A region of Russia that is famous for its wooden churches. Wooden church architecture
No, “the ancient walls are not warped.” In general, the condition of wooden churches in the northeast of the Leningrad region is now good. In addition to the scenery at exit 7 "Opening the Leningrad region" There were also many churches, mostly wooden. Among them is the most ancient temple built in the 15th century and still remaining in its place (they didn’t move it to the museum), which is absolutely exceptional! They are also very beautiful and picturesque.
Ensemble of the Soginsky churchyard.
Temple of the Cathedral Holy Mother of God in the village of Rogozha near the Syas River. It was erected under Pushkin - in 1834-35 with the money of a large businessman (merchant) from St. Petersburg to replace a burnt wooden one.
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Stone church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Shustruchey. It was built in 1870 by a St. Petersburg small businessman (burgher), but now it has not yet been restored. In principle, nothing particularly interesting or unique happened to these churches.
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The following is in full accordance with the title. In chronological order.
1493
Church of St. George the Victorious in the village of Rodionovo. Now that's enough ancient history(by our standards). The church is considered one of the three most ancient wooden churches in Russia and the only one remaining in its historical place (the other two were transported to museums: the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus of Murom in Kizhi and the oldest, built in 1485, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava, moved to the city of Kirillov). This is a cage type church. The date on the church is 1493, but this is partly disingenuous.
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From the time of Ivan the Terrible, only the internal rebuilt log house remained, which was covered with extensions in 1632. Interestingly, the complete restoration of the temple took place under Brezhnev in the 1970s. Then, perhaps after the opening of the museum in Kizhi, there was a surge of interest in wooden Russian architecture and many buildings were restored in those years. But, yes, inside there are boards, logs, doors that are more than 500 years old!
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1696
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Elijah the Prophet in the village of Soginitsy.
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Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It can be seen that this is a tented temple on an octagon with a bell tower.
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And the Church of Elijah the Prophet is of the cage type. The construction dates back to approximately 1850. Together they form the ensemble of the Soginsky churchyard.
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1695
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Gimreka. A refectory adjoins it, and the entrance to the complex is designed as a double porch.
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It is considered a typical example of the tent-roofed temples common in Obonezhye.
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The entire church is decorated with wooden carvings.
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1783
Church of St. Dmitry of Thessalonica the Myrrh-Streaming in the village of Shcheleyki Literally this spring, restoration was completed! The previous one took place again in the 70s under Brezhnev, then many historical elements were restored - the same levies.
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The monument is somewhat unique - 5 chapters with a bell tower.
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Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Kurpovo. What is visible in the photo is related to the period 1827-1831- these are the years of renovation, when the log house built in 1630 was covered with a dome in the classicist style. And in 1874-77
In general, there was a case of vandalism in the 19th century. Nowadays you can periodically hear how historical buildings are covered with siding or curtain panels. Then they did exactly the same thing - they covered the log house with boards (if there had been siding then, they would have definitely covered it with it). At the same time, a warm refectory with an octagonal bell tower was added.
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And the building is unique in that it is the only known wooden temple with a “ten” plan. And even in the post-war Soviet era, it was the only functioning temple in the Lodeinopolsky and Podporozhye districts.
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Project organizers
Original taken from d_popovskiy to 25 ancient wooden buildings in the world
I already wrote about the surviving wooden buildings in Manhattan. Today I propose to look at ancient wooden buildings from different parts of the world. Many of them have already been mentioned by me on Facebook. I didn’t have a special method for selecting buildings for a post; everything that accidentally came across the field while surfing the Internet and seemed interesting to me was immediately sent to my wall. The only limitation is that the buildings had to be built no later than 1700, i.e. the end of the 17th century. Thus, the post contains 25 buildings representing 10 centuries of wooden architecture. Not being able to actively travel around the world and photograph all these objects myself, I had to resort to the help of Wikipedia and Flickr.
7th CENTURY
1. Pagoda and condo in Horyu-ji
Ikaruga, Nara, Japan
The temple was founded by Prince Shotoku in 607. In 670, due to a lightning strike, the complex was completely burned down and was rebuilt by 700. The temple was repaired and reassembled several times. The work took place at the beginning of the 12th century, in 1374 and 1603. Despite this, it is believed that 15-20% of Kondo's structures retained the original temple materials during reconstruction. This makes Horyu-ji (the pagoda and kondo) the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world.
XI CENTURY
2. Kirkjubøargarður
Faroe islands
Kirkjubøargarður is one of the oldest inhabited wooden houses in the world, dating back to approximately the 11th century. In 1100, the episcopal residence and seminary were located here. After the Reformation, which occurred in the Faroe Islands in 1538, all real estate catholic church was captured by the King of Denmark. Today this land is owned by the Faroe Islands government. The Patursson family has rented the land since 1550. The house is a museum, but the 17th generation of Patursson still lives in it.
3. Grinstead Church (St Andrew's Church)
Grinstead, Essex, UK
Grinstead Church is the oldest surviving timber church in the world and one of the oldest timber buildings in Europe. It was originally believed that the church was built in 845, but recent dendrochronological studies have rejuvenated the building by two hundred years. The brick extension dates back to the 1500s and the white tower dates back to the 17th century.
The church is an example of the traditional Saxon construction method.
4. Shakyamuni Pagoda at Fogong Temple
Shanxi, China
The Shakyamuni Pagoda at Fogong Temple is the oldest wooden pagoda in China. It was built in 1056-1195. It is alleged that during its 900-year history the pagoda has survived at least 7 major earthquakes, with one of them almost completely destroying the main temple complex. Until the twentieth century, the building underwent 10 minor repairs.
XII CENTURY
5. Stavkirka in Urnes
Urnes, Luster, Norway
Stavkirka is the most common type of wooden medieval temple in Scandinavia. From the 11th to the 16th centuries. About 1,700 bets were built in Norway. Most of the buildings were demolished in the 17th century. In 1800, there were 95 such temples, but only 28 buildings have survived to this day. In Norway, the people's attitude towards stavkirks and the replication of their image is twofold. On the one hand, the government is pursuing an active protectionist policy in relation to cultural heritage; the majority of the population reveres them as shrines. On the other hand, militant representatives of youth subcultures, pagans and Satanists are methodically destroying these ancient architectural monuments. The only thing the Norwegian government can do to prevent arson is to install expensive surveillance and fire extinguishing systems.
