IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

After the Communist Revolution, church art and church architecture, in particular, practically ceased to exist in Russia. Many churches were torn down or put to improper use. Construction of new churches, with few exceptions, was simply discontinued and did not resume until the end of the century. Only in the 1970s did any notices of new construction appear in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.

With the 1990 announcement in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate of the winners of the first round of the competition, there also appeared an understated but quite remarkable reflection by M. Kudryavtsev and T. Kudryavtseva on the problems that would be encountered in any attempt to build a traditional church with modern materials and assumptions.

Today the Church demands the project would meet the required technical, engineering and aesthetic conditions. The architect often faces a choice - whether to follow the traditions, focusing exclusively on the religious requirements, or to use an innovative approach, risking to be misunderstood. Thus, in the modern temple architecture pastiche - an artistic reinterpretation of past eras styles and even stylization - meticulous copying of old monuments dominates. Many architects do not agree with such approach believing that tradition is just the starting point for understanding, the space to build new ideas in. Dealing with styles of the past, we cannot simply copy them. The basis of any historical style was laid by the ideology prevailing in the society at that very historic period. Architecture is not always universal. Imaginative and expressive essence dominates over the utilitarian component. Church architecture is largely alien to rationalism. Creativity within the canon does not allow self expression.

Contemporary temple construction is characterized by:

• using new technologies;

• reservation of traditional historical forms;

• desire to create a unique design;

• involvement of art experts and historians.

The materials commonly used in the construction are reinforced concrete, metal and steel.

The two samples of modern temple construction can be presented within the article.

In the end of 2001 the construction of a stone building of the Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Dolgoprudny (the architect Sergey Kuznetsov). The project of the temple was based on classical Novgorod architecture of XI - XII centuries. Churches of that period were often of cubic type, four internal piers buildings with a basement and helmet-topped dome. Despite of its youth, the church has a rich iconostasis inside it. The belfry has an original implementation: it is built not in the form of a bell tower but as a wall. The construction was finished in 2007.

The Cathedral of the Mother of God "Burning Bush" in Sosnovy Bor was built in 2001 – 2004 according to the design by the architect Evgeney Fedorov.

The church is of interest because it is built in the style of neo constructivism – the one completely atypical to Orthodox temple construction, with the only religious element in its architecture being a drum with a bulbous head (if you standing in distance cover it with your hand, hardly anyone would guess that it is the Orthodox Church). This project yet being under discussion caused confusion and the split off in the church community, for its architectural design in the form of a giant tripod (in the plan) was to remind the three-bladed emblem of radiation danger (apparently to make the residents of Sosnovy Bor not forget that they live in the close neighbourhood with Leningrad atomic power station).

Grasping the whole processes of the Orthodox temple construction in Russia, we can assert that the last twenty-five years of designing and building Russian church buildings have shown enough dynamic development of this type of public buildings. There has been an obvious neglecting by architects and church leaders to repeat the patterns of the end of the XIX century. Furthermore, the contemporary temple is more often perceived as a modern building, and even more often needs additional room for educational activities.

References:

1. John Burnett, On Building a Temple in Today’s World [эл. ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://jbburnett.com/resources/burnett_jmp-ch-arch-030626.pdf

2. Architecture of contemporary orthodox churches [эл. ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://900igr.net/prezentacija/religii-i-etika/arkhitektura-sovremennykh-pravoslavnykh-khramov-167913.html

3. Dolgoprudny. Church of the Transfiguration [эл. ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://sobory.ru/article/?object=06455

4. Pinery. Cathedral of the Mother of God "Burning Bush" [эл. ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://art-nata.my1.ru/forum/10-217-1

5. Krasilnikov V, Orthodox church construction site in the modern domestic architecture [эл. ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://www.gildehram.ru/new-blog/2016/2/12/-

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