In the last issue, we introduced the five churches with a long history and representative religious culture in Russia, in the long river of history, they have more or less lost their "color", but as a model in the field of architecture, a symbol of religious culture and a representative of historical civilization, these restored and reconstructed churches will always be a strong proof of Russian and human civilization.
"Classics Never Fade" uses such a sentence to describe the Russian churches of the past, and what kind of "modern emerging churches" emerged after the 1980s, this issue takes you to take an in-depth understanding.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="3">Sily the Blessed Cathedral, Moscow</h1>
< h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="4" > Vasily Ascension Cathedral</h1>
Located in the very heart of the capital's Red Square, the Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily (Соор Васиия Блаженноо) is considered not only the most beautiful church in Russia, but also one of the most impressive religious monuments in the world, and is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Today it is also one of the landmarks of Moscow.
The Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily was built in 1555-1561 to commemorate the conquest of the Kingdom of Kazan (the victory over Kazan in 1552 was the first major foreign policy success of the young Tsar Ivan IV, the first two defeats of the young Tsar Ivan IV in foreign policy, the first two failed campaigns in 1547 and 1550).
The establishment of the Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily is of great historical significance, marking Moscow as the religious and political center of Russia, and it is also a milestone for the Russian nation to break away from foreign rule, complete the great cause of reunification, and then gradually move towards a strong and centralized multi-ethnic state. It can be said that the conquest of Kazan was both a political and military victory and a religious victory.
The Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily consisted of 7 wooden chapels, which were later demolished and converted into stone buildings, with unique shapes and strange carvings, and the main pillar was 57 meters high, the tallest building at that time. In the 17th century, it was often referred to as the "Trinity" (Святая Троица), i.e. the central church is dedicated to the Virgin (Поокров Пресвятой Бого⪈ Built for Jerusalem (Идицы), followed by Jerusalem (Иерусалим) and Saint Nicholas Velikolecki (Николс Великорецкий).
Construction & Features:
Like many places of interest, the Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily has been devastated over the past few hundred years. Its initial construction has been criticized by later generations, and it is rumored that after the completion of the church, Ivan the Terrible, because of its beautiful appearance and unique architectural style, ordered the eyes of all those involved in the construction of the church to ensure that it would not be copied, and he was also charged with the crime of "Tsar of Terror".
The Cathedral of the Ascension of Vasily is a Russian Orthodox Church that shows the 16th-century Russian folk architectural style. It looks like a vault of eight churches that surrounds the tallest of them. The main entrances of the eight towers all face the cloister inside the central church, so you can see the whole church from any of the doors.
All eight church domes are crowned with onion domes, and although the domes are all similar, they are made in different ways, which is one of the unique features of the cathedral. There are many symbolic symbols in the architecture of the cathedral: the circle symbolizes eternity, the triangle symbolizes the Trinity of God, the square symbolizes equality and justice, and the dot symbolizes the beginning of life. These symbols in church architecture have great spiritual significance.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="13">Uspenskii Sobor, Moscow</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="14" > Cathedral of the Assumption, Moscow</h1>
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Успенский Собор) is one of the greatest holy places in all of Russia. For hundreds of years, the church has been the spiritual and political center of the country: it has held coronations for successive tsars, announced major state actions and the appointment and removal of bishops.
Today, the Cathedral of the Assumption is located in the Church Square and is part of the State Museum of History and Culture – part of the "Moscow Kremlin" reserve. Someone once said: "There are very few relics in Russia from that era – but the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is fully inherited of the Russian spirit." "
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1326 under the leadership of Grand Duke Ivan Kalita (Иван Калита) inside the Kremlin. Originally built the church was to establish Moscow's religious and political center, while also transferring imperial power from Vladimir to Moscow. The church was built on the basis of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vladimir at that time.
The church was destroyed by fire in 1337 and continued by the Russian architect Kravtsov (Кравцов) and Myshkin (Мышкин) by the Russian architects Kravtsov (Крн), but when the construction of the church was nearly completed, it fell completely in an earthquake in 1474.
