Is an architect a craft, a profession or a vocation?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

Any adult, even very far from art and architecture, knows from school that an architect is a design engineer, craftsman, architect and builder all rolled into one. In the XIV century, according to the research of academician A. I. Sobolevsky, the word "architect" came into the Russian literary language from the book South Slavic. Until that time, artisans who designed and built churches, decorated and painted them, were called church masters.

History of Russian architecture

Most historians of architecture call the beginning of the formation of Russian stone architecture the XI century. After at the end of the 10th century, Prince Vladimir began to introduce Christianity in Russia, along with the spread of this religion, the construction of churches and temples began to develop. For any city of Ancient Russia, a good architect is the most important person on whom the size and beauty of temples and churches depend, and, consequently, the level of influence and power of the one at whose expense they were built. Until our time, from the stone works of architectural creativity of that time, only the St. Sophia Cathedrals in Kyiv and Veliky Novgorod, the Chernigov Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral and the gateTrinity Church in the Pechersky Monastery in Kyiv.

The emergence of the Russian tradition

In the period from the XI to the XII centuries. every Russian architect is, first of all, a student who studied examples of Byzantine church architecture and the creations of his predecessors, tried to reproduce the samples to the best of his abilities, strength and talents.

The grand ducal and princely construction projects in Veliky Novgorod of the 12th century were the last "imitative". The second quarter of the 12th century becomes the time when their own, Russian art schools emerge and develop.

Until the middle of the XII century, the construction of stone churches and temples was not carried out. And only with the coming to power of Yuri Dolgoruky, the active construction of Christian religious buildings from stone begins. His successor Andrey Bogolyubsky, striving to increase the glory of the Vladimir Principality, also carries out stone construction.

Today it can be argued that during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky, a Russian school of architects was formed, which subsequently managed to spread its influence to the masters of other principalities that arose during the period of feudal strife and fragmentation of Russia.

Two schools of Russian architecture

Under Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, who ruled the Vladimir-Suzdal land after Bogolyubsky, new features appeared in the artistic and technical methods of architects, which would later lead to the emergence of two architectural schools. The first, so-called Vladimir school,continued the classical traditions of white stone construction, in this case complex carved decoration was performed. Its representatives worked in Yuryev-Polsky, Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod. The second school, Rostov, was distinguished by a spectacular combination of brickwork and white stone details. Its adherents built in Yaroslavl and Rostov the Great.

Novgorod-Pskov tradition

This school was born, according to historians, back in the 11th century, when St. Sophia Cathedral was erected in Novgorod. However, the heyday of this tradition dates back to the second half of the 14th century - the time of maximum power and prosperity of the Novgorod Republic. The most notable and significant examples of this period are the Churches of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyina Street and Fyodor Stratilat on the Ruche.

The Pskov architectural tradition is very close to that of Novgorod, but experts point out its own peculiarities. The most striking creations of Pskov architects are the churches of St. Nicholas from Usokha, Vasily on Gorka, Kuzma and Demyan from Primostye and others.

Architecture of the Moscow Principality

In the XIV-XV centuries, the political significance of Muscovy increased noticeably, which led to the flourishing of construction and architecture. The traditions of architecture, formed in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, were successfully adopted by Moscow specialists. The end of the 15th century can be considered the time of the birth and formation of the Moscow architectural school. This period is represented by the Dormition Cathedral on Gorodok in Zvenigorod, which has survived to this day.

The heyday of the Moscowarchitectural school came during the reign of Ivan III, at the end of the XV century. The great architect of that time, the Italian Aristotle Fioravanti, built the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

Architectural traditions of the Russian kingdom

The adoption of the royal title by Ivan the Terrible and the transformation of Russia into a kingdom, which occurred in the 16th century, became a powerful impetus for the development of all spheres of society, including architecture. At this time, the architect is no longer only the builder of temples, churches and princely chambers. The first stone fortresses - kremlins - began to be built. One of the most famous architects-builders of such fortresses was Fyodor Kon, who built the walls of the White City in Moscow, the Smolensk Kremlin, as well as the walls of the Pafnutyevo-Borovsky, Boldinsky and Simonov monasteries.

In addition, the brightest work of architectural creativity is St. Basil's Cathedral (Pokrovsky), which, according to one version, was erected by the Pskov architect Postnik Yakovlev on the orders of Ivan the Terrible.

The Age of Peter

Art historian and artist I. E. Grabar called Russia a country of architects. This statement can be fully attributed to St. Petersburg, which, in the opinion of Emperor Peter I, was supposed to contribute to the transformation of Muscovite Russia into Europe. During the construction of the “brainchild of Petrov” - St. Petersburg - architects and Russian architects invited from different countries cooperate, interact and compete with each other. Names such as Domenico Giovanni Trezzini and Jean Baptiste Leblon, Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli and GeorgJohann Mattarnovi are forever inscribed in the architectural history of the city on the Neva. Peter I, who in every possible way attracted foreign craftsmen to the construction of the new capital, meanwhile set them the condition that they teach their Russian assistants and students the crafts and "arts" that they themselves own. One of the first such "home-grown" architects was Trezzini's assistant and student Zemtsov and Eropkin. Such world-famous architects of St. Petersburg as Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (son of Carl Rastrelli), Antonio Rinaldi, Nikolaus Gerbel, S. I. Chevakinsky, Karl Ivanovich Rossi, as well as many no less great architects participated in the further development and construction of the city.

Instead of a conclusion

Russian architecture over the centuries has not only developed in its own special, national way. Changes in political, religious and social life, interaction with different cultures - all this had a huge impact on the formation of not only Russian and Soviet, but also Russian architecture.

Today the whole world admires not only the creations of F. Konya, Rossi, Voronikhin, Bazhenov and Kazakov. The architect Vlasov, Fomin, Pyasetsky, Savin and many others proved the high level of domestic architecture with their creativity and skill.