royal support

Prince Grigory Gagarin, who had served as a diplomat in Constantinople and the Caucasus, became the most influential supporter of the Byzantine style, thanks to his published studies of the vernacular heritage of the Caucasus and Greece, as well as services to Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna "Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1819-1876)"). (sister of Alexander II and president of the Imperial Academy of Arts). Already in 1856, Empress Maria Alexandrovna expressed her desire to see new churches executed in the Byzantine style.[Sav. 3]​.

The first of these churches was built in 1861-1866 on Greek Square in St. Petersburg. The architect Roman Kuzmin" (1811–1867) loosely followed the Hagia Sophia canon: a flattened dome combined with a cylindrical arcade that rested on a cubic main building body. Kuzmin, however, added a novel feature: instead of the two apses typical of Byzantine prototypes, he used four.[Sav. 4]​[1]​ This design in the shape of cross was refined in 1865 by David Grimm, who vertically extended Kuzmin's flattened building. Although Grimm's design remained on paper for more than 30 years, its basic composition became almost universal in Russian construction practice.[Sav. 5]​.

Another trend was also fostered by Grimm's design of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Chersonesos "Chersonesos (city)") (designed 1858-1859, completed 1897). The church, built on the ruins of an ancient Greek cathedral, was patronized by Alexander II. Grimm, also a historian of Caucasian heritage, had been chosen by Maria Alexandrovna, most likely on the advice of Gagarin and Maria Nikolaevna.[Sav. 6]​ Its cross-shaped construction used a complex succession of simple stepped shapes. Grimm restricted the use of curvilinear surfaces to the main dome only; The apses and their roofs were polygonal, in line with Georgian and Armenian prototypes. This "linear" variety of Byzantine architecture remained uncommon in the 19th century, but increased in popularity in the reign of Nicholas II.[Sav. 7]​.

Despite the support of the royal family, the reign of Alexander II did not produce many examples of this style: the economy, paralyzed by the Crimean War and then affected by Alexander's reforms, was too weak to support large construction projects. Once started, the projects were delayed for decades. For example, Aleksei Avdeyev's project for the Sevastopol Cathedral "Vladimir Cathedral (Sevastopol)") was approved in 1862, but actual work did not begin until 1873. The foundations, built before the war, were already in place but construction dragged on slowly until 1888, literally consuming the architect's life.[Sav. 8] Tbilisi Cathedral) David Grimm, designed in 1865, was not started until 1871 and was soon abandoned; Construction resumed in 1889 and was completed in 1897. Grimm died a year later.[Sav. 5]​.

Proliferation

The construction of churches and the economy, in general, picked up in the reign of Alexander III (1881–1894). In thirteen and a half years, the holdings of the Russian Orthodox Church increased by more than 5,000 places of worship; In 1894 there were 47,419 temples, including 695 major cathedrals.[2] Most of the new temples, however, belonged to the late-century variant of the Neo-Russian style that became the official style of Alexander III. The shift in state preferences was signaled in 1881-1882 by two architectural competitions for the design of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. Both competitions were dominated by neo-Byzantine designs, but Alexander dismissed them all and finally awarded the project to Alfred Parland, establishing the stylistic preference of the following decade. However, the much-publicized features of Savior on Blood—a central pavilion-covered roof, excessive red brick ornamentation, and a clear reference to the Moscow and Yaroslavl relics of the century—were instantly copied in many smaller churches.[3]​.

Almost all of the more than 5,000 churches attributed to the reign of Alexander III were financed through public donations. 100% of state funding was reserved for some palatial churches that directly served the royal family. Some "military" churches built on military and naval bases were co-financed by the state, jointly with officers and through popular subscription among civilians. For example, the Byzantine church of the 13th Infantry Regiment in Manglisi, Georgia, designed to accommodate 900 worshipers, cost 32,360 rubles, of which only 10,000 were provided by the state treasury.[4] The site is famous for its Manglisi Cathedral dating from the 330s.

The preference for Neo-Russian did not mean aversion to Byzantine architecture. Alexander did show a clear aversion to the baroque and neoclassicism of the century that he despised as symbols of Petrine absolutism; However, Neo-Byzantine architecture seemed to him an acceptable "middle way." [Sav.2 3] Neo-Byzantine architects of the previous reign formed a large school with loyal clients, including the senior clergy. Paradoxically, the Byzantine school was concentrated in the Institute of Civil Engineers, which also provided a departmental chair to Nikolai Sultanov, informal leader of the Neo-Russian and advisor to Alexander III. (designed in 1888, built in 1895–1904), but only managed to be so successful in few neo-Russian projects (Libava Naval Cathedral", 1900–1903). Two schools coexisted in a normal working environment, at least in St. Petersburg.