The Stavkirka in Urnes is the oldest surviving Stavkirka in Norway, built around 1130, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ornament on one of the walls of the Urnes headquarters:
6. Hopperstad Stavka
Vikoyri, Norway
Stavkirka was built in 1140.
Interior:
XIII CENTURY
7. Headquarters in Heddal
Heddal, Notodden, Telemark, Norway
The Stavkirka in Heddal is the largest surviving frame church. The exact year of construction is unknown, the building dates back to the beginning of the 13th century. The church was rebuilt and reconstructed many times.
The last major reconstruction, carried out in the 1950s, returned the headquarters to an appearance as close as possible to the original. The church building still contains about a third of the wood used in its construction in the 13th century.
XIV CENTURY
8. Kapellbrücke Bridge
Lucerne, Switzerland
The Kapellbrücke Bridge was built in 1365 and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe. Under the roof ridge along the entire bridge there are 111 triangular paintings telling about the most important moments in the history of Switzerland. In 1993, Kapellbrücke was badly damaged in a fire believed to have been caused by an unextinguished cigarette. 78 of the 111 paintings were destroyed. The bridge and some of the paintings were restored according to the surviving inventory.
9. Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel in Khaczów
Haczow, Poland
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel - a Gothic wooden church in the village of Khaczów, along with others wooden churches southern Lesser Poland and Podkarpackie region included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The church was built in the 14th century, probably in 1388. In 2006, work began on updating the shingles. The cost of the work is more than 100 thousand euros.
The interior of the church is also valuable, including: the baroque main altar of the late 17th century, vessels from the 17th-18th centuries, Gothic sculptures from the 15th century, a stone font from the 16th century, and Gothic portals. In addition, the interior is decorated with unique polychrome from 1494. This is probably the oldest polychrome of this type in Europe.
10. Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus
Kizhi, Russia
The exact date of construction of the church is unknown, but it is believed that it was built before 1391. The building was erected by the venerable monk Lazar, who lived 105 years and died in 1391. The church became the first building of the future Murom Monastery. After the revolution, on the site of the Murom Holy Dormition Monastery, the authorities organized an agricultural commune named after. Trotsky, after 1945 - a home for the disabled, and in the 1960s the place was abandoned. In 1959, the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus was dismantled and transported to Kizhi, where it was restored in 1960.
The church has preserved an iconostasis consisting of 17 icons of the 16th-18th centuries and representing the oldest type of two-tier iconostasis.
XV CENTURY
11. Het Houten Huys
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Not counting the suburbs that later became part of the city, two wooden buildings remain in Amsterdam. The oldest of them is Het Houten Huys, built in 1425.
12. Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kolodny
Kolodnoye, Transcarpathia, Ukraine
The church was built in 1470. This is the oldest wooden temple in Ukraine and one of the oldest monuments of wooden architecture in Europe. In 2007-2008, restoration work was carried out, as a result of which the roof was replaced, the arcade in the bell tower was covered with a bird net, the doors were repaired, and all the holes and cracks in the log houses were plugged with wooden stakes.
13. Church of the Laying of the Robe from the village of Borodava
Kirillov, Russia
The Church of the Deposition of the Robe is the oldest precisely dated surviving monument of wooden architecture in Russia. The building was built in 1485 in the village of Borodava, located near the famous Feropontov Monastery. In 1957, the church was moved to the city of Kirillov. Currently it is located on the territory of the New Town of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
14. Rothenburgerhaus
Lucerne, Switzerland
The Rothenburgerhaus was built around 1500 and is the oldest residential wooden building in Switzerland.
15. Huis van Jan Brouckaerd (House of Jan Brouckaerd)
Ghent, Netherlands
In the Netherlands, medieval houses with wooden facades have been preserved. One of them is Huis van Jan Brouckaerd, built in the 16th century.
16. De Waag and De Steur
Mechelen, Belgium
The buildings De Waag and De Steur were built on the Salt Quay in the first half of the 16th century. They can be seen on the old postcard in the center of the frame.
The buildings were restored in 1927.
17. Church of St. Catherine
Ostrava, Czech Republic
The building was the oldest wooden church in Central Europe. The church was originally built in 1543. However, in 2002, a misfortune happened - due to a short circuit in the electrical wiring, the church caught fire and burned down in a few minutes. Thus Ostrava lost one of its oldest buildings.
Residents of the Ostrava region are considered people indifferent to religion. Nevertheless, more than two million Czech crowns were collected for the restoration of the temple. There were also donations from businessmen, parishioners from other cities of the country, and even from Polish believers. Rector Jiri Strnishte says that an old woman from Ivano-Frankivsk came to him, who came to visit her daughter, who works at a construction site in Ostrava, and donated two hundred crowns for the restoration of the church.
Construction lasted about two years. When restoring the church, ancient wood that survived the fire was used so that the Church of St. Catherine would not be removed from the list of architectural monuments. According to the abbot, they had to “literally use sticks, pieces of wood and planks, almost crawling on their knees, to collect pieces of unburnt wood.” The temple was restored using traditional methods of constructing wooden buildings. The grand opening took place on October 30, 2004.
18. De Duiveltjes
Mechelen, Belgium
The house was built in 1545-1550 and restored in 1867.
The building has a unique wooden facade, decorated with carved monsters - satyrs and devils, which gave the house its nickname.
19. Oude Huis
Amsterdam, Netherlands
As mentioned above, only two wooden buildings remain in Amsterdam. One of them is Het Houten Huys, and the second is Oude Huis, located at Zeedijk 1. The building was built in the 1550s.
