Russian Orthodox Churches
More then 1000 years the Christian faith is in Russia and the architecutre of the Russian Orthodox Churches reflects the Russian national character and soul of Russian people. Russian architecture has been predominantly religious. Churches were for centuries the only buildings to be constructed of stone, and today they are almost the only buildings that remain from its ancient past.
By request of my repeat client from Canada, today I am putting up the first close-up shot of the decorations of the stunning Nativity of the Virgin church, which was built in first half of 18th century in the reign of Peter the Great in the small village Podmoklovo not so far from Serpuhov town, but from over side of Oka river. The church of Nativity in Podmoklovo has very unusual, completely Western-European style of architecture, which was and is not so common for Orthodox churches in Russia. And it is really amazing that this beautiful rotunda is just sitting almost in the middle of Russian field where one day (many years ago) was pretty fancy estate...
On this picture you can see some interesting details of the decorations of this church. The figures of 12 apostles and 4 evangelists are set on the axes of the arcade's pylons over the cornice on the high pedestals of the crowning balustrade. Built in the reign of Peter the Great, the completely round church in the western baroque style of Peter's new capital was unprecedented in the Moscow Region. By one of the versions from it's historical background, it was erected by Italian architects who may had been hired to construct it by Russian ambassador, Grigory Dolgorukov.
Maybe several years ago they tried to spit and polish this church, but the renovation was stopped because of very limited budget, and nowadays this Western-European masterpiece are standing in very bad condition...
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