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| Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, c. 535. | The 14th-century church of St Mary Pammakaristos (one of the most famous Byzantine churches in Istanbul, Turkey) is a characteristic sample of the Palaiologoi architecture. | Byzantine dome- The 11th-century monastery of Hosios Lukas in Greece is representative of the Byzantine art during the rule of the Macedonian dynasty. |
| Islamic | ||
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| Ialamic- Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem c. 690. | The Taj Mahal in Agra, India. c. 1640. | The Isfahan, Maydan-i-Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, 1611-1639 |
| Early Orthodox | ||
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| cone-shaped domes are typical for Orthodox churches of Transcaucasia (The monastery of Geghard in Kotayk, Armenia. c. 1215). | architecture of Kievan Rus- Church of the Intercession on the Nerl (1165) | |
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| Ukrainian pear domes (Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, c. 1170) | Helmet domes (St. Sophia Cathedral, Novgorod. c. 1050) | Helmet domes (Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, c. 1160) |
| Later Russian Orthodox | ||
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| Detail of onion domes on Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow (1550). | Onion domes of the Resurrection Church, Kostroma (1652) | Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin (c. 1600). |
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| Kizhi- the 22-domed Transfiguration Church (1714) | Wooden churches in Kizhi and Vytegra have as many as twenty-five onion domes (c. 1720). | Baroque bud domes (St. Andrew’s Church in Kiev- 1754, Bartolomeo Rastrelli). |
| RC outside Russia | ||
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| St Mary (Ramersdorf), Germany (Onion dome was added in 1791). | Saint Leonard’s Church in Mittersill, Austria | St. Ulrich in Laim, Bavaria, Germany. |
| Onion dome
An onion dome (Russian: луковичная глава, lúkovichnaya glava) is a type of unioform architectural dome seen across Eastern Europe and often associated with Russian Orthodox churches. Common in Germany, where they are known as Zwiebeltürme (singular: Zwiebelturm), onion domes appear on many Baroque churches and municipal buildings. Such domes are larger in diameter than the drum upon which they are set, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point, and strongly resemble the onion, after which they are named. Other important types of Orthodox cupolas are helmet domes (for example, those of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod and Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir), Ukrainian pear domes (Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev), and Baroque bud domes (St. Andrew’s Church in Kiev).
History Art historians disagree when and why onion domes became a typical feature of Russian architecture. Byzantine churches and architecture of Kievan Rus were characterized by broader, flatter domes without a special framework erected above the drum. In contrast to this ancient form, each drum of a Russian church is surmounted by a special structure of metal or timber, which is lined with sheet iron or tiles. By the end of the nineteenth century, most Russian churches from before the Petrine period had bulbous domes. The largest onion domes were erected in the seventeenth century in the area around Yaroslavl, incidentally famous for its large onions. Quite a few had more complicated bud-shaped domes, whose form derived from Baroque models of the late seventeenth century. Pear-shaped domes are usually associated with Ukrainian Baroque, while cone-shaped domes are typical for Orthodox churches of Transcaucasia. Traditional view The earliest academic researchers of Russian architecture pointed out that Russian icons painted before the Mongol invasion of Rus do not feature churches with onion domes. Furthermore, two highly venerated pre-Mongol churches that have never been rebuilt—the Assumption Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. Demetrius in Vladimir—uniquely display golden helmet domes. Restoration works on several other ancient churches revealed some fragments of former helmet-like domes below newer onion cupolas. Based on these findings, it was concluded that ancient Russian churches were helmet-shaped while onion domes had been introduced considerably later. It was posited that onion domes first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Indeed, the bulbous, wildly coloured domes of Saint Basil’s Cathedral have not been altered since the reign of Ivan’s son Fyodor I, clearly indicating that onion domes did exist in sixteenth-century Russia. Some scholars postulated that onion domes were borrowed by Russians from Muslim countries, probably from the Khanate of Kazan, whose conquest Ivan the Terrible commemorated by erecting St. Basil’s Cathedral.[1] Others argued that onion domes first appeared in Russian wooden architecture, above tent-like churches. According to this theory, onion domes were strictly utilitarian, as they prevented snow from piling on the roof.[2] This theory became firmly entrenched in Soviet architectural theory. Based on the notion that onion domes did not exist in Russia before the mid-sixteenth century, restoration works on churches built before the seventeenth century have routinely involved replacement of onion domes with “more authentic” helmet-shaped domes. One example of such restoration is the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Modern view In 1946, the historian Boris Rybakov, while analysing miniatures of ancient Russian chronicles, pointed out that most of them, from the thirteenth century onward, display churches with onion domes rather than helmet domes.