Neo-Byzantine architecture of the reign of Alexander III dominated in three geographical niches. It was the style chosen by the Orthodox clergy and by the military governors at the Congress of Poland and Lithuania (cathedrals in Kaunas, Kielce, Łódź, Vilnius); in the southern regions (Kharkov, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov and in numerous settlements of Cossack hosts); and in the Urals (from Perm to Orenburg).[Sav.2 5]​ In 1891, the list was expanded with the Siberian cities that were emerging along the Trans-Siberian railway.

The eastern and southern provinces participated in large neo-Byzantine projects designed by former students of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Provincial architecture was frequently dominated by a single local architect (Alexander Bernardazzi"), in Bessarabia; Alexander Yaschenko"), in southern Russia; or Alexander Turchevich"), in Perm), which explains the existence of regional groups of apparently similar churches. Architects generally followed the standard set by Kuzmin and Grimm, or the classical five-domed design, with some notable exceptions. Kharkiv Cathedral "Annunciation Cathedral (Kharkov)") (1888–1901) was designed for 4,000 worshipers and was equal in height to the Great Belfry of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin.[Sav. 9]​ The Kovno Fortress Cathedral") (1891–1895, for 2,000 worshipers), contrary to the Byzantine canon, was adorned with Corinthian columns, giving rise to the "Roman-Byzantine" style.

Alexander's indifference to Byzantine architecture actually increased its appeal to private clients: the style was no longer reserved for the Church. Elements of Byzantine art (rows of arches, two-tone band masonry) were a common decoration of brick factories and in apartment buildings. They blended easily with neo-Romanesque or Moorish traditions, as in the Tbilisi Opera House, designed by Victor Schroeter. Byzantine-Russian eclecticism became the preferred choice for municipal and private hospices in Moscow. The trend was initiated by Alexander Ober's Church of the Rukavishnikov Hospice (1879) and culminated in the still existing Boyev Almshouse in Sokolniki (Alexander Ober, 1890). The Moscow clergy, on the other hand, did not commission a single Neo-Byzantine church between 1876 (Kazan Icon Church, in Kaluga Gates) and 1898 (Kazan Cathedral of the Epiphany in Dorogomilovo").[Sav.2 6]​.

Reign of Nicholas II

The last emperor's personal tastes were a melting pot: he promoted the Russian art of the century in interior design and costume, but showed an aversion to neo-Russian historicist architecture. Nicholas, or his Court Ministry, did not demonstrate a lasting preference for any style; His last private commission, the Lower dacha in Peterhof,[Sav.2 7]​ was a Byzantine design that followed a series of Russian neoclassical buildings. State-funded construction was largely decentralized and administered by individual statesmen who already had their own agendas. For a brief period before the disastrous Russo-Japanese War, the Byzantine style apparently became the state choice, at least of the Imperial Navy which sponsored high-profile construction projects in metropolitan bases and abroad.[Sav.2 8]​.

The architecture of the last twenty years of the Russian Empire was marked by a rapid succession of Art Nouveau and neoclassical revival. These styles dominated the private construction market, but failed to gain a firm niche in the official projects of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, Art Nouveau ideas slowly infiltrated traditional Byzantine architecture. Its influence was obvious in the furniture of traditional Byzantine churches (Kronstadt Naval Cathedral). Members of the Art Nouveau style (Fyodor Schechtel"), Sergei Solovyov&action=edit&redlink=1 "Sergei Solovyov (architect) (not yet written)"), and the neoclassical schools (Vladímir Adamovich")) created their own versions of the neo-Byzantine style, whether highly decorative (Schechtel church, Ivanovo) or, conversely, simplified (Solovyov Church, Kuntsevo). Finally, the northern variety of Art Nouveau (Ilya Bondarenko) became the style of the legalized Old Believers.

The fragmentation of the style into small-scale projects developed in parallel with the construction of four very large and conservative Neo-Byzantine cathedrals: the Naval Cathedral of Kronstadt, the cathedrals of Tsaritsyn, Poti (present-day Georgia) and Sofia (Bulgaria). Three of them (Kronstadt, Poti, Sofia) were a clear tribute to Hagia Sofia; its authors apparently discarded the “golden rule” of single-dome design established in previous decades.[Sav. 10] The exact reasons for this change in style are unknown; in the case of the Kronstadt Cathedral, it can be traced back to the direct intervention of Admiral Makarov.[Sav. 11].

