Tradition and contemporary architecture of Orthodox churches: Image and meaning

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the most striking problems of contemporary church construction in Russia — the formation of artistic images of newly erected churches and determination of meaning in their architecture. Today, the mentality of architects, patrons and the parish is primarily determined by the traditional approaches to the creation of new churches. Simultaneously, many architects are longing to find innovative meaning and artistic structures, noting that only these attempts are able to express the present-day emotions of believers. It is also essential to define the features of the cultural code of modern architecture for the Russian Orthodox church. The church hierarchy, believers and scholars, including foreigners, proceed from the idea of Russian Orthodox architecture’s unique identity. The recognizable image of the churches is determined by the constant interest in late medieval decoration from the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich as the main artistic source and its interpretation by masters of the Neo-Russian style of the 19th — beginning of 20th centuries. The article emphasizes that national identity in Russian Orthodox church architecture is not a combination of immanent features, but a historical process of treasuring artistic character and the formation of meaning over several centuries. At the current time, it is vital to turn to all the creative and meaningful wealth in the development of Russian Orthodox churches, and it is better to seek innovation from within traditional images and meanings, based on the sacred experience of our church. This will support the creation of new churches, which are comparable to the standards of the Russian Orthodox architectural heritage in its artistic variety and semantic profoundness.