[3] Nikolay Voronin, the foremost authority on pre-Mongol Russian architecture, seconded his opinion that onion domes existed in Russia as early as the thirteenth century, although they presumably could not be widespread.[4] These findings demonstrated that Russian onion domes could not be imported from the Orient, where onion domes did not replace spherical domes until the fifteenth century. Sergey Zagraevsky, a modern art historian, surveyed hundreds of Russian icons and miniatures, from the eleventh century onward. He concluded that most icons painted after the Mongol invasion of Rus display only onion domes. First onion domes displayed on some pictures of twelfth century (two miniatures from Dobrylov Evangelie). [5] He found only one icon from the late fifteenth century displaying a dome resembling the helmet instead of an onion. His findings led him to dismiss fragments of helmet domes discovered by restorators beneath modern onion domes as post-Petrine stylisations intended to reproduce the familiar forms of Byzantine cupolas. Zagraevsky also indicated that the oldest depictions of the two Vladimir cathedrals represent them as having onion domes, prior to their replacement by classicizing helmet domes. Zagraevsky explains the ubiquitous appearance of onion domes in the late thirteenth century by the general emphasis on verticality characteristic of Russian architecture from the late twelfth to early fifteenth centuries.[6] At that period, porches, pilasters, vaults and drums were arranged to create a vertical thrust, to make the church seem taller than it was.[7] It seems logical that elongated, or onion, domes were part of the same proto-Gothic trend aimed at achieving pyramidal, vertical emphasis. Symbolism Prior to the eighteenth century, the Russian Orthodox Church did not assign any particular symbolism to the exterior shape of a church.[9] Nevertheless, onion domes are popularly believed to symbolise burning candles. In 1917, noted religious philosopher Prince Yevgeny Trubetskoy argued that the onion shape of Russian church domes may not be explained rationally. According to Trubetskoy, drums crowned by tapering domes were deliberately scored to resemble candles, thus manifesting a certain aesthetic and religious attitude.[10] Another explanation has it that the onion dome was originally regarded as a form reminiscent of the edicula (cubiculum) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.[11] Onion domes often appear in groups of three, representing the Holy Trinity, or five, representing Jesus Christ and the Four Evangelists. Domes standing alone represent Jesus. Vasily Tatischev, the first to record such interpretation, disapproved of it emphatically. He believed that the five-domed design of churches was propagated by Patriarch Nikon, who liked to compare the central and highest dome with himself and four lateral domes with four other patriarchs of the Orthodox world. There is no other evidence that Nikon ever held such a view. The domes are often brightly painted: their colours may informally symbolise different aspects of religion. Green, blue, and gold domes are sometimes held to represent the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, respectively. Black ball-shaped domes were once popular in the snowy north of Russia. Outside Russia The onion dome is not only found in Russian Architecture: it was also used extensively in Mughal architecture, which later went on to influence Indo-Gothic architecture. Outside of India, it is also used in Iran and other places in the Middle East and Central Asia. Baroque domes in the shape of an onion (or other vegetables or flower-buds) were common in the Holy Roman Empire as well. The first one was built in 1576 by the architect Hans Holl (1512-1594) on the church of Saint Mary Star Abbey in Augsburg. Usually made of copper sheet, onion domes appear on Catholic churches all over southern Germany, Austria and Northeast Italy. Notes and references Green domes of the Fyodorovskaya Church in Yaroslavl (1687)—the height of the main drum and dome exceeds the height of the main cube of the church |
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Bud and pear-shaped domes- Zwiebeltürme
17 Jun
Style history- Architecture of Armenia
27 May| Armenian architecture
Armenian architecture is an architectural style native to Armenia and used principally by Armenian people. Traditional Armenian architecture, developed early into the middle ages, is largely inspired by Greek and Roman architecture. Characteristics of Armenian Architecture Medieval Armenian architecture, and Armenian churches in particular, has several distinctive features, believed by some to be the first national style of church building Construction Armenian architecture, as it originates in an earthquake-prone region, tends to be built with this hazard in mind. Armenian buildings tend to be rather low-slung and thick-walled in design. Armenian architecture employs a form of concrete to produce sturdy buildings,. It is a mixture of lime mortar, broken tufa, and rocks around which forms a core against which thin slabs of tufa are arranged in brickwork fashion. As the wet mortar mixture dries it forms a strong concrete-like mass sealed together with the tufa around it and, due to tufa’s properties, it becomes harder with time. Initially, almost no core was used in the construction of churches, stone blocks were simply sealed together, but as architects saw how those with mortar cores withstood tremors, the size of the core expanded. Frescos of marble or another stone were often affixed to the side of these buildings, usually at a later date. The stone used in buildings is typically quarried all at the same location, in order to give the structure a uniform color. In cases where different color stone are used, they are often intentionally contrasted in a striped or checkerboard pattern.