XVII CENTURY
20. Pittstone Windmill
Pitstone, Buckinghamshire, UK
The mill was probably built in 1627 and is considered the oldest windmill in England. In 1902, the building was seriously damaged by a terrible storm. In 1922, the destroyed mill was purchased by a farmer whose land was located nearby. In 1937 he donated the building to the National Trust, but it was not until 1963 that renovation work began. Moreover, they were carried out by volunteers at their own expense. The mill is currently open to the public on Sundays in the summer.
Flickr
The house has been rebuilt over the centuries; the central part of the building is the oldest.
24. Wurleser's House
Staten Island, New York, USA
The Dutch word "voorlezer" (reader) was used among Dutch colonists to refer to active people who took on semi-official responsibilities associated with active participation in local legislation, education and religious life. After the British captured the Dutch colonies, the Wurlesers continued to maintain economic records and documentation. The last person to be given this title retired in 1789. His successor already held the title of clerk.
The building, located on Staten Island, was built around 1695 and is the oldest wooden school building in the United States. On the ground floor there was a living room and a large hall for church services. The second floor was occupied by a bedroom and another large hall, which is believed to have been intended for school activities.
25. Spaso-Zashiverskaya Church
Baryshevsky village council, Novosibirsk region, Russia
In general, it is quite difficult to judge the age of a structure based on visual signs. Because early architectural techniques could be preserved as a stable tradition in later times. As a rule, the oldest houses are characterized by the amazing quality of finishing of parts and the accuracy of their fit to each other, which later gave way to simpler and more technologically advanced techniques. But even these features do not give us the right to unambiguously name even the century of construction. A fairly accurate method is dendrochronological analysis, the essence of which is to compare log cuts with the pattern of a tree trunk recorded in a certain year. But this method only indicates the time at which the tree was cut down, and not the year of construction. Therefore, one can easily imagine a situation where crowns or individual logs from an older log house were used in the construction of a house. Perhaps the most reliable dates are those obtained at the intersection of several methods: dendrochronological analysis, analysis of architectural features and the study of archival documents.
Treasure of Russia - ancient wooden churches
Church of the Placing of the Robe in the village of Borodava. Drawing from N. A. Martynov’s album. 1860s
The oldest wooden building in Russia is the Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava, the date of its consecration is October 1 (14), 1485. For its long life The church underwent changes more than once - the roof covering could change up to 10 times, in the middle of the 19th century the open gallery on pillars was removed - the walkway surrounding the church refectory, the walls were repeatedly trimmed and small parts were partially changed.
In 1957, it was transported to the territory of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve. The church is being studied, thorough restoration work is being carried out, the goal of which is to return the church to its original appearance, while preserving all the details that have survived to this day.
Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava on the territory of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve
The Vitoslavitsa Museum, located near Veliky Novgorod, has a number of old churches. The earliest of them is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary from the village of Peredki, the time of its creation is 1531.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary from the village of Peredki in the Vitoslavitsy architectural museum in Veliky Novgorod
An interesting monument from the early 17th century is located in the small town of Slobodskoye, not far from Kirov. This is the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, built in 1610. It was once part of the Epiphany (later – Holy Cross) monastery. After the revolution, the historical building was used as a warehouse for church property from demolished monastery churches, and it was tightly sheathed on all sides with boards. After restoration in 1971 - 1973. The church went to Paris for the exhibition "Russian wooden sculpture from ancient times to the present day." There, a church was installed near the Champs Elysees. From this voyage, the unique monument returned to the park in the center of Slobodsky, where it remains to this day. It is worth noting that the author of the restoration project, as in the case of the Church of the Deposition of Robes, was Professor B.V. Gnedovsky.
Church of the Archangel Michael in Slobodskoye, Kirov region
Fortunately, other monuments of wooden architecture from the 16th – 17th centuries have also been preserved, but they all belong to temple architecture; there are no residential buildings of this age. There are plenty of explanations for this. Firstly, the type of exploitation itself contributed to better preservation of the wood. Secondly, the churches were not rebuilt, only some structural details were changed. The houses were completely dismantled and reconstructed in accordance with the needs of the owners and the characteristics of the time. In addition, churches, which stood, as a rule, away from residential buildings, and were more carefully guarded, nevertheless burned less.
However, the study of monuments of temple architecture does not give us an idea of the architecture of peasant dwellings. Of course, there were general construction techniques, but we must remember that churches were built by professionals, and houses were built by the peasants themselves with the help of relatives and neighbors. When decorating the church, all known decorative techniques were used, but the peasant house was not decorated for reasons of the position of peasants in Russian society.
HouseXVIIcentury
What, after all, was the house of the 17th century like? Among the documents of this time, quite a few have survived detailed descriptions buildings in the courtyards, their interior decoration, information about construction techniques. In addition to written sources, there are drawings and travel sketches of foreigners, The most interesting drawings are given in the book by Adam Olearius “Description of a Journey to Muscovy.” Also, a large set of sketches was made by the artists of Augustin Meyerberg’s embassy. These drawings are made from life and are very realistic, painted (or rather tinted) with watercolors.
It must be said that the artists of that time reproduced what they saw quite accurately. To this should be added the drawings of individual buildings and courtyards, which give a fairly accurate idea of the size and layout of the buildings. This information, which clarifies our ideas about residential and commercial buildings of the 17th century, is still incomplete and uneven; the dwellings of the ruling classes, especially the royal mansions, are much better known; the peasant dwellings are described extremely sparingly.
Adam Olearius, "Journey to Muscovy"
Nevertheless, let's try to summarize what we know.
The hut was cut from large logs: pine, spruce, and the lower crowns were often made of oak or larch. The main building module was a log from 2 to 4 fathoms long. For coniferous species (spruce, pine), a well-known “standard” was developed - with a thickness of 20-30 cm, the length of the logs was 3-4 fathoms (1 fathom = 213.36 cm). The limitation of the length of the log by the indicated dimensions did not depend on the height of the tree, but on the extent to which the difference in the thickness of the log between the butt and the top turned out to be so insignificant that it did not interfere with construction (practically the log was an even cylinder).
