An Unpublished Architectural Model-Book from Tsarskoe Selo (1857). The Problem of the Neo-Byzantine Architecture of Orthodox Churches on the Polish Lands under Russian Partition

• Authors: Kunikowska Anita

Title variants

PL

Niepublikowany wzornik architektoniczny z Carskiego Sioła (1857). Z problematyki neobizantyńskiej architektury cerkiewnej na ziemiach polskich pod zaborem rosyjskim

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The author describes twenty-two architectural projects prepared by Russian architects for the Polish lands which at that time were part of the Russian Empire. According to an inscription accompanying the designs, the set of architectural drawings was approved in Tsarskoye Selo on 14 November 1857. The treatment of these designs in the present article concentrates on the original features of Russian Orthodox architecture visible in them. The author discusses the drawings in relation to the architecture of Orthodox churches in the gubernyia (governorate) of Piotrków, created by the Russian authorities in 1867 as a result of an administrative division. The style of these churches was Byzantine Revival, which, broadly speaking, did not develop any more after Poland had regained independence in 1918. The author has analysed two buildings: St Alexander Nevskys Orthodox Church in Łódź (1880-1884; designed by the well-known architect Hilary Majewski) and the Orthodox Church of Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov (Faith, Hope and Charity) in Sosnowiec (1888-1889, whose construction was overseen by the architect Prokofiev from Piotrków Trybunalski). Both churches are formally related to the architectural projects presented above, as is testified by their octagonal naves and other features (e.g. onion domes), typical of imitations of the Byzantine style in Russia or Russian vernacular revival architecture.

• Publisher: Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Institute of History of Art
• Journal: Modus. Prace z historii sztuki
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 15
• Pages: 217-233

Contributors

author

Kunikowska Anita

• Instytut Historii Sztuki UJ