94 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



maiiicil subordinate to the metropolitans of Constantinople. C'liristianity 

 made rai)id progress ; there remained an uninterrupted communieation be- 

 tween Constantinople and Kief, and various marriages between the two reign- 

 ing houses of the two countries were celebrated. About the year 1121, a 

 great tire destroyed COO churches and monasteries. In the civil war under 

 Yisaslaf, Kief was taken; it was set on fire: and finally, nearly at tlie same 

 time that Constantinople was taken by the Venetians, the city of Kief was 

 ravaged and destroyed a second time, never again to realize its former splen- 

 dour. Moscow is first mentioned in the year 1154, and at that time it was 

 hut a miserable village. Daniel of Moscow added to it greatly; and, in the 

 year 1304, under John Danielowitsh, the city was chosen capital of the em- 

 pire, where, on the 4th of August, 1326, was laid the first stone of the church 

 of the A55um])tion of the Virgin, in the Krimlin. Under Dimitri Donskoi, 

 the palace of the Krimlin, until then of wood, was erected in stone ; and 

 miller the reign of Basil the Blind (1425-1402), the church of Russia ceased 

 to be dej)endant on that of Constantinojile, after the taking of that city by 

 Mahomet II. In the year 1487, a palace, known by the name of the Granite 

 I'alace in the Krimlin, was built, and in 1499 the Belvedere I'alace. Ivan IV. 

 did much for the arts (1534-1584). lie likewise renewed the laws for exactly 

 imitating the ancient painting in new churches, whence the reason why all 

 the paintings are so much alike that it is imjiossible to judge of the epoch, 

 but they may be regarded as a sure type of the earliest Christianity. About 

 the year 1600 the Tzar Boris caused the erection of the magnificent elock- 

 tower, Ivan VaUki, at the Krimlin ; and at this period Moscow reckoned 

 400 cluirchcs, of which 35 were at the KrimUn alone. From the time of 

 I'eter the Great, and particularly at Petersburg, a change of style took place, 

 and the tj-pe of the ancient church was replaced by the absurdities of the 

 rococo. 



After this general view of the progress of Christian art in Russia, the au- 

 thor turned to the consideration of the Russian church itself, and for this 

 purpose he chose for liis examination the cathedral church of the Assumption 

 of the Virgin, at Moscow, as holding the middle rank amongst the existing 

 churches, both as to form and time of eonstnietion. (1326.) The plan of the 

 church forms an oblong square divided, and the vaults of which are supported 

 by six equal columns in the interior. Upon a first glance, the form of the 

 Greek cross is not noticed, but it is indicated by the arrangement of the 

 cupolas. The more ancient churches often form an exact square preaeded 

 by a porch, but here the porch is united with the interior of the church, and 

 the arches of the cupolas are placed as if the church still retained the primi- 

 tive form. The six columns divide the church into four jiarts from east to 

 west, and three from north to south. On the eastern side are seen three 

 apsides, only divided by the width of a pillar. The middle apsis is bigger 

 than the side ones; this arrangement is found in nearly all the Greek chiu*ches, 

 and these apsides indicate the situation of three altars, which are met with 

 cveryvN'here except in small chapels. The altars are not visible to the public ; 

 they are covered or concealed by the iconostasis, an arrangement peculiar to 

 the Greek church. This iconostasis (or image-bearer) is merely a kind of 

 colossal skreen, occujiying the whole width of the church, thus dividing it 

 into two different parts. The iconostasis has three doors, a priueiiial one in 

 the middle, and two smaller ones on each side. Behind the lateral doors 

 there is a more particular distribution, which is, that on each side stands a 

 second little iconostasis, occupying only the width of the little apsis, but the 

 arrangement of which, with tlu'ee doors and an altar behiml, is analogous to 

 the great one. This is what is met with in the ancient churehcs ; in the 

 more modern, an alteration has been made, so that at the farther end of the 

 edifice are seen, upon the same line, three different distinct iconostasis. Be- 

 tween the princii>al door and the lateral ones, there is, in front of the iconos- 

 tasis, on each side, a place for the choristers. Aliove and before the iconos- 

 tasis always rises the i)rincipal cupola, and in the cathedral churches, at the 

 foot of the ajjsis, opi)Osite the iconostasis which sujtpcjrt tlie cupola, are seen 

 on the left a baldachin for the emperor, and, on the right, another for the 

 metropolitan. As to the situation of the cupolas, there is generally one 

 principal cupola in the midst of four smaller ones which surround it, and the 

 small ones are nearly always at the four angles of the (ireek cross. In every 

 church, the iconostasis is the principal part, which ought to be a represen- 

 tation of the celestial empire ; it is eomjiosed of four or five different tiers, 

 four of which are indispensable. Each tier is composed of an unequal num- 

 ber of jiictures of saints, painted on tablets or long scjuare siu'faccs, the place 

 of whicli is rigorously fixed. On the first tier arc the three doors; the mid- 

 dle <loor (in two foldings) ought to be ornamented with the Annmieiation of 

 the Virgin— tlie Virgin on one of the foldings, and the Angel on the other — 

 accompanied with the heads or emblems of the four evangelists ; on the right 

 of the door is the effigy of Christ, on the left that of the Madonna ; on the 

 right, after that of Christ, is placed the picture of the saint or of the festival 

 of the eliurch : then come the little doors ah'cady mentioned, but they ought 

 only to 1)0 single doors ; above the little doors is placed, on the left, the 

 Greek cross, on the right the cross of Moses, symbols of the New and the 

 Old Testament. Such arc the indisjiensable arrangements of the first tier. 

