Architecture of Kievan Rus'
The architecture of Kievan Rus' comes from the medieval state of
After the disintegration of Kievan Rus' followed by
Church architecture
The great churches of Kievan Rus', built after the
Another great example of an early church of Kievan Rus' was the thirteen-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (1037–54), built by Yaroslav the Wise. Much of its exterior has been altered with time, extending over the area and eventually acquiring 25 domes.
Even further departure from Byzantine models is evident in succeeding cathedrals of Novgorod: St Nicholas's (1113), St Anthony's (1117–19), and St George's (1119). Along with cathedrals, of note was the architecture of monasteries of these times. The 12th–13th centuries were the period of feudal division of Kievan Rus into princedoms which were in nearly permanent feud, with multiplication of cathedrals in emerging princedoms and courts of local princes (knyazes).
By the end of the 12th century, the divide of the country was final and new centers of power took the Kievan style and adopted it to their traditions. In the northern principality of
In the western splinter of Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia churches in a traditional Kievan style were built for some time, but eventually the style began to drift towards Central European Romanesque tradition.
Celebrated as these structures are, the contemporaries were even more impressed by churches of Southern Rus', particularly the
Secular architecture
There were very few examples of secular (non-religious) architecture in
In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, no secular monuments survived aside from pieces of walls and ruins of gates. The Golden Gates of Kyiv were destroyed completely over the years with only the ruins remaining. In the 20th century a museum was erected above the ruins. It is a close image of the gates of the Kievan Rus period but is not a monument of the time.
One of the best examples, the fortress of
Examples
Examples in Belarus
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Savior-Transfiguration Church of the St. Euphrosyne Monastery, Polotsk, 12th century
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Kalozha Church, Grodno (1127)
Examples in Russia
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Transfiguration monastery in Murom (1096)
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Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod (1113–1136)
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St. George's Cathedral of Yuriev Monastery near Veliky Novgorod (1119)
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Peryn Chapel near Veliky Novgorod (1220s)
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Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (built in 1199–1139, first mentioned in 1243)
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St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Smolensk (1146)
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Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereslavl-Zalessky (1152)
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Kideksha Church (1152)
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Assumption Cathedral, Staraya Ladoga(1154–1159)
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Remains of the Bogolyubov castle (left) and The Temple of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (right) (1158)
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Golden Gate in Vladimir(1158–1164)
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St. Michael the Archangel Church in Smolensk (1180–1197)
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Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (1186–1189)
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Cathedral of Saint Demetrius in Vladimir (1194–1197)
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St. George's Church, Staraya Ladoga (1180–1200)
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Cathedral of the Nativity, Suzdal (1222–1225), photo by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, 1912
Examples in Ukraine
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The Golden Gate in Kyiv, largely reconstructed, c. 1100
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Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv, 11th century
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Cathedral of Borys and Hlib in Chernihiv, c. 1123
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Piatnytska Church in Chernihiv, largely reconstructed, 12th–13th centuries
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St. Basil Cathedral in Ovruch, largely reconstructed, c. 1190
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St. Pantaleon Church in Shevchenkove (near Halych), 1194
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Dormition Cathedral in Volodymyr, largely reconstructed, 1156–1160
See also
- List of buildings of pre-Mongol Kievan Rus'
- Ukrainian architecture
- List of Russian church types
- Old Russian ornament
References
- Lyubimov, L.D. (1996). The Art of the Ancient Rus (Искусство Древней Руси). Moscow.
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External links
- Directory of Orthodox Architecture in Russia - photogallery of church architecture (in Russian)