to be a poor student,” jokes Dmitry Bezzubtsev. This style is based on the order, that is, the laws of symmetry and order, but its distinctive features are “broken” arches and pediments, free curves, whimsical, excessive decor.

XVIII-XIX centuries: the era of urban estates and imperial empire

First city hospital

Classicism flourished in Moscow and lasted a long time - about 800 architectural monuments in this style are still preserved. The nobility especially often built classicist urban estates. Classicism is based on simple geometric shapes, order, and order. He “stops having complexes about empty space,” says Dmitry Bezzubtsev, showing the building First city hospital.

Indeed, only the central portal here is decorated, the rest of the walls are practically empty. Temples were also built in the classicist style; example – .

Manege

The most “elegant” version of classicism is the Empire style. Empire-style buildings were created for his empire by Napoleon Bonaparte. After the victory over Napoleon, Russia “conquered” his style. To achieve the impression of elation and solemnity, the upper part of the building was enlarged. For example, near the building Manege the pediment is greatly enlarged. Also a distinctive feature of the style is military, especially antique, symbolism in the decor.

The end of the 19th century: a time of eclecticism

From the 19th century, styles begin to blur, and this becomes especially noticeable towards the end of the century. For example, a real “collection of quotes”. We can see keeled arches, Romanesque “hanging” columns, a composition that echoes St. Isaac’s Cathedral (a large central dome and four bell towers), and so on.

Or a building Historical Museum : There are many quotes from the era of pattern making, but the symmetry of the building and the simple size indicate that this is not the 17th century.

Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent

A Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent– a combination of neo-archaic with motifs of Novgorod architecture and modernism.

– neoclassicism: we see a portal typical of classicism, but the colonnade runs along the entire facade, the size of the building indicates technical capabilities unimaginable in the period of true classicism.

Early 20th century: cozy modern

Many mansions were built in the Art Nouveau style in Moscow. The principle of “from the inside out”, characteristic of Art Nouveau, came in handy in the construction of private houses: first they planned the number and location of rooms, then they came up with the outer shell. The architect becomes an artist: he can draw, for example, his own window shape.

Ryabushinsky Mansion

New materials are actively used - for example, metal, decorative plaster, tiles (“Eclecticism shyly covered up metal structures,” notes Bezzubtsev), and a new interpretation of wood. A magnificent example of Art Nouveau - Ryabushinsky mansion.

* * *

Moscow has something to be proud of. After the Italian influence, Russian architecture was able to come up with a new full-fledged language - patterning. Catch up with world architecture and create buildings in the best traditions European classicism. Then renounce tradition and offer cozy modernity. Finally, discover the avant-garde and influence the appearance of cities around the world. But this will be a separate conversation.

Have you read the article Temples of Moscow: 7 architectural details. Read also.

An analysis of the historical evolution of Russian Orthodox church building and an assessment of modern problems in this area of ​​architecture are given. Issues of formation are considered in connection with religious doctrine, with the state of piety in a particular era. Special sections are devoted to the interaction of the architecture of the temple and its surroundings.

Introduction (A.S. Shchenkov)

Section I. Historical sketch of Russian Orthodox church building

Chapter 1. Some general trends in the formation of the image of an Orthodox church(L.S. Shchenkov)

Chapter 2. Temple of the pre-Mongol era(T.N. Vyatchanina)
The cultural situation in Rus' during the period of the beginning of temple construction
St. Sophia Cathedrals
Temples of the Vladimir-Suzdal land and the Russian temple-building paradigm of the 12th century.

Chapter 3. Early Moscow architecture and hesychasm(T.N. Vyatchanina)
Culture of time. Hesychasm
Culture-forming potential of hesychast teachings
Typology and figurative concept internal space early Moscow temple
Light in the architecture of an early Moscow temple
High iconostasis
Tectonics and plasticity of the early Moscow temple

Chapter 4. Spiritual and religious life of Rus' in the second half of the 15th-16th centuries. and its architectural reflection in the tradition of temple building(T.N. Vyatchanshsh)
"Josephites" and "non-covetous" The paths of the Russian architectural and iconographic tradition of the 15th - first half of the 16th centuries. in the light of these spiritual currents
Main trends of Russian religious life in the XV - first half of the XVI century.
Some “projections” of new trends in piety onto the artistic thinking of the era
Forms of interaction between spiritual and architectural processes in temple building in the 15th - first half of the 16th centuries.
“Russian Sovereign Orthodoxy” and its reflection in the national temple tradition of the 16th century.
Power ideology
The influence of “sovereign” consciousness on the artistic thinking of the era
Mechanism and stages of adding elements national language in official temple architecture of the 16th century.

Chapter 5. Temple construction in the 17th century.(T.N. Vyatchanina)
Cultural-religious consciousness and temple construction of the first half and mid-17th century.
Some features of the cultural and religious consciousness of the era
Posad parish church of the first half - mid-17th century. and Russian socio-religious consciousness
Architectural enterprises of Patriarch Nikon
“Spiritual restructuring” of the second half and end of the 17th century and its “projections” on temple architecture
Features of cultural and religious consciousness of time
Architectural imprinting of new features of spiritual consciousness in the second half of the 17th century
Decorativism of the second half of the 17th century and its speculative foundations

Chapter 6. Temples in the XVIII - first thirds of the XIX V.(A.S. Shchenkov)
The nature of synodal church piety XVIII era- first third of the 19th century
Characteristic features of temple construction

Chapter 7. Architecture of temples 1830-1910s(A.S. Shchenkov)
General cultural and church prerequisites for changes in the direction of temple construction in the second quarter of the 19th century.
The search for new architectural expression in the middle of the century
Temple construction and views on church art in the 1870-1890s
Changes in artistic culture and in the church's view of church building at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries.
Temple construction of the late XIX - early XX centuries.
Some results of the historical review of Russian temple construction

Chapter 8. Temple in a Russian city of the 11th-20th centuries(A.S. Shchenkov)
Pre-Petrine period
City of classicism
City of the mid-19th - early 20th centuries

Section II. Orthodox church in Russia at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries

Chapter 9 Modern church building in Russia
General cultural situation and some features of church consciousness at the end of the 20th century. (A.S. Shchenkov)
Methodological problems in the analysis of modern Orthodox church building (A.S. Shchenkov)
The practice of domestic temple construction (A.S. Shchenkov)
Iconography and tectonics of temples
Volume-spatial structure of temples
Character of the interiors
Foreign practice of Orthodox church building (K.V. Rytsarev)

Chapter 10. Temples in new residential areas of the late XX - beginning of the XXI V.(N.E. Antonova)
Temples and urban verticals in Russian cities of the 20th century
Temples in the development structure of new areas
The temple and its immediate architectural surroundings

Chapter 11. Temples in reconstructed historical quarters(N.E. Antonova)
Temples as compositional dominants in the historical part of the city
Architectural and spatial interaction of temples and surroundings in historical urban areas
Using the features of temple architecture in the image of modern town-planning dominants

Conclusion (A.S. Shchenkov)

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 cities.

We present you photos modern temples, 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) - catholic church in 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 shining example 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 a major social center of the Italian capital. This futuristic building is specially located in one of the residential areas in order to architecturally “revive” it. Precast reinforced concrete was used as a building material.

10. Halgrimskirja - 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, general form temple and its unusual shape make it very interesting example 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 a program of transformations provided by master plan developments in Turin from 1995

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. The building, unusual in shape, materials and general concept, is the relatively recently built Catholic Church of Santa Monica. 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 the 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.

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 region of God's existence, the temple itself - the region of the heavenly angelic world (spiritual heaven) and the vestibule - the 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, furnished, ready upper room” (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12) it was prepared, that is, arranged in a special way, and it took place last supper The Lord Jesus Christ with His disciples. Here Christ washed the feet of His disciples. I made the first one myself 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 establishment 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, and 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 became catacombs, vast dungeons in ancient Rome and in 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 a large 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.

Confession Christian Church and the cessation of persecution against her in the 4th century, and then the adoption of Christianity in the Roman Empire as the state religion, marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the Church and ecclesiastical 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 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 the spiritual and external life of the Church, which has since been called Orthodox, were laid.

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 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 temples mixed types: cross-shaped 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 form 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 internal view 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 pillars of truth, which corresponds to the word of the 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 consciousness ancient Russian man, leading him to an in-depth contemplation of the universe.

Together with Orthodoxy, Rus' adopted examples of church architecture from Byzantium. Such famous Russian churches as: Kyiv Saint Sophia Cathedral, Sophia of Novgorod, the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral were deliberately built in the likeness of the St. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople. 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. 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 church in Byzantium, there was a process of creating a unified system of 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. General idea 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, the origins of Moscow church architecture are the traditions of North-Eastern Rus' with its universal synthetic nature, and the purely national system of the Novgorodians and Pskovites. 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 everything, is clearly visible. further development church temple construction.

In the 15th-17th centuries, a significantly different style of temple construction developed in Russia 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 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 churches traditionally maintain a three-part (or two-part) symbolic internal division, and in the arrangement of the internal space and external design they 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 fundamentally new for Rus' compositional structures and stylistic motifs of the Baroque. 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. The work of a number of Moscow architects of the late 17th century is perceived as a kind of harbinger of a new era of Peter’s reforms - 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. However, to achieve organic synthesis in XVIII-XIX centuries failed. 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.

In Moscow, as part of the Orthodox architecture festival “House of the Lord,” projects of modern churches were presented.

How much church architecture has changed in Russia, how traditions are combined with innovations, and why most festival projects will be impossible to implement: architect Mikhail Kesler, chairman of the Union of Architects’ Commission on Religious Buildings, told Russian Planet about this.

— As a person who has been involved in church architecture for more than 25 years, what can you say about the projects submitted to the competition?

— At this exhibition you can see what is happening in our church architecture today. We see here the most different directions- both traditional and innovative solutions.

There are two troubles in today's Orthodox church building. Or a retrospective project that simply reproduces the style of past times, more often - Old Russian period: Pskov, Vladimir, without adapting it to the conditions of our time, and often even spoiling it. We are people of a different century and cannot do exactly the same as our ancestors did; we even have a different mentality. Or the project, on the contrary, too deliberately avoids traditional forms. There is a clearly visible tendency among young architects to do something “not the way it was before” at all costs. And often this is to the detriment of the established symbolism, and does not take into account a certain set of elements that are important and carry meaning. There should be nothing arbitrary or ad hoc in the temple.

— It’s better to call it a canonical tradition. Indeed, over time, some time-tested samples and solutions became canon. But this is not a repetition. Rublev, looking at the icons created before him, created something new. The same thing applies to temple building. Any tradition develops with an eye to previous experience.

Here, for example, is a project by one of the architects. Pay attention to the offset windows: why did the author do this? This is a whim, which I already spoke about, a desire to do in spite of. This decision is not justified. This is the problem with our young architects. They are not taught to understand the key things of temple architecture, they are not involved in church life and have little knowledge of the history of Orthodox architecture, and this is not only about Russian temple construction, but about Orthodox architecture in general.

Young people are now instilled with only one thing: the desire to stand out at any cost, to be different from everyone else, to deny previous experience. Being original is not a bad thing, but often it comes at the expense of not just tradition, but common sense.

— Should an architect be a churchgoer?

- This is the key question. It is useless to engage in church building without being a church person. The architect must know how worship takes place, how parish life flows, where everything should be located, how auxiliary premises should interact with the church. This is all unfamiliar to an outsider. Modern church designs make it very clear whether the architect is a churchgoer or not.

— Do architectural trends influence Western Christian tradition on modern Orthodox architecture?

— Many architects often copy the modernist techniques of Western Catholic and Protestant culture. It looks at least unusual. But in those conditions this is justified, since Catholics have a different liturgy, they have a completely different Christian worldview. This philosophy, of course, is expressed in visible, architectural forms. Therefore, it is important that the architect who builds an Orthodox church is himself an Orthodox person, knows the history of both Russian and world Orthodoxy well, and reflects this worldview through his work.

— If we can outline modern Catholic or Protestant architecture, then what about modern Orthodox architecture?

— It hasn’t worked out yet. Yes, there are attempts to modernize the old, there are other attempts to do the opposite. This is the wrong motive, not Orthodox. Since the 1990s we have lived in an era of liberalism. Everyone can express themselves as they wish, personal opinion is the main thing, no authority. In church construction there is now complete eclecticism: some have modernism, some have traditions, some don’t know what. This is the spirit of liberalism that reigns everywhere in our country - in economics, in politics, in all of our lives, including in architecture. Maybe someday we will be able to select some samples that will be perceived by the general consciousness as the best, and we will decide that we will move in this direction, but for now we are far from that.

- What's stopping this?

“Perhaps this expresses a certain inertia of our consciousness.” We are too accustomed to traditions and are afraid to move away from them. And I think that in many respects this is correct. This protective position is useful at times when there are too many centrifugal forces. If you start the process of renovationism in architecture, it can rock the entire church life.

— How does the Church behave?

“Unfortunately, the other side speaks out little on this topic. Architects are essentially stewing in their own juice, but we need to know what the Church thinks. We have no idea what her formula is for approaching modern architecture. For example, in the Vatican the hierarchs gathered and decided: anything is possible! And they were allowed to follow the directions dictated by contemporary art. Yes, this led to unbridled modernism, to situations where you don’t immediately understand that this is a temple or shopping mall. But this was the official, clearly stated position of the Church.

— Not only architects participate in this festival. For example, the festival was opened by Bishop Mark, curator of the church construction program in Moscow. So, does the Church still take part in the dialogue?

— The situation is changing, but slowly. Indeed, when Bishop Mark took charge of the program, it was possible to turn the situation around and abandon, for example, standard projects in favor of individual ones. By the way, one of the tasks of the project competition within the framework of this festival is to find solutions that could be used for the “200 temples” program. And another positive initiative - recently, by resolution of the Synod, a special department for architecture was organized under the Russian Orthodox Church. Until then, it didn’t exist, and we, architects, simply had no one to appeal to.

— How to find a balance between unrestrained modernism and retrograde?

— Architecture is still business card nation. We have one language, one faith. It brings people together. The same can be said about architecture. Any form carries a symbolic load associated with the dogma of Orthodoxy. And if it is unchangeable, then in principle these forms are also unchangeable. That is why little has changed in temple architecture in 1000 years. To be honest, we have no stability at all in Russia, and the Church is the only place where order, hierarchy, vertical power, etc. are preserved. Therefore, such an element, not so important, it would seem, is architecture, this is also such a moment of stability, orderliness, following traditions. It seems to me that for the sake of their preservation we can put up with reproaches of inertia and conservatism. New is good when everything else is good and strong.

And if we talk about temple decoration... In fact, only the external decor is dictated by style. Sometimes it is imposed by Western Baroque or Renaissance, but remove the shell, the colonnades, and you will see an ordinary cross-domed temple. We must carefully preserve all this, protect the canonical tradition, but at the same time move forward.

—What do you think a modern Orthodox church should be like?

— I don’t really like the word “style.” I prefer the formula for building a temple taking into account its tasks. There is no need to try to make a church “in some style,” but you just need to make an Orthodox church.

You choose the place where it will stand, this place will dictate the architecture and solutions. Then you take into account the views and lifestyle of the local community - what people do in the parish, how many children are there, what kind of social work they do there, and, based on this, decide what buildings you will need. In fact, to build a good temple, you don’t need to invent anything. It is enough to know the traditional forms, their symbolism and build the temple as needed in a given place, taking into account the aspirations of a particular community. Then all the churches in Russia will be Orthodox, traditional and at the same time completely different and unique.