by Tamara GEIDOR, Head of the Department of History of Russian Architecture, State Museum of Architecture named after A. Shchusev (Moscow)
After Bolsheviks took power in 1917, construction of churches in Russia was suspended or, to be more exact, terminated, which led to the loss of architectural traditions and their continuity. Church architecture revived only in the late 1980s and turned into a significant event of national culture. This was stimulated by the Law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" adopted in 1997 by the RF Government. The process is most clearly seen on the example of Moscow architecture.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Originally constructed in 1837-1883, architect Konstantin Ton. It was blown up in 1931, rebuilt in the 1990s.
стр. 101
For the past two decades more than 50 Orthodox Churches and chapels, a number of structures for divine services of other confessions were built in our capital. Church complexes comprising buildings for various religious activities became rather widespread. Sometimes, there appear additional structures like clergy houses, Sunday schools, etc., under the already existing churches.
The architectural and construction process under consideration has two main directions: reconstruction of facilities demolished in the period of theomachy, and designing of new ones. The first line is a kind of rehabilitation of the idea of state religion, a symbol of resurrection of Russian Christian culture and at the same time rebirth of lost traditions by way of retrieval of the established canons. Very often many new structures repeat the demolished original buildings on the basis of the author's or measurement drawings, field outlines and preserved original fragments. For example, the grand Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Volkhonka street, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in the Red Square, the
* The clergy of a parish--body of appointed ministers of Christian church.--E ...
Читать далее