Poti Cathedral, designed by Alexander Zelenko" and Robert Marfeld"), was unusual in being the first major ecclesiastical project built with reinforced concrete. It was structurally completed in a single construction season (1906-1907); the entire project took less than two years (November 1905 - July 1907), an absolute record for the time.[Sav. 12] Kronstadt Cathedral, which also used concrete, was structurally completed in four construction seasons (1903-1907) due to delays caused by the 1905 revolution. Other projects did not fare as well: Dorogomilovo Cathedral in Moscow (1898-1910), designed to be the second largest in the city, suffered from a shortage of money and was ultimately consecrated incomplete and simplified form.[Sav. 13].

Emigration

The revolution of 1917 ended the Russian branch of Byzantine architecture, but it found an unexpected afterlife in Yugoslavia through the personal support of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Alexander sponsored Byzantine church projects by white émigré architects in Belgrade, Lazarevac, Požega&action=edit&redlink=1 "Požega (Croatia) (not yet drafted)") and other cities. Serbia and Montenegro became a new home for more than a thousand construction workers and professionals arriving from Russia.[6]​ Russian immigration to Yugoslavia, estimated at 40-70,000 people, was welcomed by the government as a quick replacement for professionals killed in World War I.[7]​ Vasili Andrósov alone is credited with the authorship of 50 Byzantine churches built in the interwar period.[8]​ And "It was Russian painters who created the interiors of the Presentation Monastery and the historic Ružica Church").[Official 1]​.

The Russian diaspora in Harbin produced two Neo-Byzantine cathedrals in the interwar period. The largest, the Annunciation Cathedral, was designed and built by Boris Tustanovski in 1930-1941, and was later destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. It was notable as one of the few large Russian Orthodox basilicas. A smaller, still extant Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, with a single-domed scheme designed in 1905 by Yuri Zhdanov, was built in a single season in 1922. It has been Harbin's only Orthodox place of worship since 1984.[10]

royal support

Prince Grigory Gagarin, who had served as a diplomat in Constantinople and the Caucasus, became the most influential supporter of the Byzantine style, thanks to his published studies of the vernacular heritage of the Caucasus and Greece, as well as services to Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna "Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1819-1876)"). (sister of Alexander II and president of the Imperial Academy of Arts). Already in 1856, Empress Maria Alexandrovna expressed her desire to see new churches executed in the Byzantine style.[Sav. 3]​.

The first of these churches was built in 1861-1866 on Greek Square in St. Petersburg. The architect Roman Kuzmin" (1811–1867) loosely followed the Hagia Sophia canon: a flattened dome combined with a cylindrical arcade that rested on a cubic main building body. Kuzmin, however, added a novel feature: instead of the two apses typical of Byzantine prototypes, he used four.[Sav. 4]​[1]​ This design in the shape of cross was refined in 1865 by David Grimm, who vertically extended Kuzmin's flattened building. Although Grimm's design remained on paper for more than 30 years, its basic composition became almost universal in Russian construction practice.[Sav. 5]​.

Another trend was also fostered by Grimm's design of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Chersonesos "Chersonesos (city)") (designed 1858-1859, completed 1897). The church, built on the ruins of an ancient Greek cathedral, was patronized by Alexander II. Grimm, also a historian of Caucasian heritage, had been chosen by Maria Alexandrovna, most likely on the advice of Gagarin and Maria Nikolaevna.[Sav. 6]​ Its cross-shaped construction used a complex succession of simple stepped shapes. Grimm restricted the use of curvilinear surfaces to the main dome only; The apses and their roofs were polygonal, in line with Georgian and Armenian prototypes. This "linear" variety of Byzantine architecture remained uncommon in the 19th century, but increased in popularity in the reign of Nicholas II.[Sav. 7]​.

Despite the support of the royal family, the reign of Alexander II did not produce many examples of this style: the economy, paralyzed by the Crimean War and then affected by Alexander's reforms, was too weak to support large construction projects. Once started, the projects were delayed for decades. For example, Aleksei Avdeyev's project for the Sevastopol Cathedral "Vladimir Cathedral (Sevastopol)") was approved in 1862, but actual work did not begin until 1873. The foundations, built before the war, were already in place but construction dragged on slowly until 1888, literally consuming the architect's life.[Sav. 8] Tbilisi Cathedral) David Grimm, designed in 1865, was not started until 1871 and was soon abandoned; Construction resumed in 1889 and was completed in 1897. Grimm died a year later.[Sav. 5]​.

