Five-domed Churches of the ‘Octagon-on-cube’ Type: On the Question of Combination of Traditional and Innovative Forms in the Russian Church Architecture of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

The article is centered at the important problem of the combination of traditional and innovative spatial compositions in Russian architecture under the reign of Tsar Peter the Great and their further development. The composition 'octagon-on-cube' appeared in the stone church architecture of Moscow at the end of the 17th century and was enrooted in the assortment of architectural forms. As early as in the beginning of the 18th century, it was connected with the traditional five-domed composition. As a result, a new version of the type 'octagon-on-cube' – five-headed 'octagon-on-cube' – was shaped. The new composition was kept for a long period of time – in the 18th and in the 19th centuries as well – becoming an integral part of various stylistic changes. This phenomenon demonstrates the exceptional importance of preserving the local tradition in the Russian sacred architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries.