Nineteenth‐century Russian neoclassicism was grounded in French ideas of the architecture of Enlightenment, combined with neo‐Palladian principles. The architects who led the development of St. Petersburg between the 1800s and the 1840s were Andrian Zaharov, Vasily Stasov, Auguste Montferrand, and, above all, Karl Rossi. In the next phase of neoclassicism, the Empire style, the main role was played by Moscow architects Iosif Bove and Domenico Gilardi. In the architecture of the Romantic period, as in most western countries, a variety of styles may be seen in Russia, sowing the seeds of Gothic revival in the English taste and nineteenth‐century Orientalism. The Russian style continued to seem desirable in the 1830 to 1890s. Konstantin Ton built the church of Christ the Redeemer in “Russian‐Byzantine” style, which became the approved national style. Russian art nouveau architects of the 1890s to 1910s were decidedly romantic, concerned with the creation of new myths in symbolic forms. A new strain of the style emerged in architects’ commercial buildings with a rationalistic approach to function, prefiguring the 1920s. The pre‐revolutionary decade brought about the strengthening of neoclassicism.[1]

1. RUSSIAN
ARCHITECTURE IN
THE 19TH CENTURY
AL NAHRAIN UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENG. D.A.E.
THIRD YEAR 2019-2020

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TABLE OF CONTENT
No. Subject Page no.
1 Introduction 3
2 Russian-byzantine architecture 5
3 Historical background 9
4 Architecture details 11
5 Church proportions 16
6 Belltower problem 20
7 Grand kremlin palace 24
8 Text sources 30
9 Pictures sources 31

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INTRODUCTION
Nineteenth‐century Russian neoclassicism was grounded in French ideas of the
architecture of Enlightenment, combined with neo‐Palladian principles.
The architects who led the development of St. Petersburg between the 1800s and the
1840s were Andrian Zaharov, Vasily Stasov, Auguste Montferrand, and, above all,
Karl Rossi. In the next phase of neoclassicism, the Empire style, the main role was
played by Moscow architects Iosif Bove and Domenico Gilardi. In the architecture of the
Romantic period, as in most western countries, a variety of styles may be seen in Russia,
sowing the seeds of Gothic revival in the English taste and nineteenth‐century
Orientalism.
The Russian style continued to seem desirable in the 1830 to 1890s. Konstantin Ton built
the church of Christ the Redeemer in “Russian‐Byzantine” style, which became the
approved national style. Russian art nouveau architects of the 1890s to 1910s were
decidedly romantic, concerned with the creation of new myths in symbolic forms. A new
strain of the style emerged in architects’ commercial buildings with a rationalistic
approach to function, prefiguring the 1920s. The pre‐revolutionary decade brought about
the strengthening of neoclassicism.[1]
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Konstantin Andreyevich Thon
October 26, 1794 – January 25, 1881 was
an official architect of Imperial Russia
during the reign of Nicholas I. His major
works include the Cathedral of Christ the
Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the
Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.[A]

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RUSSIAN-BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Russian-Byzantine architecture (Russo-Byzantine architecture) is a revivalist
direction in Russian architecture and decorative and applied arts, based on the
interpretation of the forms of Byzantine and Ancient Russian architecture. As
part of eclecticism could be combined with other styles.
The style originated in the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century.
The founder of this style is considered to be Konstantin Thon. Formed in the
early 1830s as an entire direction, the Russian-Byzantine style was
inextricably linked with the concept of nationality, expressing the idea of
cultural self-sufficiency of Russia, as well as its political and religious
continuity in relation to Byzantine Empire. In a narrow sense, the Russian-
Byzantine style referred as the style of Konstantin Thon, common in the
second third of the 19th century, and post Thon style, that began in the 1850s
and more similar to the Byzantine architecture, called the Neo-Byzantine
style.[2]
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Cathedral of Saint Vladimir
in Kiev was the first neo-Byzantine design
approved for construction in the Russian
Empire (1852). It was not the first to be
completed though, since construction started
in 1859 and continued until 1889. [B]

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RUSSIAN-BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Russian-Byzantine style became an officially endorsed preferred architectural
style for church construction during the reign of Alexander II of Russia
(1855–1881). Although Alexander III changed state preferences in favor of
late Russian Revival, neo-Byzantine architecture flourished during his reign
(1881–1894) and continued to be used until the outbreak of World War I.
Émigré architects who settled in the Balkans and in Harbin after the Russian
Revolution worked on Neo-Byzantine designs there until World War II.
Initially, Byzantine architecture buildings were concentrated in Saint
Petersburg and the Crimea, with two isolated projects launched in Kiev and
Tbilisi. In the 1880s, Byzantine designs became the preferred choice for
Orthodox expansion on the frontiers of the Empire – Congress Poland,
Lithuania, Bessarabia, Central Asia, North Caucasus, the Lower Volga and the
Cossack Hosts; in the 1890s, they spread from the Urals region into Siberia
along the emerging Trans-Siberian Railway. State-sponsored Byzantine
churches were also built in Jerusalem, Harbin, Sofia and on the French
Riviera. Non-religious construction in Byzantine style was uncommon; most
extant examples were built as hospitals and almshouses during the reign of
Nicholas II.[3]
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The Naval cathedral of Saint Nicholas in
Kronstadt is a Russian Orthodox cathedral
built in 1903–1913 as the main church of
the Russian Navy and dedicated to all
fallen seamen. The cathedral was closed in
1929, was converted to a cinema, a House
of Officers (1939) and a museum of the
Navy (1980).[C]

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The last decade of Alexander I's rule was marked by state enforcement of
the Empire style as the only architectural style for religious, public and private
construction. This monopoly of a single style was lifted in the early 1830s;
as Nicholas I promoted Konstantin Thon's eclectic church designs, architects
(Mikhail Bykovsky) and art circles in general (Nikolai Gogol) called for general
liberalization of building permit procedures, insisting on the architect's freedom to
choose a style best fitting the building's functions and the client's preferences. As a
result, by the end of the 1840s Russian civil architecture diversified into various
revival styles (Gothic Revival by Bykovsky, Neo-Renaissance by Thon) while
new church projects leaned towards Thon's "Album of model designs" or
neoclassicism.
The reign of Nicholas I was marked by persistent expansion of Russia – either in
the form of colonization of territories acquired earlier in the West and South
(partitions of Poland–Lithuania, Novorossiya, the Crimea, the Caucasus) or in the
form of increasing intervention in the Eastern Question. Nicholas shared his
predecessors' aspirations for the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, and engaged in a
dispute with France for control over Holy Land shrines, which provoked
the Crimean War. The eastern policies of the state aroused public interest and
sponsored academic studies in Byzantine history and culture. The expansion
of Russian Orthodoxy into the new territories created new large-scale construction
projects that needed to be integrated into local environments.[4]
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Church of Dmitry Solunsky in
Saint Petersburg (1861–1866) by
Roman Kuzmin – an earliest
example of the style [D]

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ARCHITECTURE DETAILS
Byzantine revival architecture, unlike contemporary revival styles, was easily
identifiable by a rigid set of decorative tools. Some examples of the style deviated
into Caucasian, neoclassical and Romanesque, yet all followed the basic dome and
arcade design rule of medieval Constantinople:
• Hemispherical domes. Byzantine churches were always crowned with simple
hemispherical domes. Sometimes, as in the Theotokos Orans (Our Lady of the
Sign) church in Vilnius, they featured a small curvilinear pointed top at the
base of a cross, otherwise the cross was mounted directly at the flattened apex
of the dome. Onion domes and tented roofs of vernacular Russian architecture
were ruled out; they remained exclusive features of Russian Revival
architecture sponsored by Alexander III, and were considerably heavier and
more expensive than domes of the same diameter.
• Blending of arches and domes. The most visible feature of Byzantine
churches is the absence of a formal cornice between the dome and its support.
Instead, the supporting arcade blends directly into dome roof; tin roofing flows
smoothly around the arches. Arches were designed for maximum insolation via
wide window openings. A few designs (Sevastopol Cathedral, 1862–1888,
Livadia church, 1872–1876) also had wooden window shutters with circular
cutouts, as used in medieval Byzantium. In the 20th century this pattern was
reproduced in stone (Kuntsevo church, 1911), actually reducing insolation. [5]
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Example of hemispherical dome:
The church of the Theotokos Orans
(Our Lady of the Sign) in Vilnius (1899–
1903) demonstrates typical features of
developed Russian-Byzantine
architecture: exposed two-tone, striped,
masonry; four symmetrical apses tightly
fused into the main dome, creating a tall
triangular outline; arcades blending into
the domes; and a relatively small
belltower, clearly subordinate to the main
dome.[E]

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Blending of arches and domes :
St. Vladimir's Cathedral is an Orthodox
church in Sevastopol which was built in
the aftermath of the Crimean War as a
memorial to the heroes of the Siege of
Sevastopol (1854–1855).[F]

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ARCHITECTURE DETAILS
• Exposed masonry. The Neoclassical canon enforced by Alexander I required
masonry surfaces to be finished in flush stucco. Byzantine and Russian revival
architects radically departed from this rule; instead, they relied on exposing
exterior brickwork. While exposed brickwork dominated the scene, it was not
universal; exterior stucco remained in use, especially in the first decade of
Alexander II's reign.
• Two-tone, striped masonry. Russian architects borrowed the Byzantine
tradition of adorning flat wall surfaces with horizontal striped patterns. Usually,
wide bands of dark red base brickwork were interleaved with narrow stripes of
yellow of grey brick, slightly set back into the wall. Reverse (dark red stripes
over grey background) was rare, usually associated with Georgian variety of
churches built in Nicholas II period. The importance of colour pattern increased
with building size: it was nearly universal in large cathedrals but unnecessary
in small parish churches.
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Striped & exposed masonry :
Chersonesus Cathedral. [G][H]

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CHURCH PROPORTIONS
According to 1870s studies by Nikodim Kondakov, the architecture of the
Byzantine Empire employed three distinct church layouts:
• The earliest standard of a symmetrical, single-dome cathedral ("Hagia Sophia
standard") was set in the 6th century by Justinian I. Traditional Byzantine
cathedrals had two pendentives or apses; the Russian standard developed by
Kuzmin, Grimm and Kosyakov employed four.
• The "Ravenna standard" of Byzantine Italy employed elongated basilicas. It
remained common in Western Europe but was rarely used in Russia.
• The five-domed type emerged in the 9th century and flourished during the
Macedonian and Comnenian dynasties. It was the preferred plan for Russian
Orthodox churches for centuries.[6]
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Five dome cathedrals:
Saint Petersburg, 1908–1915. [I]
Tomsk, 1909–1911.[J]

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CHURCH PROPORTIONS
Large Neo-Byzantine cathedrals erected in Russia followed either the single-dome
or the five-dome plan.
The single-dome plan was standardized by David Grimm and Vasily Kosyakov,
and used throughout the Empire with minimal changes.
Five-dome architecture displayed greater variety as architects experimented with
proportions and placement of the side domes.
Smaller churches almost always followed the single-dome plan. In a few cases (as
in the Saint George church in Ardon, 1885–1901) very small side domes were
mechanically added to a basic single-dome floorplan.
Basilica churches emerged in the last decade of the Empire; all examples were
small parish churches like the Kutuzov Hut Chapel in Moscow.[7]
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One dome cathedral:
the Kutuzov Hut Chapel in Moscow
1910.[K][L]

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BELLTOWER PROBLEM
The Neoclassical canon dictated that the belltower should be substantially taller
than the main dome.
A lean, tall belltower ideally balanced the relatively flat main structure. As early
as the 1830s, Konstantin Thon and his followers ran into the "belltower problem":
the compact vertical shapes of Thon's Russo-Byzantine cathedrals did not blend
well with traditional belltowers.
Thon's solution was to remove the belltower altogether, installing bells on a small
detached belfry (Cathedral of Christ the Saviour), or integrating the belfry into the
main structure (Yelets cathedral).
The same problem persisted in Neo-Byzantine designs, at least in the conventional
tall structures inspired by Grimm's Tbilisi cathedral.
Grimm himself placed the bells in a fully detached, relatively low tower situated
far behind the cathedral. However, the clergy clearly preferred integrated
belltowers; detached belfries remained uncommon.
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Installing bells on a small detached belfry:
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour 1882.[M][N]

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BELLTOWER PROBLEM
Ernest Gibert, author of the Samara cathedral (1867–1894), on the contrary,
installed a massive tall belltower right above the main portal. Gibere deliberately
placed the belltower unusually close to the main dome, so that at most viewing
angles they blended in a single vertical shape.
This layout was favored by the clergy but bitterly criticized by contemporary
architects like Antony Tomishko (architect of Kresty Prison and its Byzantine
church of Alexander Nevsky). It was reproduced in Tashkent (1867–1887), Łódź
(1881–1884), Valaam Monastery (1887–1896), Kharkov (1888–1901), Saratov
(1899) and other towns and monasteries.
Most of the Byzantine buildings, however, followed the middle road: the
belltower was also set above the portal, but it was relatively low (on par with side
domes or apses or even lower), and spaced aside from the main dome (Riga
cathedral, (1876–1884), Novocherkassk cathedral (1891–1904) and others).
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integrating the belfry into the main structure:
Yelets cathedral.[O][P]

