Византийский стиль в русской архитектуре второй половины XIX века: специфика военных храмов

Актуальные проблемы теории и истории искусства. 2024. № 14.

Linkova K.

Architecture of "national" styles of the second half of the 19th century was one of the most powerful media of spreading the national myth: church construction in the 19th century remained largely in the hands of the state, and churches were built not only in the historically Orthodox central regions of the empire, but also on its outskirts, where they asserted imperial domination and spread Orthodoxy in the non-Christian territories of the empire. Significant role in this process was played by military temples, which were closest to the official state policy. Starting from the reign of Alexander II, the typology of churches became more and more diverse, and the geography of buildings expanded. The largest number of churches were built in the Russian style, but there were also buildings of the Byzantine style. The author attempts to collect and analyze all Byzantine-style military churches in order to establish the existence or absence of compositional and stylistic features that distinguish them from all other church buildings of this style.

I managed to collect a small (less than ten) number of military temples built in the Byzantine style. The compositional and stylistic parallels that arise between these structures are not due to their function, but to the logic of the development of the Byzantine style and the creative work of architects themselves.

Keywords: Neo-Byzantine style, византийский стиль, regimental churches, военные храмы