 The ground of the whole iconostasis is gilt. On the second tier, in tlie mid- 

 dle, is Christ on a throne ; and on the right is St. John the Baptist ; on the 

 left the Madonna (without the child) : after that appear, on each side, two 

 archangels and six apostles. On the third tier, in the middle, is seated the 

 Madonna, holding the infant Jesus on her knees ; on each side of her are 

 seen the eSigies of the prophets. On the fourth tier is placed God the Father, 

 on a throne, with the iufant Jesus ; oa each side the pictures of the patriarchs 



of the church. Sometimes there is a fifth tier, upon which are seen repre- 

 sentations of the history or of the passion of the Saviour. The other parts 

 of the church are ornamented with paintings on a gold ground. The forms 

 of the exterior are very siin])le ; with respect to the upper part of the edifices 

 the adoption is nearly general of the oriental manner of the eleventh ami 

 twelfth centuries — namely, the entire rejection of the horizontal line of a 

 cornice, as the crowning of the building for the substitution of arched, or 

 pointedly arched forms — determining the extrados of the vaults. This cy- 

 lindrical covering is well known in the east, and is even to be seen in Italy 

 at tlie present day, in the environs of Naples. These extrados are painted in 

 all colours. The Russian churches derive a peculiar aspect from the cupolas 

 which rise above the roof. On beginning to build churches in the eleventh 

 century, the prevalent manner in the east was natiu'ally imitated — that is to 

 say, such cupolas were not employed as are seen, for example, at St. Sophia 

 at Constantinople, or at Venice, but such as are to be met with in the churches 

 of those times in Greece. The form of the cupolas themselves, which are 

 generally placed on an octagonal drum, are extremely various, some having 

 the form of a half globe, others of a flat onion, a bud, or a long pear, &c. 



Mr. llallmann next drew a parallel between the Russian, the original 

 Greek, and the western churches w liich bear traces of Greek influenee. The 

 first Christian temples under Constantine in the east, and even at Rome, were 

 eircidar or octagonal, and were surmounted by a single dome : afterwards the 

 same disposition we find in the interior of the chm-ehes, with few variations, 

 but the exterior assumes the square form, as in the church of Sergius and 

 Bacchus, and St. Sophia at Constantinople. This latter church already 

 evinces in the interior the form of a Greek cross, and may be regarded as the 

 basis of the Russian churches. At the end of the seventh century began the 

 difterence of dogmas between the iconoclasts and iconolaters, which ended in 

 the rupture between the churches of the east and the west. From this time, 

 probably, may be dated the custom of not allowing carved images or statues 

 in Greek churches, except statues of angels ; wherefore we see vieUo.i upon 

 bronze doors of Greek origin, even in Italy, as at Monte St. Angelo, at Canopa 

 in Apidia, and at Amalfi, &c. Another diflferenee, proliably one of the conse- 

 quences of the schism, was the establishing, at each side of the grand altar, 

 a secondary one ; not, as in Roman CathoUc churches, at the ends of the 

 transept, or in side chapels, but at the extremity of the church, in the same 

 direction as the grand altar. Their place is always indicated by a niche or 

 apsis. In the Russian churches wiiicli commenced in the same century, it has 

 been shown that this disposition became typical, and that it is quite con- 

 formable to the division and subdivision of the iconostasis. This disposition 

 is to be met with in nearly all the churches of the eleventh, twelfth, and 

 thirteenth centuries, at Bari, Trani, Malfetta, Otraiito, &c., where the Greek 

 worship then prevailed. This situation of the altars is seen even where the 

 churches are Roman Catholic, as at Palermo, in the chapel at Martorana and 

 Monreal, and even at Amalfi and Ravello. Considering that this disposition 

 is found in churches of an earlier date, as St. Parenze in Istria, at St. Fosca, 

 &c., and that perhaps even the form of the ancient basilicas might have given 

 rise to this disjiosition ; it may he very possible that the Greeks preserved 

 this form as an ancient custom of the Church, and that it v\as the Roman 

 Cathohcs rather who departed from it. This observation is corroborated, if 

 we observe that the ancient writers tell us that there was, on the left of the 

 altar, a place for the deacons of the church, afterwards called the sacristy, 

 and, on the right, an altar for the consecration of the bread and wine for the 

 communion. In Roman Catholic churches, we always see a sacristy at the 

 side of the church, but, in the Greek Church, the priests always robed them- 

 selves behind the iconostasis ; and, up to the present day, there is an altai' at 

 the side of the present one for the preparation of wine and bread. Another 

 very remarkable difterence in the Russian churches is the not having separate 

 places for the women, and there is not a single remnant of a tribune or gyne- 

 ceum — a circumstance the more astonishing as this disposition is met with 

 not only in the East, but also in nearly all the churches on the coasts of the 

 Adriatic Sea, at Bari, cic. The author concluiUng by passing in review the 

 modern churches erected after Peter the Great, especially at Petersburgh, and 

 by exhibiting and explaining an original design for a Gra^co-Russian church 

 exquisitely drawn, and embelhshed with all the attractions of that gorgeous 

 coloiuring, which is so pccidiar a feature in those eiUfices. 



REMAllICS ON ARABESQUE DECORATIONS, AND PARTICULARLY 

 TlIOSi; OF THE VATICAN. 



Jli:ad nl the hisliliile of ISritish Architeets, Fdi. 3, 1840, 



By A. PoYNTER, Esq., one of the Secretaries of the Institute. 



It is an observation which has been very frequently repeated and very 

 variously expressed, that the proper use to be made of the study of the an- 

 cients in their works of art, is not to copy, but to endeavour to think like 

 them. Among the principles which guided them, none is more important, or 

 has exercised a greater inllui'nce in bringing ancient art to perfection, than 

 that whicli has been so well condensed into one line by Pope, that 



" True Art, is Nature to advantage dressed ;" 

 and if Hc wish to rival the ancients in the productions of wliat is at once ex- 