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GRAND KREMLIN PALACE
The Grand Kremlin Palace was built from 1837 to 1849 in Moscow, Russia on the site of the
estate of the Grand Princes, which had been established in the 14th century on Borovitsky Hill.
Designed by a team of architects under the management of Konstantin Thon, it was intended
to emphasize the greatness of Russian autocracy.
The Grand Kremlin Palace was formerly the tsar's Moscow residence. Its construction
involved the demolition of the previous Baroque palace on the site, designed by Rastrelli, and
the Church of St. John the Baptist, constructed to a design by Aloisio the New in place of the
first church ever built in Moscow.
Thon's palace is 124 meters long, 47 meters high, and has a total area of about 25,000 square
meters. It includes the earlier Terem Palace, nine churches from the 14th, 16th, and 17th
centuries, the Holy Vestibule, and over 700 rooms. The buildings of the Palace form a
rectangle with an inner courtyard. The building appears to be three stories, but is actually two.
The upper floor has two sets of windows. The west building of the Palace held state reception
halls and the imperial family's private chambers.
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Grand Kremlin Palace
View from the Moskva River. [Q][R]

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The Hall of the Order of St. Andrew in the
Grand Kremlin Palace [S]
The Hall of the Order of St. George
in the Grand Kremlin Palace [T]

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The Hall of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky in
the Grand Kremlin Palace [V]

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The Hall of the Order of St. Vladimir in the
Grand Kremlin Palace [U]

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The exterior of the Grand Kremlin Palace
incorporates many details characteristic of
medieval Russian and Byzantine
architecture [W][X]

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TEXT SOURCES
1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118887226.wbcha10
6#:~:text=Nineteenth%E2%80%90century%20Russian%20neoclassicis
m%20was,combined%20with%20neo%E2%80%90Palladian%20princip
les.&text=Russian%20art%20nouveau%20architects%20of,new%20myt
hs%20in%20symbolic%20forms.
2. Печёнкин И. Е. РУССКО-ВИЗАНТИЙСКИЙ СТИЛЬ // Большая
российская энциклопедия. Том 29. Москва, 2015, стр. 76
3. Savelyev, 2005 p.269
4. Savelyev, 2005 p.28
5. Savelyev, 2008, p.171-172
6. Savelyev, 2005, p.10-14
7. Russian Churches catalog
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PICTURES SOURCES
A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KA_Ton.jpg
B. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Volodymyr%27s_Cathedral_in_Kiev.jpg
C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naval_Cathedral_of_St_Nicholas_in_Kronstadt_01.jpg
D. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Petersburg_Dmitry_Solunsky_church_(2).jpg
E. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Byzantine_architecture_in_the_Russian_Empire#/media/File:Znamenskaya_cerkov_Vilnius.JPG
F. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vladimir%27s_Cathedral,_Sevastopol#/media/File:Sevastopol_04-14_img09_Vladimir_Cathedral.jpg
G. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/SevaSobor.jpg
H. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chersonesus_Cathedral#/media/File:%D0%A5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC_%D1%81%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%82%
D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%92%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B0_5.jpg
I. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kazan_church_in_Voskresensky_Novodevichy_monastery_(from_cemetery).JPG
J. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1
%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B0
%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9.jpg
K. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC-
%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%8F_%D0%90%D1%80%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%
BB%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0_02.jpg?uselang=ru
L. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC-
%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%8F_%D0%90%D1%80%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%
BB%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0_05.jpg?uselang=ru
M. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviour#/media/File:Moscow_July_2011-7a.jpg
N. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Catedral_del_Cristo_Salvador,_Mosc%C3%BA,_Rusia,_2016-10-03,_DD_30-31_HDR.jpg
O. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ascention_Cathedral_in_winter,_Yelets.jpg
P. https://www.istockphoto.com/ae/photo/ascension-cathedral-the-main-orthodox-church-of-the-city-of-yelets-the-cathedral-gm869334048-145025397
Q. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Kremlin_Palace,_Moscow.jpg
R. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kremlin_27.06.2008_01.jpg
S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andreyevsky_Zal.jpg
T. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Kremlin_Palace_Georgievsky_hall.jpg
U. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Kremlin_Palace_Aleksandr_hall.jpg
V. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Kremlin_Palace_Vladimirsky_hall.jpg
W. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kremlingrand.jpg
X. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Grand_Kremlin_Palace_in_2015.JPG
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