Slightly retreating from the edge (30 cm), at each end of the log a recess, called a “cup,” was cut down to half the thickness. On two such parallel logs, another pair was placed transversely into the recesses, in which recesses were also cut out for the next transverse pair. Four logs connected in this way made up the crown of the log house.
Connecting logs of a log house "into the oblo"
The height of the log house depended on the number of crowns; judging by the drawings of contemporaries, there were 6-7 of them, that is, the height of the log house was 2.4-2.8 m. To make the logs fit better together, a groove was made in the upper or lower part, and the grooves between the crowns they laid moss. This simplest felling of log houses was called felling "in the oblo", and this method was used to build most houses both in villages and in cities. The internal area of such a room could be very small - about 12 sq.m., but the vast majority of residential buildings were built from three-planted logs, that is, their area reached 25 sq.m. These dimensions, determined by the properties of the building material, have been observed to be the most stable over the centuries.
The dwelling of ordinary townspeople. Fragment of the plan of Tikhvin Posad, 1678
The roofs of peasant huts and other buildings were gable. The side walls came down to the ridge, forming two slopes made of logs. There is no documentary information about the construction of ceilings in peasant huts. The arrangement of windows in peasant huts, well known to us from drawings, makes us think that there were no flat ceilings in these dwellings at that time. They appear a century later.
Two light windows were usually cut between the two upper crowns of the wall, and the third, smoke window, was even higher, almost under the very ridge of the roof. When the black-fired huts were then dominant among the peasants, it was mainly the smoke from the stoves that came through this window. If the huts had flat ceilings, then they would block the path of smoke and cutting a third window would then become nonsense. Apparently, if the huts had ceilings, they were vaulted. Or the roof logs themselves also served as the ceiling.
Adam Olearius, "Journey to Muscovy"
Information about the floors in peasant dwellings is also fragmentary. Whether the floors were always made of wood or were left earthen is impossible to say. Ethnographic information on the XVIII-XIX centuries. show the widespread use of earthen floors among Russian peasants in the central and even northern provinces.
Required element the hut had a stove. These stoves were heated black. No chimneys, no wooden chimneys in the mass peasant housing of the 17th century. not yet, although both were often used in the homes of feudal lords and wealthy townspeople. They made ovens from clay; In terms of strength, such stoves were superior to brick ones, as far as is known from ethnographic analogies.
Russian stove without a chimney, smoke came out straight from the hearth. The picture was taken from the Internet resource.
The internal layout of the hut was quite simple: in one of the corners (for the 17th century, perhaps even in the front), where there were windows that drew out smoke, a stove was placed. On the side of the stove were laid bunks - beds. Whether these floors were low, at a level of 1-1.2 m from the ground, or high is definitely impossible to say. But one might think that high pay appeared among the northern and central groups of the Russian peasantry somewhat later, in the 18th century, when the stove was placed at the entrance, at the back.
Along the walls of the hut there were benches so wide that one could sleep on them. Above the benches there were special shelves - shelf holders. In the corner, opposite the stove, they placed a small table with a base. In the 19th and even 20th centuries. There were also ancient tables with a barred base where chickens were kept. In the same corner where the table was, there was also a “holy”, “red” corner with a shrine for icons.
The living space of a chicken house, or black hut. The drawing was taken from an online resource; it quite accurately shows the flow of smoke from the fireplace and the type of ceiling, but the samovar is clearly superfluous here.
Even in the summer, such a hut was semi-dark, as it was illuminated by small fiberglass windows (approximately 60x30 cm), and in the winter such windows were covered with a film of bull bladder or payus (payus is a film in which the caviar of sturgeon and other fish is found, thin and transparent), and in addition they were “cloaked” with boards fixed in the grooves. The hut was lit only by a stove fire or a torch fixed in a light or a wall crack.
So, a 17th-century hut is a small structure with a rectangular or square base, a simple gable roof, and three small slit-like windows located quite high.
City houses differed only slightly from village houses, retaining all the same elements at their core.
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In the 18th century, the wooden house underwent a number of changes. First of all, the ceiling changes, it becomes flat, this entails a change in the flow of smoke, in order for it to escape, chimneys (smoke chambers) are installed, and the windows, having lost their purpose, are shifted down and serve to illuminate the hut. Despite this, in many ways, the houses remain quite primitive. "White" heating - a stove with a pipe - is very rare. It should be noted that by the time of the abolition of serfdom (1861), more than a third of peasant huts remained chicken huts, i.e. drowned in black.
Rafter structures and, as a result, hipped roofs appear.
Smokers (smokers) are a prototype of the future real chimney. The smoke box was placed above the hole in the roof and ceiling and contributed to the creation of draft, thanks to which the smoke came out of the hut
House of the mid-18th century from Solvychegodsk
And the tall, richly decorated mansion houses of the Russian North, or the huts of the Nizhny Novgorod region richly decorated with voluminous carvings, which are described in such detail in the books that we admire in museums of wooden architecture - all of them appear only in the 19th century, and most of them only in the second half of it, after the abolition of serfdom. It was this transformation of Russian society that made possible the development of personal farming, the improvement of the financial situation of the Russian peasant, the emergence of independent artisans and free city residents, who, in turn, were able to fearlessly decorate their home in accordance with their wealth.
House in Uglich
The house in Uglich is the oldest residential building in Russia. No older houses have been recorded. Photographs of two buildings dating from the 18th century are given in the pre-war book “Russian Wooden Architecture” (S. Zabello, V. Ivanov, P. Maksimov, Moscow, 1942). One house is no longer there, but the second has been surprisingly preserved.
Photo of a preserved house from the book "Russian Wooden Architecture"
The Voronins' (formerly Mekhovs') house is located on the banks of the Kamennoye Stream, its address is: st. Kamenskaya, 4. This is one of the few surviving examples of wooden townsman (city) housing in our country. The house was built in the first half - mid-18th century. Its uniqueness also lies in the fact that it was built before the regular development plan for Uglich in 1784, approved by Catherine II. In fact, this house is an intermediate link between a medieval and a planned city.
