The Development of Catholic Altar Architecture on the Territory of Belarus During the 17th Century – the First Half of the 19th Century

The reasons influencing the formation of altars during the 17th century – the first half of the 19th century are figured out on the basis of the system conception. Predominant style schools of that time architecture supported by edited treatises and sketchbooks with engravings and reproductions of European artificers are determined on the assumption of disclosed and studied archival materials of architectural-artful altar development of Belarus during the 17th century – the first half of the 19th century is analyzed in this paper. The extent of different European architectural schools impact is determined. Architecture development tendencies depending on the material and belonging to a congregational or monastic temple are revealed. Possible variants of architecturalcompositional concept are simultaneously envisaged. Keywords—catholic altar; retable; catholic church; compositional schemes of altars; sacred art