Belarusian Smolensk Region

Architecture of the Borderland (The Example of Smolensk Architecture)

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Ksenia Olegovna Shepeleva

The Smolensk Oblast is one of Russia’s border territories. “Borderness” is defined as the presence or co-presence of a city in two or more cultures, in two or more socio-political situations, in the duality of belonging and not belonging to a state and country. The Smolensk region repeatedly found itself on the main road of one war or another, and in peacetime served as an intermediary in the mutual cultural influence of different nationalities and confessions. The shape of the oblast’s territory – its elongation from west to east – contributed to the region experiencing a dual cultural influence for many centuries: from the east, that of Russia’s capital Moscow, and from the west, that of Belarus and Lithuania. [1]

In the 12th century, Smolensk became one of the major centers of monumental construction. The basis for the development of church architecture was the Byzantine type of temple – the four-pillared cross-domed church. In Smolensk’s architecture, a clear loyalty to Kyivan architectural traditions is revealed, and in some structures the influence of Polotsk architecture is noted. Simultaneously, Smolensk’s own architectural school was forming, based on Byzantine and Southern Rus traditions (the Church of Archangel Michael (Svirskaya), 1180-1194).

In architecture, some features are noted that bring Smolensk churches closer to Romanesque architecture. In the ruins of an unnamed church on the Rachevka River, pilasters of Romanesque character were found, but the marks on the bricks of this structure are analogous to those on the bricks of the Svirskaya Church. Against the background of complete traditionality, the cruciform western pillars of the Church of Archangel Michael look somewhat unexpected. Some forms of Romanesque architecture can be traced in the arcature of the drum of the Church of Peter and Paul (1146). [2] By the end of the 12th century, static, balanced temples crowned with one massive dome were replaced by buildings with a tower-like volume composition, emphasized dynamism, an extremely rich decorative treatment of facades, and, as a rule, a trilobate crown. A large number of additional vertical divisions were introduced into the building’s facades, further emphasizing the height and sharpness of proportions. A distinctive feature of Smolensk churches is the disappearance of walls with portals separating the narthexes from the main space. [3] It is not impossible that if the development of “high-rise” architecture had not been interrupted by the Mongol invasion, Rus would have known something akin to Gothic. At least, Gothic elements are present in temples of the “tower-like” type.

The unusual geographical location of ancient Smolensk contributed to the fact that as early as the 12th century, Catholic churches were located here alongside Orthodox ones. The first Catholic church, the so-called “German house of prayer” in Smolensk, was built in the second half of the 12th century by German merchants and existed until the end of the 16th century. Due to political transformations, the city found itself under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1404-1514), then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1618-1654). The Poles actively imposed their traditions and religion here. Forms and elements of European culture appeared in the city’s architecture. [4] For a number of centuries, the Catholic Church was regarded by Western European rulers as a kind of means of drawing Russia into their sphere of influence [5]. The attitude of the Russian state toward the Roman Catholic Church was characterized by selectivity and problematic nature. After the return of Smolensk to the Russian state, the city’s appearance again underwent changes due to the change in the silhouettes of its churches. The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God – the main church of the Smolensk diocese – became a distinctive symbol of the western Russian city, where the process of convergence between Muscovite and European cultures was quite natural.

The reforms of Peter the Great in the first quarter of the 18th century once again created objective conditions for the penetration of Catholicism into Russian, including Smolensk, lands by Jesuit missionaries; however, state power controlled the construction of Roman Catholic churches. Certain rules for the construction of churches were established. A sign of cultural integration was the construction of the Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the style of Russian Classicism. At the end of the 19th century, one of the main Catholic churches of Smolensk was built – the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, executed in the Neo-Gothic style. [6]

Despite the forcible intrusion of an alien culture, Smolensk architecture largely preserved its national character. In the surviving monuments and cultural symbols of the region, one can read the entire evolution of the relationship between Russia and Western Europe. The study of the history of the architectural and planning organization of border territories makes it possible to identify and evaluate their heritage for the purpose of its protection and effective use in the spheres of urban planning, economics, education, tourism, etc.

Literature

  1. Shiryaev S.D. Studies on the Architectural History of Smolensk and Belarusian Smolensk Region. – Smolensk, 1924.

  2. Ioannisyan O.M. Old Russian Architecture and Romanesque Architecture // Proceedings of the 5th International Congress of Slavic Archaeology. M., 1987.

  3. N.N. Voronin, P.A. Rappoport. Architecture of Smolensk in the 12th–13th Centuries. -Leningrad, “Nauka,” 1979.

  4. Dumin S.V. The Other Rus (The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus) // History of the Fatherland: People, Ideas, Decisions. Essays on the History of Russia, 9th – early 20th Centuries / comp. S.V. Mironenko. M.: Politizdat, 1991.

  5. Gavrilenkov A.F. The Transformation of Religious Consciousness (Based on Materials from the Smolensk Territory, 10th – early 21st Centuries): Monograph. Smolensk: Smyadyn, 2007.

  6. From the History of the Catholic Church in Smolensk: http://www.catholicchurch.org/smolensk/rhistory.htm