Inspiracje Grigorija G. Gagarina i jego rola w procesie kształtowania stylu rosyjsko - -bizantyńskiego w architekturze dziewiętnastowiecznego Imperium Rosyjskiego – zarys zagadnienia

Abstract

The paper represents an attempt to outline Grigory G. Gagarin’s artistic interests and his influence on creating one of the national style variants in the 19th -century Russian Empire: the Russian -Byzantine style. This article is not only a selection of theoretician’s quotes, but also an attempt to create an appropriate background and clear context for his theses. Moreover, the paper is to constitute a coherent outline of his thoughts having an impact on the creating of the national style and the search for architectural inspiration from selected periods of history. An interesting fact is that because of Gagarin’s first attempts to develop consistent norms and determinants of inspiration, among others, for architects and artists, he created foundations to formulate in the future a clear theoretical assumption of the Russian -Byzantine style. What is more, the theoretician did not avoid the confrontation of Russian art with Western European culture. Gagarin tried to not only indicate the relationships between the evolution of specific styles in art and architecture, but also their mutual influences and consequences. In the paper’s narration another important thread in the theoretician’s activity is also mentioned: his attitude to the cultural heritage of the North and South Caucasus. In the 19th century, the region’s territories formed the southwestern borders of the Russian Empire, and moreover they were the destinations of Gagarin’s diplomatic activities for the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Empire. The paper is an introduction to further research not only into Gagarin’s position in the process of creating the national style in the Russian Empire in the19th century. Furthermore, the research will bring up his functioning in the Western European artistic-cultural society of that time and his attempts to find mutual inspiration in Western and Eastern Europe.