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THE SACRED ARCHITECTURE OF THE OLD BELIEVERS IN THE TOWNS OF EASTERN LATVIA. A GENERAL OVERVIEW (Vecticibnieku sakrala arhitektura Austrumlatvijas pilsetas. Visparigs ieskats)

100%

Sevkina G.

Makslas Vesture un Teorija

2010

vol. 13

9-18

Old Believers' prayer houses are an indispensable part of Latvia's cultural environment, especially in the eastern part of the country. Although the Old Believers community has participated in the shaping of the region's specific cultural and social environment for more than three hundred years, its sacred architecture in Eastern Latvia has been little examined so far and attention has mainly been paid to the sacred items found in their prayer houses - icons and books. In the world-wide cultural context, Old Believers are known as preservers of the unique ancient culture of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their origins date back to the mid-17th century reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon which resulted in the schism between the ruling Russian Orthodox Church and dissident Old Believers. Opponents of these revisions endured wide-scale punitive actions and persecutions. The first organized groups of Old Believers appeared in eastern Latvia soon after the church reform began; they had come mostly from Novgorod, Pskov and other territories west of Moscow. From eastern Latvia Old Believers gradually reached other parts of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Eleven towns in Latvia became noted centres of Old Believer culture and religion, featuring the most significant communities of Old Believers in eastern Latvia. Each of these towns has one prayer house, except Daugavpils which has six Old Believers' prayer houses. The prayer house has always been and still is the centre of every community of Old Believers. It performs not just sacred but also secular functions. The premises are used for active educational work and gatherings and conferences of the Old Believers community. The Old Believers of eastern Latvia belong to the so-called Bezpopovtsy ('priestless') branch without clergy and liturgy in their services. The lack of an altar emerges as the most distinctive element of Old Believers sacred architecture.

THE HERITAGE OF DAUGAVPILS SACRED ARCHITECTURE AND ART IN THE SPECIFIC CONTEXT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL CULTURAL HISTORY (Daugavpils 18.-20. gs. sakralas arhitekturas un makslas mantojums pilsetas un novada kulturvestures savdabibas konteksta)

86%

Kaminska R.

Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

2007

vol. 6

78-94

Sacred buildings have always had a particular role in shaping the specific features of urban environment. Churches and their fortunes are not just testimonies of recent or ancient history of the town or city. They create significant accents in urban space, often being the dominant architectural elements of historical centres or particular districts. Important art collections also have been accumulated in churches and prayer houses over centuries and decades, and their interiors have been decorated by professional artists. So churches represent not only a certain typology of functional solutions derived from confessional requirements, changes of aesthetic appearance conditioned by historical styles or evolution of the architect's individual style but manifest a wider perspective of interrelations. The heritage of sacred architecture and art can reflect the typical features of the regional culture and this perfectly relates to the city of Daugavpils, its churches and prayer houses. The history of Daugavpils abounds in dramatic events and its historical architectural heritage as well as some important buildings today are things of the past, still the specificity has survived. Churches have been destroyed, restored and rebuilt several times along with the city in general, sacred architecture still being the organising core of the city centre. In fact, one can speak about two cities - one being the pre-18th-century town, today found only in researchers' reconstructions, the other created in the 19th century. Only written evidence is found on the oldest, initial period of building in Daugavpils. The 18th-century heritage is elucidated by a wider scope of historical sources. Buildings are gone; only outlines of foundations remain also from the most prominent sacred building of this period, Daugavpils Jesuit Church and monastery. It was damaged during World War II and destroyed afterwards.

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1 Makslas Vesture un Teorija

1 Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei

1 Kaminska R.

1 Sevkina G.

1 2010

1 2007

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THE SACRED ARCHITECTURE OF THE OLD BELIEVERS IN THE TOWNS OF EASTERN LATVIA. A GENERAL OVERVIEW (Vecticibnieku sakrala arhitektura Austrumlatvijas pilsetas. Visparigs ieskats)

THE HERITAGE OF DAUGAVPILS SACRED ARCHITECTURE AND ART IN THE SPECIFIC CONTEXT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL CULTURAL HISTORY (Daugavpils 18.-20. gs. sakralas arhitekturas un makslas mantojums pilsetas un novada kulturvestures savdabibas konteksta)