Belarusian Gothic

Large brick church, seen from street level
The 16th-century Church of St. Michael, Synkavichy

Belarusian Gothic (Belarusian беларуская готыка [belaruskaya hotyka]) is the architectural style of ecclesiastical buildings constructed during the 15th and 16th centuries in parts of modern-day Belarus, Lithuania and eastern Poland. Although these buildings have features typical of Gothic architecture such as lofty towers, flying buttresses, pointed arches and vaulted ceilings, they also contain elements not typically considered Gothic by Central and Western European standards.

Construction

With the baptism of Grand Prince Vladimir the Great and the Christianization of Kievan Rus, the region's buildings became heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture. During the 13th and early 14th centuries the principalities of present-day Belarus were subjugated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a state which was resisting the Catholic Teutonic Order. The duchy and its nobility became dominant in the 14th century, and its official language was Ruthenian.[1]

After Władysław II Jagiełło was crowned King of Poland in 1386, the countries of Poland and Lithuania united; this spawned an increase in communication with western and southern Europe. During this period Gothic architecture reached the Slavic regions, but in central and southern Europe it was being displaced by Renaissance architecture.

Southern Lithuania and Belarus share many architectural features. In 1346, the Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos[2] was constructed in Vilnius.

Belarusian Gothic combines Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance architecture. Although some buildings have a north-German brick Gothic design, others are plastered. Window arches are primarily pointed, but blind arcades and Lombard bands have round arches. Most churches have rib vaults, but there are also simple massive trunks such as those in Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. Most were fortified, with a short nave and a small tower at each corner; others have an ordinary, high, Western bell tower.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Within the [Lithuanian] Grand Duchy, the Ruthenian lands initially retained considerable autonomy. The pagan Lithuanians themselves were increasingly converting to Orthodoxy and assimilating into the Ruthenian culture. The grand duchy's administrative practices and legal system drew heavily on Slavic customs, and Ruthenian became the official state language. Direct Polish rule in Ukraine since the 1340s and for two centuries after that was limited to Galicia. There, changes in such areas as administration, law, and land tenure proceeded more rapidly than in Ukrainian territories under Lithuania. However, Lithuania itself soon drawn into the orbit of Poland."
    from Ukraine. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. ↑ Description of the Cathedral of the Theotokos – in Russian
  3. ↑ www.radzima.org (Belarusian portal on monuments in Belarus, Lithuania and Podlachia) Царква Святых Барыса й Глеба|Навагрудак (description of Boris-and-Gleb-Church in Belarusian)
  4. ↑ Roman Aranazy, Dzieje rezydencji na dawnych kresach Rzeczypospolite (Residences in former districts of the (Polish) Republic today (in Polish), 1993, S. 209, Hniezna
  5. ↑ radzima.org – touristic presentation of Hnezna
  6. ↑ Šv. Gertrūdos bažnyčia (in Lithuanian) Archived September 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Exploring Castles".

Sources

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