High, tent-visible temples from afar turned out to be the most suitable in shape for construction in Russia. Many monuments have survived to this day and still amaze tourists with their beauty. Even the area of the internal premises did not play a role, in the old times tent temples were not created for large crowds. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the most fruitful for the appearance of interesting monuments. For example, St. Basil's Cathedral (Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat) in Moscow, on Red Square, was built in 1552 and marked the appearance of the capture of Kazan. Other tent temples in Russia are unlikely to compete with him in beauty and fame.
Architecture
At the base, they were all built in approximately the same way. The stable quad, on which the small octagon was mounted, is the support for the octagonal tent, aimed high at the sky. Nevertheless, each architect brought something of his own to the construction, which is why there are no two absolutely identical temples. Ingenuity was most often expressed in variations of various details, in decoration.
The feature that all the tent churches retain is the absence of pillars, that is, the entire structure is supported on the walls, so wide tents are almost impossible. So, it was for this reason that the overly wide stone tent of the Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery collapsed. Then it was replaced by light wooden and sheathed with iron, and the temple stands, pleases the people around.
Ban?
For one century, tent temples have spread widely in the country. But the church reform struck Patriarch Nikon in 1653, after which this style became as if banned. Tent temples in Russia ceased to be built. Perhaps there was no direct ban on construction. But the fact: stone tent churches were not built after Nikon’s reform. In the north, wooden tents were continued to be erected on small churches, and the same completion of the bell towers remained popular until the advent of classicism.
Unfortunately, very few examples of wooden architecture have been preserved; tent wooden churches, in addition to wear and tear and post-revolutionary abandonment, have undergone many hardships and almost disappeared. True, there are reserved islands in the country where antiquities are kept. When at the end of the nineteenth century popularity returned to the Russian style (it turned out, however, it was pseudo-Russian), the tent-like architecture seemed to have revived. However, these buildings were very different from their predecessors. It was impossible to repeat the tent temples of the 17th century, and even more so the very first ones that appeared at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Traditions
The appearance of the tented tops is primarily due to the fact that Russian churches were built most often as monuments dedicated to certain events. Tent temples of the 16th century more and more stretched up. Russian temple architecture developed precisely from changes in arches. The hypothesis about the connection of the traditions of stone architecture with the earlier - wooden - remained unproven and not even completely true. This can be derived from studies of the first buildings - the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1532, Vasily III) and the Church of the Ascension of the Vologda Posad (1493). These are the most eloquent examples of stone-built tent temples.
An interesting example and the Church of the Intercession in Medvedkov, where the architectural type with a tent instead of a dome is clearly expressed. This temple is very similar to the magnificent many-domed Intercession Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed and is quite worthy of a more specific description. The most famous Russian tent churches are also very characteristic: Pokrovskaya (formerly Trinity) church of the Alexander Sloboda (1510), Uglich church "Divnaya" (1628), Moscow Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Moscow Putinki.
Medvedkovo
This temple is built on a high basement (there, below, the Znamenskaya Winter Church), which holds the entire volume of the quadrangle, the corners of which are completed with small chapters. On the quad is a fairly low light octagon as the base of a pointed stone tent. The proportions of the quadrangle and octagon are squat, solid, and the tent gives the structure a special harmony and almost flight, because the height of the tent almost exceeds the entire lower part of the temple. The basement, surrounded by galleries, has two equal chapels - the Nine Martyrs and St. Sergius of Radonezh.
By the way, for the first time in Russia, four-roofed roofs were given to one-headed fours. On the altar of the building, crowned with a special chapter, has its own rare multistage composition due to the apse lower church extended to the east. Kokoshniks, placed in rows all over the top of the walls of the quadrangle, as well as on the base of the tent and on the crowning chapter, emphasize the pyramid structure of the building, its solemnity, its aspiration to the sky and the beauty that elevates the soul. And from the west, the temple seems to be supported by the empire two-tier bell tower, rebuilt in the 1840s.
History
The Time of Troubles was marked by all kinds of natural disasters, interventions by the Poles and Swedes, so the state, political and economic situation of the state was difficult. The tent churches of Moscow, and indeed the whole country, have almost ceased to be built. Stone construction as such ceased altogether. Only twenty-five years later, Russia reached a sufficient level for the renewal of stone architecture. Basically, after 1620 the temples repeated the previous types of buildings.
And very soon the reform of Patriarch Nikon followed, when the tent temples ceased to "correspond to the rank." Nikon liked the domes of three or five chapters. In 1655, in Veshnyaki, when the church was built at the behest of the patriarch, the two chapels were completed not with pointed points, but with round chapters, although the project provided for the first.
