Baroque in Russian architecture

At the turn of the XVII and XVIII centuries. in Russia the Middle Ages ended and the New Time began. If in the West European countries this historical transition stretched for centuries, then in Russia it occurred rapidly - during the life of one generation.

Russian art of the XVIII century. In just a few decades, it was destined to turn from religious to secular, to master new genres (for example, portrait, still life and landscape) and discover completely new ones (in particular, mythological and historical). Therefore, the styles in art, which in Europe consistently succeeded each other over the course of centuries, existed in Russia in the 18th century simultaneously or with a break of just a few years.

The reforms carried out by Peter I (1689-1725) affected not only politics, economics, but also art. The young tsar's goal was to put Russian art on a par with the European one, to enlighten the national public and to surround its yard with architects, sculptors and lyricists. At that time there were almost no major Russian masters. Peter I invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent the most talented young people to study "arts" abroad, mainly in Holland and Italy. In the second quarter of the XVIII century. "Peter's pensioners" (pupils kept at the expense of public funds - a pension) began to return to Russia, bringing with them a new artistic experience and acquired skills.

The eighteenth century in the history of Russian art was a period of apprenticeship. But if in the first half of the XVIII century. teachers of Russian artists were foreign masters, in the second they could learn from their compatriots and work with foreigners on an equal footing.

After only a hundred years, Russia appeared in an updated form - with the new capital, in which the Academy of Arts was opened; with a multitude of art collections that were not inferior to the oldest European collections in scope and luxury.

Processes of formation of a new style have most actively developed in Moscow and throughout the zone of its cultural influence. Decorative, freed from the deterrent beginnings that the 16th century tradition carried within itself, in Moscow architecture has exhausted itself, preserved in chronologically-lagging provincial variants. But the processes of forming a secular worldview have evolved and deepened. They reflected the confirmed changes in the entire artistic culture, which architecture could not pass. In its limits, the search for new means began to be made, allowing to unite, discipline the form, search for style.

Gornostaev called him "Moscow Baroque." The term (as, indeed, all almost terms) is conditional. The system of baroque definitions developed by G. Woelflin in architecture to this phenomenon is inapplicable. But the subject of Wolfflin's research was the baroque of Rome; he himself stressed that "there is no baroque common for the whole of Italy". Moreover, "does not know a single baroque with a clearly outlined formal system" Europe north of the Alps. Moscow architecture of the late XVII-early XVIII century. was, of course, primarily a Russian phenomenon. It still retained much of the medieval tradition, but more and more confidently asserted a new one. In this new one, two layers can be distinguished: what is characteristic only for the coming period, and what has been further developed. In the second layer, where the mature Russian baroque program of the middle of the 18th century is already laid, analogies with Western postRenaissance styles - Mannerism and Baroque - are evident.

The main innovation, which was crucial for the further, was an appeal to the universal artistic language of architecture. In the works of Russian medieval architecture, the form of any element depended on its place in the structure of the whole, always individual. Western Baroque, in contrast, was based on the rules of architectural orders, which had a universal meaning. Universal rules obeyed not only the elements of the building but also its composition in general, rhythm, proportions. To podobodnom use of patterns of orders turned and in the Moscow baroque. In accordance with them, the plans of buildings began to subordinate to abstract geometric laws, they sought for the "correctness" of the rhythm in the placement of openings and decorations. The carpet character of the middle part of the century was rejected; the elements of the decorations were located against the background of the opened smoothness of the walls, which emphasized not only their rhythm, but also the picturesqueness.

The tower acquired its unusual appearance after the reorganization of 16981701. Like the medieval West European cathedrals and town halls, it was crowned with a clock tower. Inside there are the School of Mathematics and Navigation Sciences, founded by Peter the Great, as well as the first observatory in Russia. In 1934 the Sukharev Tower was dismantled, because it "interfered with the movement".

Not preserved until our days, the Red Gate was one of the best examples of the architecture of the Russian Baroque. The history of their construction and repeated perestroika is closely connected with the life of Moscow in the 18th century. and very indicative for that era. In 1709, on the occasion of the Poltava victory of the Russian troops over the Swedish army, wooden triumphal gates were erected at the end of Myasnitskaya Street. In the same place in honor of the coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1742, with the money of the Moscow merchant class, another wooden gate was built. They soon burned down, but at the desire of Elizabeth were restored in stone. Ukhtomsky entrusted this work with a special decree of the empress.

The gates, made in the shape of an ancient three-aisle tri-umphal arch, were considered the best, Muscovites loved them and called the Reds ("beautiful.") Initially, the central, highest part ended with an elegant tent crowned with the figure of the pipe of Glory with a banner and palm branch. Above the span there was a picturesque portrait of Elizabeth, later replaced with a medallion with veins and a coat of arms, above the lateral, more low passages were sculptural reliefs that glorified the empress, and even higher - statues, personifying Wealth, Abundance, Economy, Trade, Faithfulness, Consistency, Grace and Vigilance.The gates were adorned with more than fifty picturesque images.

Unfortunately, in 1928, a remarkable building was dismantled in accordance with the usual prichem - in connection with the reconstruction of the square. Now on the site of the Red Gate stands the metro pavilion, a monument of a completely different era.

For the architecture of the middle of the 17th century. The main driving force was the culture of the local population. Moscow Baroque, like Baroque in general, became a culture primarily aristocratic. Types of buildings, where the main processes of the style of education unfolded, became a palace and a temple.

Used course:

Belkin A.S. Vital training with a holographic projection method. Belkin // School technology. - 1998. - № 3.

"Экономика и социум" №2 (45) 2018