{"id":428409,"date":"2006-06-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/?page_id=428409"},"modified":"2020-03-27T09:40:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T06:40:47","slug":"overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/welcome-to-the-archives-of-belarus-website\/subject-guides-to-archival-records\/culture\/church-architecture\/overview","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\nList of archival documents<\/a> <\/div>\r\n

Overview<\/h2>\r\n

Throughout history, the Belarusian people created a highly developed and\r\noriginal architecture. In particular, it is the ecclesiastic architecture in Belarus which\r\ndemonstrates the skill of its creators & displays the distinctive features &\r\nachievements of the architectural and artistic trends of every epoch. The documents on\r\nmost of the Belarusian church buildings are being preserved in the Belarusian archives.\r\nThese works of art not only reflect the historical development peculiar to the Belarusian\r\nnation, but also show the tolerance of the Belarusian people through the variety of\r\nreligions which existed simultaneously in different periods within the territory of\r\nBelarus, – for example, paganism, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Uniate Church (Greek Catholic),\r\nProtestantism, Islam, and Judaism – all these religious groups were able to practice their\r\nfaith inside Belarus. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Heathen temples already existed in pre-Christian architecture which were\r\ntypical of Pagan culture – flat sites with idols, surrounded by a fence and sickle-shaped\r\nditches with fires burning in them. However, the rise of Christianity, coupled with the\r\nrapid development of towns and cities, stimulated the formation of new trends in\r\narchitecture. A new type of building appeared – a stone, cross-shaped temple\r\ncrowned by domes<\/strong><\/em>, built of flat, square bricks – plinths. During the Tenth\r\n& Eleventh centuries, the temples in Belarus were, for the most part, being built by\r\nmaster craftsmen imported from Byzantium. The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Polotsk, built\r\nbetween 1044 and 1066, can be considered the earliest of the important churches built in\r\nmodern Belarus. It was constructed with plinths, according to the so-called\r\n“concealed” brickwork technique. This cathedral founded the main principles of\r\nthe local traditional school, manifested in the central-pyramid composition. Probably\r\nthese principles followed the influence of local building practice, which had already been\r\nformed by the traditional, wooden, folk architecture. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

<\/a>\r\nIn the Twelvth Century, the original Polotsk\r\nschool of architecture<\/em><\/strong> was based on Byzantine architectural traditions,\r\ninfluenced by the architectural forms of the Polotsk Cathedral of St. Sophia. The most\r\nprominent church buildings of that time were St. Paraskeva’s and SS. Boris and Gleb’s at\r\nthe SS. Boris and Gleb’s Monastery in Belchitsy near Polotsk, Saviour-Euphrosine’s\r\nChurch at the Saviour-Euphrosine’s Convent in Polotsk<\/strong> (*) and the Church of the\r\nAnnunciation in Vitebsk(*)

\r\n\r\nThe Grodno school of architecture<\/strong><\/em>, formed at the same time,\r\nis also noted for its originality -see the Lower church, SS. Boris and Gleb\r\n(Kolozha Church)<\/strong>(*), and the Assumption of Our Lady church in Grodno. There are\r\nmany such examples.

\r\n\r\nAnd then a new stage in the development of Belarusian architecture took\r\nplace. From the second half of the Thirteenth & early Fourteenth centuries,\r\narchitecture & design was determined by the social, economic, political, cultural and\r\nreligious conditions in which Belarus found itself, being as it now was, a part of the\r\nGrand Duchy of Lithuania. Timber remained the principle building material, not only used\r\nfor dwelling houses but also for palaces, castles, temples and monasteries. At the same\r\ntime, stone church architecture was also being developed. \r\n\r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\nIn the Fourteenth & Fifteenth centuries, however, this development retained the distinctive traits of the\r\nEleventh,Twelfth & Thirteenth centuries in Western Russian architecture.\r\nBut in the new historical conditions, slightly different developments occurred, because of the\r\nadvances in building techniques and the new understanding of Western European\r\narchitectural forms – Gothic, Renaissance, and (starting from the late Sixteenth Century)\r\nthe Baroque as well. In the Fourteenth & Fifteenth centuries, the temples in Belarus\r\ndiffered from the cross-shaped Russian churches in construction, and in most cases they\r\nrepresented the type known as the “hall basilica.”<\/strong>