Proliferation

The construction of churches and the economy, in general, picked up in the reign of Alexander III (1881–1894). In thirteen and a half years, the holdings of the Russian Orthodox Church increased by more than 5,000 places of worship; In 1894 there were 47,419 temples, including 695 major cathedrals.[2] Most of the new temples, however, belonged to the late-century variant of the Neo-Russian style that became the official style of Alexander III. The shift in state preferences was signaled in 1881-1882 by two architectural competitions for the design of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. Both competitions were dominated by neo-Byzantine designs, but Alexander dismissed them all and finally awarded the project to Alfred Parland, establishing the stylistic preference of the following decade. However, the much-publicized features of Savior on Blood—a central pavilion-covered roof, excessive red brick ornamentation, and a clear reference to the Moscow and Yaroslavl relics of the century—were instantly copied in many smaller churches.[3]​.

Almost all of the more than 5,000 churches attributed to the reign of Alexander III were financed through public donations. 100% of state funding was reserved for some palatial churches that directly served the royal family. Some "military" churches built on military and naval bases were co-financed by the state, jointly with officers and through popular subscription among civilians. For example, the Byzantine church of the 13th Infantry Regiment in Manglisi, Georgia, designed to accommodate 900 worshipers, cost 32,360 rubles, of which only 10,000 were provided by the state treasury.[4] The site is famous for its Manglisi Cathedral dating from the 330s.

The preference for Neo-Russian did not mean aversion to Byzantine architecture. Alexander did show a clear aversion to the baroque and neoclassicism of the century that he despised as symbols of Petrine absolutism; However, Neo-Byzantine architecture seemed to him an acceptable "middle way." [Sav.2 3] Neo-Byzantine architects of the previous reign formed a large school with loyal clients, including the senior clergy. Paradoxically, the Byzantine school was concentrated in the Institute of Civil Engineers, which also provided a departmental chair to Nikolai Sultanov, informal leader of the Neo-Russian and advisor to Alexander III. (designed in 1888, built in 1895–1904), but only managed to be so successful in few neo-Russian projects (Libava Naval Cathedral", 1900–1903). Two schools coexisted in a normal working environment, at least in St. Petersburg.

Neo-Byzantine architecture of the reign of Alexander III dominated in three geographical niches. It was the style chosen by the Orthodox clergy and by the military governors at the Congress of Poland and Lithuania (cathedrals in Kaunas, Kielce, Łódź, Vilnius); in the southern regions (Kharkov, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov and in numerous settlements of Cossack hosts); and in the Urals (from Perm to Orenburg).[Sav.2 5]​ In 1891, the list was expanded with the Siberian cities that were emerging along the Trans-Siberian railway.

The eastern and southern provinces participated in large neo-Byzantine projects designed by former students of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Provincial architecture was frequently dominated by a single local architect (Alexander Bernardazzi"), in Bessarabia; Alexander Yaschenko"), in southern Russia; or Alexander Turchevich"), in Perm), which explains the existence of regional groups of apparently similar churches. Architects generally followed the standard set by Kuzmin and Grimm, or the classical five-domed design, with some notable exceptions. Kharkiv Cathedral "Annunciation Cathedral (Kharkov)") (1888–1901) was designed for 4,000 worshipers and was equal in height to the Great Belfry of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin.[Sav. 9]​ The Kovno Fortress Cathedral") (1891–1895, for 2,000 worshipers), contrary to the Byzantine canon, was adorned with Corinthian columns, giving rise to the "Roman-Byzantine" style.

Alexander's indifference to Byzantine architecture actually increased its appeal to private clients: the style was no longer reserved for the Church. Elements of Byzantine art (rows of arches, two-tone band masonry) were a common decoration of brick factories and in apartment buildings. They blended easily with neo-Romanesque or Moorish traditions, as in the Tbilisi Opera House, designed by Victor Schroeter. Byzantine-Russian eclecticism became the preferred choice for municipal and private hospices in Moscow. The trend was initiated by Alexander Ober's Church of the Rukavishnikov Hospice (1879) and culminated in the still existing Boyev Almshouse in Sokolniki (Alexander Ober, 1890). The Moscow clergy, on the other hand, did not commission a single Neo-Byzantine church between 1876 (Kazan Icon Church, in Kaluga Gates) and 1898 (Kazan Cathedral of the Epiphany in Dorogomilovo").[Sav.2 6]​.

Reign of Nicholas II

The last emperor's personal tastes were a melting pot: he promoted the Russian art of the century in interior design and costume, but showed an aversion to neo-Russian historicist architecture. Nicholas, or his Court Ministry, did not demonstrate a lasting preference for any style; His last private commission, the Lower dacha in Peterhof,[Sav.2 7]​ was a Byzantine design that followed a series of Russian neoclassical buildings. State-funded construction was largely decentralized and administered by individual statesmen who already had their own agendas. For a brief period before the disastrous Russo-Japanese War, the Byzantine style apparently became the state choice, at least of the Imperial Navy which sponsored high-profile construction projects in metropolitan bases and abroad.[Sav.2 8]​.

The architecture of the last twenty years of the Russian Empire was marked by a rapid succession of Art Nouveau and neoclassical revival. These styles dominated the private construction market, but failed to gain a firm niche in the official projects of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, Art Nouveau ideas slowly infiltrated traditional Byzantine architecture. Its influence was obvious in the furniture of traditional Byzantine churches (Kronstadt Naval Cathedral). Members of the Art Nouveau style (Fyodor Schechtel"), Sergei Solovyov&action=edit&redlink=1 "Sergei Solovyov (architect) (not yet written)"), and the neoclassical schools (Vladímir Adamovich")) created their own versions of the neo-Byzantine style, whether highly decorative (Schechtel church, Ivanovo) or, conversely, simplified (Solovyov Church, Kuntsevo). Finally, the northern variety of Art Nouveau (Ilya Bondarenko) became the style of the legalized Old Believers.

The fragmentation of the style into small-scale projects developed in parallel with the construction of four very large and conservative Neo-Byzantine cathedrals: the Naval Cathedral of Kronstadt, the cathedrals of Tsaritsyn, Poti (present-day Georgia) and Sofia (Bulgaria). Three of them (Kronstadt, Poti, Sofia) were a clear tribute to Hagia Sofia; its authors apparently discarded the “golden rule” of single-dome design established in previous decades.[Sav. 10] The exact reasons for this change in style are unknown; in the case of the Kronstadt Cathedral, it can be traced back to the direct intervention of Admiral Makarov.[Sav. 11].

Poti Cathedral, designed by Alexander Zelenko" and Robert Marfeld"), was unusual in being the first major ecclesiastical project built with reinforced concrete. It was structurally completed in a single construction season (1906-1907); the entire project took less than two years (November 1905 - July 1907), an absolute record for the time.[Sav. 12] Kronstadt Cathedral, which also used concrete, was structurally completed in four construction seasons (1903-1907) due to delays caused by the 1905 revolution. Other projects did not fare as well: Dorogomilovo Cathedral in Moscow (1898-1910), designed to be the second largest in the city, suffered from a shortage of money and was ultimately consecrated incomplete and simplified form.[Sav. 13].

Emigration

The revolution of 1917 ended the Russian branch of Byzantine architecture, but it found an unexpected afterlife in Yugoslavia through the personal support of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Alexander sponsored Byzantine church projects by white émigré architects in Belgrade, Lazarevac, Požega&action=edit&redlink=1 "Požega (Croatia) (not yet drafted)") and other cities. Serbia and Montenegro became a new home for more than a thousand construction workers and professionals arriving from Russia.[6]​ Russian immigration to Yugoslavia, estimated at 40-70,000 people, was welcomed by the government as a quick replacement for professionals killed in World War I.[7]​ Vasili Andrósov alone is credited with the authorship of 50 Byzantine churches built in the interwar period.[8]​ And "It was Russian painters who created the interiors of the Presentation Monastery and the historic Ružica Church").[Official 1]​.

The Russian diaspora in Harbin produced two Neo-Byzantine cathedrals in the interwar period. The largest, the Annunciation Cathedral, was designed and built by Boris Tustanovski in 1930-1941, and was later destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. It was notable as one of the few large Russian Orthodox basilicas. A smaller, still extant Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, with a single-domed scheme designed in 1905 by Yuri Zhdanov, was built in a single season in 1922. It has been Harbin's only Orthodox place of worship since 1984.[10]