Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
24
Alexander Rodchenko, and Varvara Stepa-
nova, incorporated technological and
industrial themes and energy into their
work. Their works are only beginning to
emerge from museum storehouses, and
some are on display at Tretyakov Gallery
and at St. Petersburg's Russian Museum.
Russia's Avante-Garde contributed more
to world art than is usually appreciated,
largely because the Soviet government so
effectively erased or discredited their work
by the 1930s, championing instead the
bold images but less daring ideas of Social-
ist Realism.
The
propaganda poster
came to
replace the icon as Russia's chief canvas for
most of the Soviet era, until freedom from
artistic constrictions in the late 1980s and
1990s produced a wave of bold, experi-
mental art. Today, Russia's artists seem to
be casting about for a new role.
Russian architecture, too, was church-
centric and followed Orthodox stricture
for centuries. Churches were built in the
shape of a Greek cross, with few windows
and steep roofs. The onion domes became
a prominent feature in the 11th century.
The
iconostasis,
a screen in front of the
altar with a careful hierarchy of icons, is
the key object to look for inside a church.
Medieval architects took more risks
than their icon-painting colleagues. The
cathedrals in the Kremlin are the most
coherent examples of the slow encroach-
ment of Italian influences upon Russian
tradition in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Venetian scallops edge the roofs, though
the buildings include the
kokoshniki
(pointed arches) and
zakomari
(semicircu-
lar gables) typical of the era's architecture
in Moscow. St. Basil's Cathedral in Mos-
cow is one of the last churches to so boldly
use beveled domes and the
shatyor,
or tent-
roofed tower later banned by Orthodox
leaders—no other church in Russia today
looks quite like it.
Peter the Great's Western-looking ideas
overturned Russian architecture, and the
capital he built adhered to Enlightenment
ideals and a relentless symmetry. The
rococo Winter Palace (p. 247) and Smolny
Cathedral (p. 256), as well as the neoclas-
sical Mikhailovsky Palace and Admiralty
(see the walking tour in chapter 14), look
almost nothing like the twisted domes of
medieval Moscow. Visit any square in St.
Petersburg and turn around 360 degrees,
and you'll have a sense of how consistent
and secular the city's designers were, even
those who came well after Peter's death.
The Revivalist movement of the 19th
century saw the return of traditional Rus-
sian church features such as the decorated
cupolas seen in St. Petersburg's Church of
the Savior on the Spilled Blood (p. 254).
After the victory over Napoleon, the
Empire style caught on for Russian aristo-
cratic residences, proof of which can be
found around the streets of Prechistenka
and Ostozhenka in Moscow.
Early Soviet architecture was as creative
and energized as the period's art, with
architects such as Konstantin Melnikov
forging functional, elegant buildings that
made the Soviet idea (of a progressive,
egalitarian state) seem the pinnacle of
modernity. (His most famous house is
near the Arbat at 6 Krivoarbatsky
Pereulok.) Lenin's Mausoleum on Red
Square (p. 142), for all its morbid func-
tion, is one of the last surviving examples
of Constructivist architecture. The Mos-
cow metro system was designed by the
country's top architects and is an excellent
place to view the juxtaposition of tradition
(flowery capitals) with Soviet politics (stat-
ues of the proletariat). It's also one of the
most beautiful subway systems in the
world. (See p. 146 for more information.)
Later, the “Stalin Gothic” style appeared
in dozens of towering buildings around
Moscow (spreading as far as Warsaw and
Prague), with turrets and spires on admin-
istrative or residential buildings. Two
prime examples are the Ukraina hotel and
Moscow State University. (See the box
2