Same house in later photo
Here is a description of the house from one of the Internet sources: “This house is on a high basement, which was once used for household needs, previously had both a tower and a summer attic room. The staircase to the living floor was once located outside, but now inside home, it leads to the vestibule, which divides the floor into two parts: the living room and the summer room. The staircase railings and the bench on the upper platform are decorated with modest ornaments. The main attraction of the house is the magnificent tiled stove.
Tiled stove in the Mekhov-Voronin house
The Mekhovs are an ancient family of city merchants, burghers, who, judging by their surnames, were engaged in furrier business. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ivan Nikolaevich Mekhov was the owner of a small brick factory. And now on ancient Uglich houses you can find bricks with the mark of his factory - “INM”.
The fate of the house is common for Russia - the owners were evicted, dispossessed, exiled, strangers moved into the house, who did not care about maintaining it in exemplary order, and accordingly, the house fell into disrepair. It was resettled only in the 1970s. Without people, the house collapsed even faster; it was even necessary to put up supports to prevent it from falling into the stream. At that time, the unique structure was on the balance sheet of the Uglich Museum. In 1978-79, a decision was made to restore it with money from the Society for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. We restored the brick plinth, replaced the lower crowns of the frame, and restored the interior decoration of the house. We restored the stove with tiles and rebuilt the roof.
Door in the basement of the Mekhov-Voronin house
In the nineties, when there was a shortage of money everywhere, the Mekhov-Voronin house was mothballed until better times. Paradoxically, the 2000s became fatal for the Mekhov-Voronin house, when it was recognized as a monument of federal significance. Let us explain what this term means: no one has the right to touch it. That is, it can be destroyed, but no person, under pain of criminal punishment, has the right to touch it. Except for the state. And the state, preoccupied with universal projects, such as the Olympics of all times and peoples, is unlikely to remember a modest wooden house in the Russian outback.
As one would expect, the status “Protected by the State” did not protect the house from homeless people and other marginalized individuals, but it put an end to the museum’s attempts to preserve this house.
Remains of a high porch
However, in 2014, homeless people were evicted from the house, the windows and doors were boarded up, and the house was surrounded by a metal fence. What next is unknown. Perhaps he will remain like this until the next emergency situation, and perhaps, as we would like to hope, it will soon be restored, and we will be able to admire the unique monument not only from afar, but also up close and from the inside.
This is what the house looks like now. It is impossible to get closer to him because of the fence with a scary sign
The windows on the residential floor are of a later date. But two windows in the basement, if not the same age as the house, are still older than the top ones
Basement window. Its earlier origin may be evidenced by the design without a window sill board
The information for writing this article was collected by the author over several years from a variety of wonderful books, many of which are listed on the website dedicated to Russian platbands.
Also important were the numerous trips to the Urals and Russia, which the author has been making since 2003.
Invaluable assistance was provided by the wonderful Russian scientists Gerold Ivanovich Vzdornov, Mikhail Nikolaevich Sharomazov, artist and restorer Lyudmila Lupushor, historian and creator of the Nevyansk Icon Museum.
The Church of the Placing of the Robe from the village of Borodava is the oldest preserved wooden monument in Russia with precise dating. Photo taken in May 2009. According to recent research, there were no domes at the Church of the Deposition of the Robe
Along with stone temple construction, wooden temples were also erected in Rus' from ancient times. Due to the availability of materials, wooden churches were built everywhere. The construction of stone temples required special conditions, huge financial resources, attracting experienced stone craftsmen.
Wooden Church of St. Basil the Great in the village of Imochenitsy, Lodeynopolsky district, Leningrad region. The temple was built by the Gretsky artists.
At the same time, the need for temples was enormous, and wooden temple construction, thanks to the skill of Slavic craftsmen, filled it. The architectural forms and technical solutions of wooden churches were distinguished by such completeness and perfection that this soon began to have a significant influence on stone architecture.
Old Russian wooden churches created the impression of monumentality despite their relatively small size. The high height of wooden temples is designed solely for perception from the outside due to the fact that their interior had a relatively small height, since it was limited from above by a suspended ceiling (“sky”).
The Church is right. Lazarus (end of the 14th century)
The most ancient chronicle sources mention that long before the Baptism of Rus', wooden churches were already built in it. The agreement between Prince Igor and the Greeks mentions the church of St. Prophet Elijah (945). The same source mentions two more churches: “the goddess of St. Nicholas" at Askold's grave and the church of "St. Orina." They were both made of wood, as they are mentioned as being "cut down" and they are all said to have been burnt. The wooden Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is also mentioned in the chronicles of Novgorod. The sources do not mention ancient stone temples in a pagan environment.
Church of Lazarus of Murom, late 14th century.
// Old Russian urban planning of the X-XV centuries. - M., 1993. - P. 226.
Everything was needed for the construction of wooden churches the necessary conditions, because in our lands, mostly forested, they knew how to build from wood, and the craftsmen were good at the construction craft. Sources have preserved few reports about what ancient wooden church architecture was like. One of the chronicles mentions the wooden church of St. Sofia in Novgorod. Its construction dates back to 989, and it was built with the blessing of the first Novgorod bishop. The temple was cut from an oak forest and had thirteen tops. It is safe to assume that it was a complex architectural structure that required great experience of craftsmen and the ability to build temples. The chronicler mentions that the temple burned down in 1045. Written sources often mention the construction of “votive” churches. They were built quickly and were always made of wood.
St. George's Church of Potsky Pogost. 1700 Tarnog region
// Masters of the Russian North. Vologda land: Photo album / Photo by N. Alekseev and others - M., 1987. - P. 41.
Just as simple and modest the wooden churches looked inside, strictly observing accepted traditions, they were so intricately and richly decorated on the outside. There were no ready-made forms in wood, and the craftsmen had to take them from stone temples. Of course, it was largely impossible to repeat them in wood, but reinterpretation of these canons was practiced widely and successfully. In 1290, the Church of the Assumption “with twenty walls” was erected in Veliky Ustyug. Apparently, it included a central octagonal pillar and four porches and an altar.