[2] Powder made out of ground stone of the same type was often applied along the joints of the tufa slabs to give buildings a seamless look. Unlike the Romans or Syrians who were building at the same time, Armenians never used wood or brick when building large structures. History of Armenian Architecture The gradual development of Armenian architecture. Pre-Christian Armenia During the third millennium B.C, prehistoric Armenian architecture was already distinctive. The most common feature of this form of architecture was its floor plan which was circular and connected forming a cell shape. An example of such architecture can be found in Nakichevan’s Gyul-Tepe. These buildings were aproximatley 6-7 metres wide and 5 or so high. The inhabitants of Urartu were notable for their high standards in city building, palatial complexes, and rich interior decoration. Urban architectural traditions, and other forms of art in the years before Christ continued to develop under the influence of Greco-Roman art.[3] Urartian architecture was noted for its use of large, carefully-cut stones, used as foundations for wood or mud brick buildings, usually constructed in a compact manner (such as in Erebuni) suggest a high degree of planning and craftsmanship. The temple of Garni is the only pagan monument left in Armenia, as many others where destroyed or converted to Christian places of worship under Tiridates III of Armenia.[4] Garni was built along Hellenistic classical lines, but embodies much of the sacred numerology and geometry devised by Ancestral Armenians 4200 years earlier. Garni’s design has great symbolism. The temple has a column to inter column ratio of 1/3 (1 is the primary number of the universe and 3 is the holiest of all numbers as it represents the Greco-Roman triad Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Aside from being aesthetically beautiful, Garni’s design can be seen as being a reaffirmation of the universal laws that governed man’s destiny. The angles, number of columns, and dimensions were created with a careful eye; Armenian pagans wanted to appease the gods and protect humanity from their wrath. This sacred geometry is evident in the entire temple. To the people who created it, it was the perfect embodiment of their communion with the universe. Note that although sacred geometry was mostly used in religious buildings, secular buildings adopted some aspects of it.[5] Christian Armenia The officialisation of Christianity in 301 allowed new developments in Armenian architecture, which nevertheless preserved older traditions. In fact it would be almost impossible to find any religion that rose completely on its own without borrowing some traditions from the past. Exploring Armenian churches is critical to our understanding of Medieval Armenia. Beyond that, the Armenian churches describe us the general landscape of the Christian East at a time when eyewitness accounts were exceedingly rare. In their messages of authenticity and legitimacy, the churches shaped and preserved public memory, negotiating among diverse linguistic, religious, political, and ethnic groups. The first Armenian churches were built on the orders of St. Gregory the Illuminator, and were often built on top of pagan temples, and imitated some aspects of Armenian pre-Christian architecture. Periods in Armenian Architecture Classical and Medieval Armenian Architecture is divided into four separate periods. The Formative Period The first Armenian churches were built between the 4th and 7th Century, beginning when Armenia converted to Christianity, and ending with the Arab invasion of Armenia. The early churches were mostly simple basilicas, but some with side apses. By the fifth century the typical cupola cone in the center had become widely used. By the seventh century, centrally-planned churches had been built and a more complicated niched buttress and radiating Hrip’simé style had formed. By the time of the Arab invasion, most of what we now know as classical Armenian architecture had formed. Bagratid Revival From the 9th to 11th century, Armenian architecture underwent a revival under the patronage of the Bagratid Dynasty with a great deal of building done in the area of Lake Van, this included both traditional styles and new innovations. Ornately carved Armenian khachkars were developed during this time. Many new cities and churches were built during this time, including a new capital at Lake Van and a new Cathedral on Akdamar Island to match. The Cathedral of Ani was also completed during this dynasty. It wad during this time that the first major monasteries, such as Haghpat and Haritchavank were built. This period was ended by the Seljuk invasion. Monasteries Flourish From the 12th to 14th century under the Zakarid dynasty saw an explosion in the number of monasteries built, including Saghmosavank Monastery, the Akhtala monastery, Kaymaklı Monastery Kecharis Monastery and Makaravank Monastery. Monasteries were institutes of learning, and much of medieval Armenian literature was written in this time period. The invasion of Timurlane and the destruction of Cilician Armenia ended architectural progression from another 250 years. Seventeenth Century The last great period in classic Armenian construction was under Iranian Safavid Shahs, under which number of new churches were build, usually at existing holy sites such as Etchmiadzin as well as in diaspora communities like New Julfa. References |
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