Finally, recruited by Prince Ivan III (Иван III), led by the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti (Аристотель Фиораванти). After several baptisms of fire, although it was damaged to varying degrees, in a certain sense, the true Russian spirit was finally passed on, so that after the capital of Russia was moved to St. Petersburg in the 18th century, the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary still maintained its lofty status.
The church was built in a style that combined Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Ancient Russian architecture. The nave design of the church will give people the illusion of "independence", but in fact, its spacious halls and interspersed façade piers give people a sense of "majesty, height and lightness". The church is divided into five sections — a symbol of Jesus Christ and four evangelists: Matthew (Матфей), Luke (Луи), Mark (Марк) and John (Иоанн).
In addition, the church also has very famous frescoes, which appeared in the 17th century during the period of Hayl Romanov (Михаил Романов), created by more than 150 artists, including the iconographer Dionysius (Дионисия). For example, on the south façade is an image of the Virgin of Vladimir (Владимирской Богоматери) and the archangels Mikhail and Gabriel (Гаврил), while in the center of the eastern wall is the Holy Triune: Holy Father, Holy Father, Holy Father The Son and the Holy Spirit in the form of pigeons, on the vault are works on the gospel theme: "The Feast of the Virgin"«Введение Богоодицы в храм», The Birth of Christ«Рождение Христа»,Holy Candle Festival«Сретение Господне»。
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="38">Alexandro-Nevsky New Fair Cathedral, Nizhny Novgorod</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="39" > Alexander Nevsky Cathedral</h1>
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral(Александро-Невский Новоярмарочный собор) is an Orthodox cathedral located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers, belonging to the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod.
In August 1858, Emperor Alexander II and his wife visited the Nizhny Novgorod Exposition. To commemorate the visit, the fair merchants decided to build a new church near the fair venue in the name of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky. Construction of the church began in 1868 – in 1881 by the architect Lev Vladimirovich Dahl (Льв Владимирович Дал).
The project was halted several times due to financial problems during construction, and soon after its completion was devastated by the war in the Second World War, in 1930 the wooden ornaments in the church were used as firewood to keep warm, but the parishioners managed to preserve several icons, including the icon of the Mother of God and the icon of the Cross of Life, which are still preserved in Nizhny Novgorod Свято-Троdцкой Высоковской церкви)Church. The church began a major restoration in 1983 and took 25 years to complete before opening to the public.
The design of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is easy to associate with medieval towers, it is a typical representative of architecture in the middle of the 19th century, the scale of the building and the exquisite silhouette make it one of the outstanding buildings of the nizhny Novgorod urban architecture, and even some experts attribute it to the creative representative of eclecticism.
The main body of the church consists of 5 vaults, originally built of red brick, with a checkerboard motif on the outside of the vault, which was later painted in gray, which also makes the appearance more coherent and restrained. Inside the church, the collection houses ancient icons from the burned-out Makaryevsky Monastery (Маарьевской монастырь), as well as paintings by the genius Moscow painter Fyodor Sokolov (Федор Сокоолов).
In addition, the most famous work of the church is the icon painted in the nineteenth century with a height of 23 meters, but due to the destruction of the Bolsheviks during the Soviet period, modern masters can not completely restore it, so the current icon is not a legacy of history, which is also one of the greatest losses of human history and civilization.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="53">Blagoshchensky Cathedral, Voronezh</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="54" > Cathedral of the Annunciation, Voronezh</h1>
The Cathedral of the Annunciation (Благовещенский собр) is the third largest Orthodox church in Russia and one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world, it is the spiritual representative of the majestic city of Voronezh and a monument of great historical significance to the city. The church is named after the Angelic Annunciation Cathedral of Mitrovinovsky Monastery (Митрофановский монастырь).
According to historical records, the Cathedral of the Annunciation was built in 1586 or 1620 and, like other ancient Russian Orthodox churches, had a tragic fate. The church was originally a wooden structure that was destroyed by fire several times, and later in the 1680s, at the request of Mitrovan (Митрофан) to build a new church on the original site, but soon after its completion, in 1718 the church was forced to rebuild for geological reasons, in this reconstruction in order to decorate the gates and the iconic decoration, all elaborate gilded frames were made, all the utensils used were also made of silver gilded, and the interior was decorated with velvet.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Cathedral of the Annunciation was considered by the Bolsheviks to be a refuge for counter-revolutionary forces, and the church was closed and the artifacts inside were taken away. During the Great Patriotic War, the church was occupied by the Germans and then completely destroyed under artillery fire. The new church was rebuilt in 1998 and was built in the Russian Byzantine style by the architect Vladimir Petrovich Sheverev (Владимир Петрович Шевев), whose construction symbolized repentance and spiritual rebirth.