Pillar like a forerunner
Here, first of all, the refusal in the course of the church reform of everything old and the preference of the patriarch of the whole of the Byzantine, including the cross-domed structures, worked. While the tent churches in Russia were more reminiscent of Western European Gothic: dynamics, rushing up, tower architecture of pillar-shaped churches.
For example, the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Dyakovo (Moscow) and the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village of Ostrov (Moscow Region). Both were built in the second half of the sixteenth century, both are pillar-like and precede tent-type structures. Another example is one of the most famous Ivan the Great bell towers, built in honor of St. John Climacus in the Kremlin in 1505.
Examples
The function of the bell tower with a tier of belfries erected directly above the temple does not correspond to the purpose of the tent temples. There were many different architectural solutions in use, great freedom for the architect, and nevertheless, almost always small pillar-shaped churches were obtained.
For example, the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (1476, Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius), the Kolomna St. George Bell Tower (formerly the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, 1530), the church of Simeon the Stolpnik (Danilovsky Monastery, Moscow, 1732, built over the Holy Gate), two also a gateway church in the Donskoy Monastery, the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh (Novospassky Monastery, the bell tower), the church of Theodore Stratelates of the Holy Warrior (Menshikov Tower, Moscow, the nineteenth century) and some others.
Characters
Stone hipped architecture is similar in shape to wood, this style is common from hoary antiquity to the present day. Judging by the annals, it appeared clearly from the wooden ones. However, if for structural reasons the dome was replaced by a tent during the construction of wooden churches, then stone construction can in no way be connected with the structure. Rather, it was a desire to convey a certain image - festivity, aspiration up. Not only in the provinces, but also in the capital, the elongated silhouettes of wooden temples were the most desirable and always played a leading role.
The tent architecture contains the deepest semantic load: this is the path to the kingdom of heaven, and the combination of a square (created world) with a circle (a symbol of eternity). Four - a square symbolizing the earth, an octagon - all directions of space on the cardinal points plus an eight-pointed star as a symbol of the Virgin and the eighth day - the sacred number of the century of the future. The tent, crowning the temple, is a cone, the image of the ladder of the Forefather Jacob, the path to God.
Kolomenskoe and Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda
Trinity Church of Alexander's settlement (now - Pokrovskaya) - the palace church of Prince Vasily III. There have been disagreements about the date of construction, but recent studies date it to 1510. Prior to this, the very first tent church was considered to be the Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye (1532), which was also built by the same Grand Duke.
This is certainly the greatest masterpiece, but he was not the first. Both churches were built in the sovereign estates as small courtiers. Moreover, Ascension became a monument in honor of the birth of the heir - the great Ivan the Terrible. The creator of the amazing ensemble in the Alexander settlement is considered an Italian architect - Aleviz Novy, the author of the Ascension Church is also supposedly an Italian - Petrok Malaya.
St. Basil's Cathedral
Since this is the main attraction not only of Moscow, but of the whole country, you need to tell about this tented temple in as much detail as possible. The Kazan Khanate was defeated, and in honor of this a monument was created, to this day being a symbol of Russia and an unsurpassed architectural monument. The Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat was built for six years (since 1555) and turned out to be unusually, even not earthly beautiful. Previously, there was the Trinity Church and a defensive moat along the entire Kremlin, which was bombarded only in 1813. In its place is now a necropolis and mausoleum.
Who is St. Basil, buried right near the Trinity Church, on Red Square? This is a Moscow holy fool, endowed with the gift of clairvoyance, predicted many disasters, including the huge fire of 1547, when almost all of Moscow burned down. Ivan the Terrible himself honored and rather afraid of Basil the Blessed, which is why they buried him with honors and in the reddest place. Moreover, a temple was soon laid nearby, where the relics of the holy clairvoyant were later transferred, since real miracles began on his grave immediately after the funeral - people were healed, regained their sight, the lame began to walk, and the paralyzed got up.
Of eight wins
The Kazan campaign began, which for the first time ended in victory, usually the Russians in this direction failed after failure. John the Terrible made a vow - if Kazan falls, put on the Red Square the most grandiose temple as a memory of victory. And he completely fulfilled the promise.
The war was long, and in honor of each victory of Russian weapons, a small church was built near the Trinity Church in honor of the saint, whose day coincided with its obsession. After a triumphant return, Ivan the Terrible, instead of eight new wooden churches, decided to put up one large stone - the most famous, for many centuries.
