Any adult, even very far from art and architecture, knows from school that an architect is a design engineer, foreman, architect and builder all rolled into one. In the XIV century, according to the research of Academician A. I. Sobolevsky, the word "architect" came to the Russian literary language from the book of South Slavic. Until that time, artisans who designed and built churches, performed their decoration and painting, were called church masters.
History of Russian architecture
Most architectural historians call the time of the beginning of the formation of Russian stone architecture of the XI century. After Prince Vladimir began introducing Christianity in Russia at the end of the 10th century, the construction of churches and temples began to develop along with the spread of this religion. For any city of Ancient Russia, a good architect is the most important person on whom the size and beauty of temples and churches, and, consequently, the level of influence and power of the one on whose means they were built, depend. To our time, only the Sophia Cathedrals in Kiev and Veliky Novgorod, the Chernihiv Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral and the Gate Church of the Trinity in the Pechersky Monastery in Kiev survived from the stone works of architectural creativity of that time.
The emergence of Russian tradition
In the period from XI to XII centuries. each Russian architect is first of all a student who studied examples of Byzantine church architecture and the creations of his predecessors, tried to reproduce samples to the best of his abilities, strengths and talents.
Grand-ducal and princely construction projects in Veliky Novgorod of the 12th century were the last “imitative”. The second quarter of the XII century becomes the time when their own, Russian art schools arise and develop.
Until the middle of the XII century, the construction of stone churches and temples was not conducted. And only with the coming to power of Yuri Dolgoruky, the active construction of Christian religious buildings from stone begins. His successor Andrei Bogolyubsky, trying to increase the glory of the Principality of Vladimir, also conducts stone construction.
Today it can be argued that during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky, a Russian school of architects was formed, which subsequently managed to extend its influence to the masters of other principalities that arose during the feudal feuds and fragmentation of Russia.
Two schools of Russian architecture
Under Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, which ruled the land of Vladimir-Suzdal after Bogolyubsky, new features appear in the artistic and technical techniques of architects, which will subsequently lead to the emergence of two architectural schools. The first, the so-called Vladimir school, continued the classical traditions of white stone construction, in this case, complex carved decoration was performed. Its representatives worked in Yuryev-Polsky, Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod. The second school, Rostov, was distinguished by a spectacular combination of brickwork and white stone parts. Its adherents built in Yaroslavl and Rostov the Great.
Novgorod-Pskov tradition
This school was born, according to historians, back in the 11th century, when St. Sophia Cathedral was built in Novgorod. However, the heyday of this tradition dates back to the second half of the XIV century - the time of maximum power and prosperity of the Novgorod Republic. The most notable and significant examples of this period are the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Savior on Ilyin Street and Fedor Stratilat on the Stream.
The Pskov architectural tradition is very close to the Novgorod one, however, experts emphasize its peculiarities. The most striking creations of Pskov architects are the churches of St. Nicholas from Usokha, Vasily on the Gorka, Kuzma and Demyan from Primosti, etc.
Architecture of the Moscow Principality
In the XIV-XV centuries, the political importance of Muscovy significantly increased, which led to the heyday of construction and architecture. The traditions of architecture that formed in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality were successfully adopted by Moscow experts. The end of the 15th century can be considered the time of the origin and formation of the Moscow architectural school. This period is represented by the Assumption Cathedral on the Town in Zvenigorod, preserved to this day.
The heyday of the Moscow architectural school came during the reign of Ivan III, at the end of the 15th century. The great architect of that time, Italian Aristotle Fioravanti, built the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.
Architectural traditions of the Russian kingdom
The adoption of the imperial title by Ivan the Terrible and the transformation of Russia into a kingdom, which took place in the 16th century, was a powerful impetus for the development of all spheres of society, including architecture. At this time, the architect is not only the builder of temples, churches and princely chambers. The first stone fortresses, the Kremlin, also began to be built. One of the most famous architects and builders of such fortresses was Fedor Kon, who built the walls of the White City in Moscow, the Smolensk Kremlin, as well as the walls of the Pafnutievo-Borovsky, Boldinsky and Simonov monasteries.
In addition, the brightest work of architectural creativity is St. Basil's Cathedral (Pokrovsky), which, according to one version, was erected by the Pskov architect Postnik Yakovlev on the orders of Ivan the Terrible.
Age of Peter
The art critic and artist I.E. Grabar called Russia the country of architects. This statement can be fully attributed to St. Petersburg, which, in the opinion of Emperor Peter I, was to contribute to the transformation of Muscovite Russia into Europe. During the construction of Petrov’s brainchild, St. Petersburg, architects and Russian architects invited from different countries collaborate, interact and compete with each other. Names such as Domenico Giovanni Trezzini and Jean Baptiste Leblon, Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli and Georg Johann Mattarnovi are forever inscribed in the architectural history of the city on the Neva. Peter I, who in every possible way attracted foreign masters to the construction of the new capital, set the condition for them to teach their Russian assistants and students the crafts and "arts" that they themselves own. One of the first such “homegrown” architects was the assistant and student of Trezzini Zemtsov and Eropkin. Such world-famous architects of St. Petersburg as Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (son of Karl Rastrelli), Antonio Rinaldi, Nikolaus Gerbel, S.I. Chevakinsky, Karl Ivanovich Rossi, as well as many no less great architects participated in the further development and construction of the city.
Instead of a conclusion
Over the centuries, Russian architecture has not only developed in its own special, national way. Changes in political, religious and social life, interaction with different cultures - all this had a huge impact on the development of not only Russian and Soviet, but also Russian architecture.
Today the whole world admires not only the creations of F. Horse, Russia, Voronikhin, Bazhenov and
Kazakov. The architect Vlasov, Fomin, Pyasetskiy, Savin and many others with their creativity and skill have proved the high level of patriotic architecture.