The exterior of the Cathedral of the Annunciation is very similar to the Vladimir Cathedral in Voronezh, which was destroyed in 1931. The lost church was built in the city by a follower of the famous Russian architect Konstantin Andreevich Don (Константин Андревич Тон) to commemorate the 900th anniversary of The Ross Baptism. The cathedral consists of five russian-style onion domes and a flattened dome on the bell tower, coupled with the iconic cross, which embodies the concept of the unity of heaven and earth.
The doors of the church are made of a semicircular frame with reliefs, the walls are decorated with elaborate images of religious themes, and the partially hollowed-out design is very ornamental. In the basilica is placed the relics of the first bishop of Mitrovan, the founder of the Cathedral of the Annunciation, which is placed in a box specially made of malachite.
It is worth noting that in the square of the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Voronezh there is a monument dedicated to the volunteers of Voronezh dedicated to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="68">Smole Cathedral, St. Petersburg</h1>
< h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="69" > Smolny Cathedral</h1>
Smolny Cathedral (Смольный собор) is one of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg and the center of the Smolny Monastery complex, whose architecture organically combines elements of ancient Russian architecture and European architecture.
In the 16th century, the village of Spascoye (Спасское село) was once located here, and during Swedish rule, the village church was destroyed and became a fortress of the Swedish army at the end of the 17th century. In 1703 Peter I broke it in the Northern War, which was also one of the first and most important victories achieved in the Northern War.
After the establishment of St. Petersburg in the Baltic Sea, the Tsar began to form a fleet, and because the shipyard needed resin, a resin factory (Смоляной двор) was built on the site of the former Swedish fortress, and Smolny's name was derived from it. But the construction of the real Smolny Cathedral lasted for 87 years, and in 1748 Empress Elisabeth Petrovna ordered the construction of a monastery on the ruins of the palace where she spent her childhood, and was built by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastreli (Бартоомео Франче Construction began on theско Растрелли) and was not completed until 1835, when Nicholas I (НикклаЯ I) came to power.
After the Revolution of 1917, it became a meeting place for the Provisional Government, and later Lenin led the uprising directly from the Smolny Institute. Today the church is a cultural center, hosting art and science exhibitions, conferences and concerts.
The entire Smolny complex resembles a cross in plan, while a church with five domes occupies the central part of the entire complex, and the 4 churches in the corners surround the cathedral, including the Nevskaya Church (Невская церковь), which constitutes the whole of Smolny Abbey, which is built in the lush Elizabethan Baroque style, with architectural elements such as tiger windows and bow walls, the whole is light blue, the dome is gray, and the whole gives a solemn and generous feeling.
In addition, since 1990, classical music has been held regularly in the hall of Smolny Cathedral, which has since become the basic concert venue for the Chamber Choir, which was renamed the St. Petersburg Concert Choir after the transfer of the Church to the Russian Orthodox Church after 2015.
In the development of our human spiritual civilization, religion and culture play a unique role, some withdraw from the historical screen with the alternation of civilizations, and some remain with the development of civilization. Influenced by Western religious culture, the development of Russian religious culture can be described as dazzling, from polytheism to Christianity (state religion), after centuries of development and integration, the formation of today's unique Russian Orthodox Church, church as a product of religious culture, its historical status and significance can be described as tacit.
After appreciating the beauty of Russia's ten cathedrals, understanding its historical background and story, and experiencing the difficulty of inheritance as a representative of religious culture, it can be said that they are not only "treasures" in the history of architecture, but also a colorful stroke in the history of the development of human civilization, which as a bridge connects Russia's "past" and "future", and it is a great honor that we are in it.
Copywriter: Intern Li Junquan
Image: From the Web