Architecture of the Byzantine world

As is well known, the workshop in which Phidias created his famous statue of Zeus at Olympia was not destroyed - in antiquity, it was preserved and incorporated into the wider temple complex. Nevertheless, it never became a fully-fledged pagan sanctuary - perhaps this was precisely why, following the ban on the Olympic Games and the decline of local cults, it was expanded and rebuilt into a Christian basilica. I have already posted photos of it, but this year the building has undergone further restoration - the apse and colonnades have been restored and the floor cleared, allowing us at last to see the church itself, rather than just abstract ancient ruins.

Atmospheric XVII century from the village of Isady in the Ryazan region of Russia.

Second-wave classicism from Greek Heraklion.

Today, the Church commemorates the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist on the orders of King Herod. To mark this occasion, I suggest we take a look at one of Moscow’s oldest monasteries – the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, whose cathedral is dedicated to this feast day. Despite its antiquity, the monastery’s current complex is relatively modern – it was erected in the XIX century on the site of the old complex, which had fallen into disrepair following the War of 1812. Nevertheless, the eclectic appearance of the restored monastery incorporates ancient Romanesque elements - even though these were not present in the monastery’s original medieval buildings.

Gothic features persisted for an unusually long time in Romanian architecture, but they endured for a particularly long time in the traditions of Transylvania - and although in the fully Romanian regions of Wallachia and Moldavia, medieval elements within traditional architecture also survived right up until the early XIX century, it is precisely in Transylvania - and indeed in both Orthodox and other churches - that Gothic anachronisms are most frequently found. For example, this Orthodox temple of Saint Nicholas in the village of Comana de Jos, built in the XVIII century, combines the distinctly Baroque decor of the bell tower (though it too features a pointed spire) with massive buttresses.

For a long time, the oldest house in Voronezh - built for the merchant and factory owner Potap Gardenin - was in an absolutely dreadful state, gradually falling into ruin. Fortunately, this historic mansion, which combines stylistic features of the Petrine and Annian Baroque schools, has recently been restored - and a museum dedicated to the city during the Petrine era is set to open here this month. This choice is highly symbolic, not only because of the period and circumstances surrounding the house’s construction – for it was precisely following the Emperor’s reforms that Voronezh began to transform from an unremarkable fortress on the edge of the empire into a fully-fledged city, as this estate itself attests.

The recently restored medieval complex of Kastro Polichni in Greece, comprising a 10th-century Byzantine Church of the Archangels and a Frankish castle built around it. The castle has survived only in part, and has therefore not been fully restored.

Today, the Church commemorates one of its most revered feasts – the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Alas, this time I have not been able to prepare my usual selection of the most beautiful churches dedicated to it. Nevertheless, I suggest we look at a unique church dedicated to such a significant date - the Cathedral of the Dormition in Kem. It is, of course, a cathedral insofar as it is the main church of this small town and, despite its austere northern appearance, is relatively young - built in the early XVIII century. However, it is not just the "younger brother" of Russian wooden cathedrals - it is their very last surviving example. It is no secret that, historically, all Russian towns were built using timber – and although cathedrals were generally constructed from stone, in many places they were wooden, whilst still maintaining the scale and splendour befitting their status. And this church allows us to get at least a glimpse of what the cathedrals of Russian wooden architecture looked like.

A Byzantine-style fresco, captured by Nicholas Roerich in the throne room of the ruined Vytautas Castle in Troki, Lithuania. Alas, although the castle has since been restored, its interior decoration has not survived to the present day. Nowadays, such frescoes are preserved only in the chambers of the Moscow and Uglich Kremlins.

The resplendent modern Byzantine-style decor, adorning the neo-Gothic Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Trebinje.

Gates of the red-domed Koutloumousiou Transfiguration monastery on the Mount Athos. Founded, like many other Athonite shrines, under the gaze of the emperors, it found new patrons in the Wallachian voivodes - and flourished.

The Transfiguration Co-cathedral of Nevyansk - of what was once a factory, and now a town.

Inside the Transfiguration Cathedral in Ermoupoli - the oldest in the town, founded by refugees from other Greek islands, and therefore so similar to the churches of Chios.

Transfiguration of the Lord. Modern gates of the ancient Catholicon of the Transfiguration in the Samtavro monastery, Georgia.

The recently restored water tower at the Bergs’ estate, near Staro-Nikolskoye, which has been converted into a residential building. Although the tower’s revival and its adaptation for new purposes are certainly welcome, the fate of the estate itself still gives cause for concern: the modern-style cottage community springing up on its legacy is in no hurry to restore the estate’s residential buildings and does not even mention them on its website.

Недавно отреставрированная и превращенная в жилой дом водонапорная башня усадьбы Бергов рядом со Старо-Никольским. Хотя возрождение башни и ее адаптация под новые задачи не могут не радовать, судьба самой усадьбы все еще вызывает опасения: раскручивающийся на ее наследии коттеджный поселок современной архитектуры не спешит восстанавливать жилые строения усадьбы и даже не пишет о них на своем сайте.

An extremely rare example of surviving late-Byzantine architectural sculpture - due to the general decline of the arts and the subsequent Muslim iconoclasm - the head of a saint or apostle, discovered in the first half of the XX century near the Myrelaion Monastery in Constantinople. It is now housed in the Byzantine collection of the Bode Museum in Berlin.

The former Granichar barracks in Caransebeș, Romania, which now house an ethnographic museum. Plans are currently underway to restore this Baroque building - and thank Lord, because the current state of this structure, with its rather fine architecture, leaves much to be desired.

A small Franco-Byzantine church of Saint George in Aipeia, Greece. While the overall appearance of the temple is typical of an average late-Byzantine church, what makes it Frankish is, of course, its distinctive Gothic windows.

Fragments of the baroque decoration of the Transfiguration Church of the Popkovo pogost, now located in the museum of the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, Russia.