\r\n\r\n\r\nIn the late Fifteenth & early Sixteenth centuries, an original type\r\nof fortified temple<\/strong><\/em>, flanked by four corner turrets, appeared in\r\nBelarus.
\r\n \"The<\/a>\r\n\r\nOne of the first temples of this kind was the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Polotsk,\r\nrebuilt between 1494 and 1505 into a fortified church. Such fortified temples are also\r\nrepresented by the churches in Synkovichi(*)<\/strong>, Zelva District (late\r\nFifteenth & early Sixteenth centuries), and in Murovanka (*)<\/strong>,\r\nShchuchin District Grodno Region (between 1516 and 1542). <\/a>They show how step by step,\r\nWestern Russian architectural traditions were being transformed through Gothic and\r\nRenaissance influences.

\r\nThe interaction between local architectural traditions & Byzantine and Western European influence contributed to the formation of\r\na highly original type of Belarusian Gothic<\/strong><\/em>. The\r\nfirst Catholic churches in Belarus had the appearance of yet another type of church, which\r\nhad its origins in the distinctive features of Central European Gothic. The ancient, stone\r\nCatholic churches in Belarus had the characteristics of fortresses. Gothic forms prevailed\r\nin architecture. \r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nAlongside the four-turreted fortress-type churches, there were also\r\nseveral church buildings without turrets, dating back from the late 15th Century and early\r\n16th Century, for example, the Catholic Churches in Vselyub, Novogrudok District Grodno\r\nRegion, the Catholic Church of the Trinity in Ishkold(*)<\/strong> Baranovichi\r\nDistrict Brest Region and SS. Boris and Gleb’s Church in Novogrudok.

\r\n\r\n\r\nIn the mid-Sixteenth Century, the Protestant churches (Reformed churches\r\nor Calvinist chapels) also adapted to defensive needs, started to appear in Belarus due to\r\nthe spread of Reformation. An example of this type of temple is the Church of the\r\nTransfiguration of the Saviour-in Zaslavl, Minsk District, built in the mid-Sixteenth\r\nCentury as a Calvinist chapel. Reformed churches have a very particular construction. They\r\nare unlike Catholic churches and greatly differ from Orthodox temples. However, they do\r\nshare certain features with Orthodox churches – notably their defensive character.\r\n\r\n<\/a>

\r\n\r\nRenaissance<\/strong><\/em> traits increasingly occur in Belarusian\r\narchitecture in the second half of the Sixteenth Century. The blend of Gothic and\r\nRenaissance architecture is exemplified in the Catholic Church of the Trinity in\r\nChernavchitsy(*) <\/strong>Brest District.

\r\n\r\nIn the last quarter of the Sixteenth Century, the first monumental building in the baroque<\/strong><\/em>\r\nstyle appeared in Belarus – this was the Jesuit Church in Nesvizh (1587-1593), which\r\ninspired the main features of Il Gesu Church in Rome. The architectural forms taken from\r\nItaly continued, for a long time, to combine the indigenous architecture with Gothic and\r\nRenaissance elements.

\r\n\r\n

The intensity of the religious and political struggles in the first half of the\r\nSeventeenth Century, and the rivalry between Catholics, Uniates and Orthodox believers led\r\nto the use of highly Baroque architecture and to its synthesis with local building\r\ntechniques. As a result, a highly original architecture and art of a peculiarly “Belarusian\r\nbaroque”<\/strong><\/em> was formed during the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the period of early baroque (the first half of the 17th Century) the facades of\r\nchurch buildings had a small number of decorative elements. The late Baroque period which\r\nflourished from the second half of the Seventeenth Century to the ’80s of the Eighteenth\r\nCentury is characterised by the partition of facades, the introduction of stucco moulding\r\n& the use of more elaborate architectural details. Among church buildings of this\r\nperiod is the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Vitebsk(*) (1716). In the mid-18th Century, rococo<\/strong><\/em>\r\ndecorative motifs were widely used as well. The architectural and artistic movement in the\r\nmonumental architecture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (of which Belarus formed the\r\nlargest part) is known as “Vilnia baroque”<\/strong><\/em>. Its\r\nfeatures are clearly visible in Uniate church buildings. \r\n<\/a>\r\nFor example, the\r\nCathedral of St. Sophia in Polotsk (*)<\/strong> (1738-1760, built on the foundations of\r\nthe Orthodox church destroyed in the early 18th Century), Basilican monasteries and\r\nchurches in Berezvechie, Glubokoe District Vitebsk Region (1756-1779), in Boruny, Oshmiany\r\nDistrict Grodno Region (1747-1754) and in Tolochin, Vitebsk Region (1769-1779), the Church\r\nof the Epiphany and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church in Zhirovichi, Slonim District\r\nGrodno Region (1769), Resurrection Church in Vitebsk (1772), and more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Orthodox temples of the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries display a diverse\r\narchitecture. But both stone and wooden examples share many features of design and\r\ncomposition. Cross-shaped, domed churches were the basic type of monumental Orthodox\r\ntemples in the Belarus of the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries. Alongside them were\r\nchurches without domes – the so-called basilica. Examples of the earliest buildings of\r\nthis type are the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (or St. Catherine’s Church) in Minsk,\r\nbuilt in 1612. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Synagogues <\/em><\/strong>form an important group of church buildings in\r\nBelarus. They were mainly being built in the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries. Stone\r\nsynagogues were located in Stary Bykhov (early 17th Century), Pinsk (1640), Slonim (1642),\r\nNovogrudok (1648), Stolin (late 17th Century), Kletsk (late 18 th Century), Ivye (the 19th\r\nCentury), and more. But the construction of wooden synagogues was especially widely\r\ndeveloped, for example in Vysokoe, Kamenets District, in Kozhan-Gorodok, Luninets District\r\nBrest Region, in Grodno, in Volpa, Ikovysk District, in Sopotskin, Grodno District Grodno\r\nRegion, in Narovlia, Gomel Region among others. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In many townships of the central and North-Western regions of Belarus there were Tartar\r\nmosques<\/strong><\/em>. Until 1795 in the territory of the Grand Duchy of\r\nLithuania there were 23 Tartar mosques and 65 Tartar prayer houses. Among the most notable\r\nare the mosques of the late Seventeenth – early Twentieth centuries in Liakhovichi, Brest\r\nRegion; Vidzy, Braslav District Vitebsk Region; Mir, Korelichi District; Novogrudok,\r\nSlonim, and Ivie of the Grodno Region; Miadel, Kletsk, Smilovichi, Uzda and Kopyl of the\r\nMinsk Region; Minsk(*), and others.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Timber remained the basic building material in the construction of Belarusian towns\r\nuntil the late Nineteenth Century. From the Seventeenth Century, wooden church\r\narchitecture in Belarus was greatly influenced by the artistic style which prevailed in\r\nstone architecture (for example, the belfry in Shereshevo(*), Pruzhany District Brest\r\nRegion). Two main trends formed in the development of wooden church architecture: the\r\nconservative trend aimed at the stable preservation of local traditions and the innovative\r\ntrend, which reflected the process of implanting the aesthetic conceptions of a more\r\nformal style. The developments in wooden architecture were more complex than those of\r\nstone architecture, because they encompassed both innovations and the maintenance of an\r\nexisting tradition. This caused the asynchronous development of stone and wooden\r\narchitecture and the latter lagged behind concerning the basic official tendencies in\r\nchurch art. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

From the late Eighteenth Century, classicism<\/strong><\/em> began to develop\r\nin Belarussian church architecture. The earliest, most prominent classical building of\r\nthat epoch was the Church of St. Joseph in Mogilev, built between 1780 and 1798, which was\r\nrenamed a cathedral by the edict of the Synod in 1802. The Cathedral of St. Joseph\r\nrepresents an example of a church-rotunda, which became widespread in Belarus and gained\r\npopularity as one of the best examples of the 18th Century classicism. Another prominent\r\nmonument of this style is the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Gomel (*)\r\n(1809-1819). Some buildings of previous epochs were remade in the classical style or were\r\ncompleted with its elements, as for example the Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin’s\r\nImmaculate Conception in the village of Udelo, Glubokoe District Vitebsk Region (*). <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the mid-19th Century, particularly in the 1830s and 1840s, the Classical school of\r\narchitecture began to decline. An example of late Classicism in Belarus is the Cathedral\r\nof the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Brest(*) (1856). From this point on, the influence\r\nof many different schools can be traced in the architecture of Belarus. First of all, Eclecticism<\/strong><\/em>,\r\nand then Modern<\/strong><\/em>, the style more rationalistic, but which\r\ncoexisted at the same time with the retrospective and restoration trends in architecture. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