Church of the Ascension in the village of Kushereka. 17th century // Old Russian urban planning of the X-XV centuries. - M., 1993. - P. 227.
The main material for construction, for the most part, was logs (donkeys or slugs), with a length of 8 to 18 m and a diameter of about half a meter or more. The logs were hewn into beams (a log hewn into four edges). To construct the floors, logs were used, split into two parts (plates). From the logs, using wedges (split lengthwise), boards (tes) were obtained. To construct the roof covering, a ploughshare (shingle) made from aspen planks was used.
Church of the Intercession in Vytegra, 1708
// Old Russian urban planning of the X-XV centuries. - M., 1993. - P. 227
During construction, two methods of fastening logs were traditionally used: “in the log” - by cutting out the corresponding recesses at the ends of the logs, and “in the paw” (“in a step”) - in this case there are no outlet ends, and the ends themselves were cut out so that they grabbed each other with a friend with teeth, or “paws”. The rows of assembled crowns were called log houses, or feet.
Church in the village of Nelazskoye-Borisoglebskoye, Vologda region. 1694
The roofs of the temples and tents were covered with planks, and the heads with a ploughshare. They were adjusted with great precision and only in the upper part were attached to the base with special wooden “crutches”. No metal parts were used throughout the entire temple from the base to the cross. This is connected, first of all, not with the lack of metal parts, but with the ability of the craftsmen to do without them.
Assumption Cathedral in Kem. Karelia. 1711-1717
// Russian wooden architecture. - M., 1966.
For the construction of temples, those types of wood that grew in abundance in the area were widely used; in the north they were more often built from oak, pine, spruce, larch, in the south - from oak and hornbeam. Aspen was used to make the ploughshare. Such aspen shaved roofs are practical and attractive; not only from a distance, but even from close up they give the impression of a silver-plated roof.
General view of the Yegoryevskaya Church of the Minets Pogost. Reconstruction
// Milchik M.I., Ushakov Yu.S. Wooden architecture of the Russian North: pages of history. - Leningrad, 1981. - P. 61.
An important feature of ancient architecture was the fact that the few carpentry tools lacked saws (longitudinal and transverse), which seemed to be so necessary. Until the era of Peter the Great, carpenters did not know the word “build”; they did not build their huts, mansions, churches and cities, but “cut down”, which is why carpenters were sometimes called “cutters”.
The wooden church of the Life-Giving Trinity from the Rekonskaya hermitage, Lyubytinsky district, built in 1672 - 1676.
In the North of Rus', saws came into widespread use in construction only in the middle of the 19th century, so all beams, boards, and jambs were hewn by old masters with one ax. Churches were cut down in the literal sense of the word. In the North, unlike the southern Russian regions, churches in ancient times were almost always placed directly on the ground (“soil”) without a foundation. The talent and skill of the architects made it possible to build churches up to 60 m high, and a height of 40 m was common. The harsh school of life was reflected in the external decoration of churches, gradually leading to the creation of works that amazed with their simplicity and at the same time with their unique solemnity and harmony.
Chapels, bell towers
Before we begin to describe the main types of wooden church construction, it is necessary to mention the simpler forms of wooden church architecture. Such structures include chapels and bell towers.
Tsyvozero village, Arkhangelsk region Bell tower
// Opolovnikov A.V. Treasures of the Russian North. - M., 1989
Chapels, worship crosses, or icons in icon cases were indispensable companions of Russian people in ancient times. They were erected in great numbers throughout the Russian land. They erected wooden chapels at the sites where icons were found, at burned down or abolished and dismantled churches, at battle sites, at sites of sudden death of Christians from lightning or illness, at the entrance to a bridge, at crossroads, where for some reason they considered it necessary to make the sign of the cross. .
The village of Kuliga Drakovanova. Bell tower
// Opolovnikov A.V. Treasures of the Russian North. - M., 1989.
The simplest of the chapels were ordinary low pillars, on which icons were installed under a small roof. The more complex ones included tiny buildings (cage type) with low doorways that could not be entered without bending over. The most common in ancient times were chapels in the form of huts with a small dome or simply a cross; in chronicles such chapels are referred to as “cage chapels.” The most attractive of the surviving chapels is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary chapel in the village of Vasilyevo (XVII-XVIII centuries), with a small refectory and a hipped roof. Later, a canopy and a tent-roofed bell tower were added to it. The Chapel of the Three Saints from the village of Kavgora (XVIII-XIX centuries) is more complex in form; such buildings are much less common. All chapels were always maintained in proper order, repaired in a timely manner and decorated for the holidays by residents of nearby villages
Vezha, altar cut, head, kokoshnik, onion
The appearance of bell towers in wooden architecture, as independent structures, can be dated back to the time of their widespread use in stone architecture. Probably the most ancient were belfries, like those preserved in the stone architecture of Pskov. The chronicles also mention wooden “goats” on which small bells were hung. The oldest bell towers known to us were square structures, consisting of four pillars with a slight inward slope; a roof with a dome was installed at the top and bells were hung. The appearance of such bell towers can be dated back to the 16th-17th centuries. A more complex structure usually stood on five pillars, but the base consisted of four pillars on which the hipped roof and dome were attached. The bell towers “about nine pillars” are also known.
Pedestal, police, pediment belt, tent
A more complex type includes bell towers, which consisted of log houses of various shapes (tetrahedral and octagonal). They were cut quite high and often ended in a tent, which was crowned with a small dome. In the North of Rus', bell towers were more often cut down “with the remainder”; in central Rus' they preferred to cut down “in the paw”.
Refectory, portal, quadrangle, neck, tier, top, cube
The most common type in the North were combined buildings. For greater stability, the bottom of the bell tower was cut into a square, on which an octagonal frame topped with a tent was placed. This is how the most common type in the North developed. The bell towers differed only in proportions and decoration. The main difference was the different height (for example, the bell tower of the early 17th century in the village of Kuliga Drakovanova).
Khutyn Spasov Monastery
// Adam Olearius. Description of the journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back. - St. Petersburg, 1906. - P. 24
In the southwest of Russia, bell towers (zvenitsa or dzvonitsa) had a slightly different appearance and were finally formed as architectural forms by the end of the 17th century. The most common bell towers have a square plan, consisting of two tiers. Their lower part is cut from beams with claw-shaped corners. At the bottom there were plank ebbs, and at the top the beams-consoles that supported the roof passed into the fences of the upper tier of the bell tower (i.e. its ringing). The belfry itself was an open space with bells under a low hipped roof. In buildings of a complex type, both the upper and lower tier had an octagonal shape in plan. Bell towers with three tiers were often built.
Russian women mourn their dead
// Adam Olearius. Description of the journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back. - St. Petersburg, 1906. - P. 8.
In the south of Russia, bell towers were built mainly according to the same principles. Characteristic feature is that they were not cut down, but were stacked from logs one on top of another, the ends of which were strengthened in vertical pillars.
Kletsky Temple
Museum of Folk Wooden Architecture Vitoslavlitsa Kletskaya Trinity Church (1672-1676)
Church of the Transfiguration (1707) in AEM "Khokhlovka"
Church of St. Vasily XVI century, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Rohatyn district, Cherche village
Kletsky temple is one or several rectangular log cabins covered with gable roofs. The most ancient of them, which, in particular, includes the Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava (topmost photo), had a nailless roof slope design and did not have domes. “Headless temples” existed in Rus' until the 17th century.
Until the 20th century they were the most common. Their architecture had much in common with residential buildings. They were made up of several cages connected to each other: an altar, a prayer hall, a refectory, chapels, vestibules, porches and a bell tower. The number of log buildings along the East-West axis could be large. Then the churches were called chopped “stay” (church in the village of Skorodum). The main volumes of the temples were cut into oblo with the remainder, altars - into paw.
CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS - MUSEUM-RESERVE OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE "KIZHI"
Previously, it was believed that the oldest surviving wooden monument on the territory of Russia is the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus of Murom, now located in Kizhi, which dated back to the end of the 14th century, but there is no comprehensive evidence of its age and modern experts date it to the 16th century.
The oldest surviving wooden monument in Russia with precise dating is the Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava (1485), moved to the city of Kirillov on the territory of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
One of the most ancient of the surviving temples is the Church of St. George in the village of Yuksovichi (village Rodionovo), dating back to 1493.
All three temples are of the cage type.
Church of the village of Spas-Vezhi (1628), transported in the 1930s to the Kostroma Museum of Wooden Architecture (burnt down in 2002).
Church of the Transfiguration, 1707 from the village. Yanidor, Cherdynsky district Perm region- included in the architectural and ethnographic museum "Khokhlovka"
St. Basil's Church in the village of Chukhcherma, 1824, Arkhangelsk region, Kholmogory district
Tent temple
Interior view of the 16th century temple tent
Tent temples are a special architectural type that appeared and became widespread in Russian temple architecture. Instead of a dome, the building of the tented temple ends with a tent. Tent churches can be made of wood or stone. Stone tented churches appeared in Rus' at the beginning of the 16th century and have no analogues in the architecture of other countries.
Trinity Church in Yuzhno-Kurilsk. 1999
In Russian wooden architecture, the tent is a common, although far from the only, form of finishing wooden churches. Since wooden construction has been predominant in Rus' since ancient times, most Christian churches were also built from wood. The typology of church architecture was adopted by Ancient Russia from Byzantium. However, it is extremely difficult to convey the shape of a dome in wood - required element Byzantine type temple. Probably, it was technical difficulties that caused the replacement of domes in wooden churches with hipped roofs.
Sretensko-Mikhailovskaya Church. Red Lyaga. 1655
The design of a wooden tent is simple, its installation does not cause serious difficulties. Although the earliest known wooden tent temples date back to XVI century, there is reason to think that the tent form was common in wooden architecture before.
Assumption Church in Kondopoga. Karelia. 1774
There is an image of an unpreserved church in the village of Upa, Arkhangelsk region, whose clergy records date the construction of the temple to 1501. This already allows us to assert that the tent appeared in wooden architecture earlier than in stone.
Resurrection Church from the village of Potakino (Museum of Wooden Architecture in Suzdal). 1776
Researchers, based on an analysis of ancient Russian documents, believed that the unpreserved wooden churches in Vyshgorod (1020-1026), Ustyug (late 13th century), Ledsky Pogost (1456) and Vologda (late 15th century) were tented. There are also early images of tented churches, for example, on the icon “The Presentation of the Virgin Mary into the Temple” of the early 14th century from the village of Krivoye on the Northern Dvina (GRM).
“Introduction of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple” Novgorod, XIV century. From the Trinity Church in the village of Krivoye on the Northern Dvina
An important argument in favor of the early origin of the tent-type wooden church is the constancy of the typology of wooden architecture. For centuries, wooden construction, closely connected with the folk environment, was carried out according to old, well-known models.
Epiphany Church. Pogost (Oshevenskoye). 1787
The builders adhered to several established types, so later buildings in general had to repeat the ones that preceded them. Carpenters were often required to build a new temple based on the model of an old one that had fallen into disrepair. The conservatism of wooden architecture and the slowness of its development suggest that its main forms have not undergone significant change since its inception.
Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Vyritsa. 1914 Architects: M. V. Krasovsky and V. P. Apyshkov
Tent temples largely determined the appearance of not only ancient Russian villages, but also cities. Stone churches were rare, and most churches in cities were built of wood. The elongated silhouettes of the tents stood out well from the mass of the main buildings. There is a chronicle message about high “stands” in Moscow, under which wooden pillar-shaped churches were supposed to be crowned with tents. Later, in the 18th-19th centuries, when wooden churches disappeared from urban construction, they continued to be built in large numbers in the Russian north. Among the churches of Karelia and the Arkhangelsk region there are many examples of tent-roofed buildings.