On the whole, Restoration popularized architectural and artistic forms of the previous\r\ncenturies. The temples built in the pseudo-Russian style<\/strong><\/em>,\r\neclectic in its essence, can be seen in many localities of Belarus (the Church of St.\r\nVladimir in Chizhevshchina, Zhabinka District Brest Region(*); churches in Kuleshovka and\r\nMiloslavichi, Klimovichi District Mogilev Region (*)). <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the 1870s, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church sent several groups of\r\narchitects to Belarus, with the aim of designing and building Orthodox churches. But their\r\nmain aim was to convert a number of Catholic churches to Orthodox ones. Many monuments of\r\nBelarusian church architecture of the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries were greatly\r\ndamaged as a result of this “reconstruction”.\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The church architecture of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century is noted for\r\nthe restoration of the medieval style: Gothic, Romanesque, and “Russian” style.\r\nThe Neo-Gothic<\/strong><\/em> style was preferred when constructing Roman\r\nCatholic churches, as for example the Roman Catholic Church of St. Simeon and St.\r\nHelen (Red Church) in Minsk (*)<\/strong> (1908-1910). In Orthodox culture the Byzantine\r\nstyle<\/strong><\/em> was of great importance, vivid examples of which are the Church of the\r\nExaltation of the Cross at the Saviour-Euphrosine’s Convent (1893-1897) in Polotsk and the\r\nChurch of St. Nicholas (2nd half 19C) in Petrikov, Gomel Region. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Nowadays, many temples are being returned to the believers. This process is being\r\nencouraged by the state, which offers assistance with the renovation of church buildings\r\nand construction of new Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as mosques.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Our site reviews the documents referring to church architecture in Belarus, which are\r\nbeing preserved at three national archives. Belarusian State Archives of Scientific and\r\nTechnical Documentation (BGANTD) holds the documents of the Belarusian State Design\r\nInstitute “Belgosproekt” (fond 3), the regional design institutes in Brest,\r\nVitebsk, Gomel and Grodno, the scientific and production amalgamation\r\n“Belrestavratsia” (fond 91) & the architectural and design workshop\r\n“Minskarkhproekt” (fond 122). These are the projects for restoration and\r\nreconstruction, plans, schemes, photographic positives and negatives. The drawings are\r\nperformed on tracing and Whatman paper. Many objects were measured & traced in the\r\nlate 1940s and early 1950s. Described in the summary table are 58 church buildings of the\r\n11th-12th, 15th-20th centuries: 18 Catholic, 39 Orthodox, and 1 mosque. The data are taken\r\nfrom 103 archival files (8 fonds). <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art (BGAMLI) presents the archives\r\nfrom the personal collection of Prof. M. S. Katser, Doctor of Arts (fond 149, inventory 3)\r\nand the documents collected by the artist V. N. Telesh (fond 325). Described in the\r\nsummary table are 94 church buildings of the 11th-12th, 15th-20th centuries: 27 Catholic,\r\n54 Orthodox, 11 synagogues, 2 mosques. The data are taken from 81 files (2 fonds).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings (BGAKFFD) gives\r\ninformation on 48 church buildings of the 11th-12th, 16th-20th centuries: 17 Catholic, and\r\n31 Orthodox. The data are taken from 72 archival files. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In all, BGANTD, BGAMLI and BGAKFFD present here 200 church objects: 62 Catholic, 124\r\nOrthodox, 11 synagogues, and 3 mosques. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The list of the documents listed above is compiled according to the\r\nlocalities of the church buildings (in alphabetical order for the regions and inside each\r\nregion–for the districts and smaller localities). The available building projects are\r\nattached with annotations, finding aids and number of archival sheets. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The survey of documents referring to church buildings in Belarus has been prepared by\r\nthe archival workers: G. I. Shostak (BGANTD), T. M. Kekeleva (BGAMLI), T. M. Rimashevskaia\r\nand N.M. Kovrigina (BGAKFFD).
\r\n________________________________
\r\n(*) Information on the church is available in the summary table of archival documents (click on\r\nthe respective region) <\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"List of archival documents Overview Throughout history, the Belarusian people created a highly developed and original architecture. In particular, it is the ecclesiastic architecture in Belarus which demonstrates the skill…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":123867,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-428409","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1002186,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428409\/revisions\/1002186"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/123867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}