Church of the Assumption from the village of Kuritsko (Vitoslavlitsa Museum) 1595
In the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, interest in ancient Russian architecture emerged in the buildings of the “Russian style” and Art Nouveau. The revival of the traditions of Orthodox architecture was accompanied by interest in wooden folk architecture. New professional projects of wooden churches have appeared. At the same time, the shape of the tent was perceived as a characteristic element of a Russian church. Wooden churches continue to be built in modern Russia, and the tented form of completion is widely popular.
St. Nicholas Church in the village of Panilov, Arkhangelsk region. 1600 View from the southwest.
The design of the tent is usually very simple. Several (most often eight) logs are brought together at the top point, forming the ribs of the tent. The outside of the tent is sheathed with boards and sometimes covered with a ploughshare. A small dome with a cross is placed on top of it. An interesting fact is that in wooden churches the tent was made solid, separated from the interior of the temple by the ceiling.
Western facade of the Assumption Church in the village of Varzuga, Tersky district, Murmansk region.
This is caused by the need to protect the interior of the temple from precipitation, which penetrates through the covering of the tent during strong winds. At the same time, the space of the tent and the temple are effectively ventilated separately from each other.
The octagonal upper tier of the temple - the octagon (analogous to the drum for the dome) most often serves as the base for the tent. This is where the “octagon on a quadrangle” design comes from, which makes it possible to better make the transition from the square base of the temple to an octagonal tent. But there are also temples without an octagon. There are temples that do not have a quadrangle; from ground level they have an octagonal shape. Temples with a large number of faces are rare. There are also multi-tent churches. In addition to the central tent crowning the log house, small decorative tents were also placed on the porches adjacent to the log house.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1695) in the village of Gimreka in the Podporozhye district of the Leningrad region
Options for a tent temple:
tented octagon with cuts (“octagon from the ground”), creating the image of a temple-tower,
octagon on a cross-shaped base,
an octagon on a quadrangle, when the rectangular building above transforms into an octagonal log house-octagon, covered with a tent,
the tent is crowned not by an octagon, but by a frame with six, less often ten, sides.
Church in the village of Sogintsy (1696) Leningrad region,
church in the village of Puchuga (1698?) Arkhangelsk region,
church in the village of Saunino (1665) Arkhangelsk region,
Church in the village of Bolshaya Shalga (1745) Arkhangelsk region,
church in the village of Krasnaya Lyaga (1655) Arkhangelsk region,
church in the village of Pogost (1787) Arkhangelsk region,
Chapel in the village of Niz (XIX) Arkhangelsk region.
Multi-tent temple
The multi-tent temple is a combination of pillars - an octagonal one and several octagonal pillars on a quadrangle.
Examples: Trinity Church in the Nenoksa churchyard (1727) Arkhangelsk region
Tiered temple
Museum of Folk Wooden Architecture Vitoslavlitsy Tiered Church of St. Nicholas of 1757 from the village of Vysoky Ostrov, Okulovsky district, Novgorod region
A tiered temple is an accumulation of decreasing quadrangles or octagons.
Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (1653) (aka Old Ascension Church) in Torzhok, Tver region,
Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist (1697) in the Shirkov churchyard of the Tver region, where the height of the building, equal to almost 45 meters, is emphasized by the reduction of quadrangles and the sharpness of the wedge-shaped eight-pitched roofs,
Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1731) from the village of Starye Klyuchishchi, Kstovsky district, in the 1970s transported to Nizhny Novgorod, to the museum of wooden architecture on the Shchelokovsky farm,
Church of Elijah the Prophet on the Tsypinsky churchyard (1755) Vologda region,
Peter and Paul Church (Ratonavolok) (1722). Arkhangelsk region, Kholmogorsky district.
Multi-domed temple
Combination of many chapters.
The ensemble of the church and bell tower in Chukhcherma. Elias Church in Chukhcherma (1657), Arkhangelsk region (burnt down in 1930).
Transfiguration Church in Kizhi (1714) - 22-domed temple,
Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Vytegorsky Pogost), Vologda region, recreated in the Nevsky Forest Park, Leningrad region(1708, burned down in 1963, rebuilt in 2008) - a 25-domed temple.
Ending the pre-Easter week with this post, I would like to congratulate everyone on the upcoming holiday of the bright Resurrection of Christ!
Let these first churches be a symbol of the Orthodox faith, a memory of our distant ancestors, masters, a symbol of faith in a bright future!
History of Russian art: in 3 volumes: T. 1: Art X - the first half of the 19th century century. 3rd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Image. art, 1991.
Until the 18th century, almost all buildings in Rus' were built from wood. Now they are the architectural heritage of the country. Russian architecture is so beautiful and elegant that some buildings are still admired to this day. The traditional wooden churches of the Russian north are especially interesting. We tell you which of the surviving churches are worth seeing.
Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Kizhi
Kizhi Island is located in Karelia on the territory of Lake Onega. In itself it is very photogenic. Kizhi Pogost is a complex that includes the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is a protected monument for its architectural and historical significance. The wooden church is considered the main attraction of the churchyard. The structure was created using a weave of wooden frames and logs and has 22 domes. The central and largest dome is located at an altitude of 36 meters. And the gilded iconostasis consists of 100 icons.
Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God near Chelyabinsk
The temple, 37 meters high, is located in the village of Verkhnyaya Sanarka in the Plastovsky district of the Chelyabinsk region. Cossacks once lived here. It is worth visiting this place to visit the unique wooden church of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”. The building was built from 2002 to 2005 using ancient Russian technology of wooden architecture, without a single nail. Builders learned their craft in Kizhi. The temple has an upper and lower room where 300 people can be present at the same time.
Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the Perm region
The wooden church is located in the village of Yanidor in the Cherdynsky district of the Perm Territory. Built on the site of a pagan sanctuary. This striking example of the construction of the Northern Kama region of the early 18th century in the traditions of Russian wooden folk architecture was erected in the early 1700s. By its type, this is a traditional Russian dumplings temple (one or several rectangular log cabins covered with roofs; built without nails).