
Kizhi - Table of Contents
Pogost Church of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour
Kizhi, Russia
Pronunciation: kee ZHEE
Church of the Transfiguration - Official Website
In October 2010, when these photos (below) were taken, visitors were not allowed in the church because of reconstruction work.
Kizhi is one of the first open-air
museums in Russia, open to the public on the island in 1951. It
currently contains about 89 wooden constructions as of 2010, the most famous of
which is the Kizhi Pogost which was included in the UNESCO World
Heritage list in 1990.
The Pogost includes The Church of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour, The Church of the Intercession, the Bell Tower, and Graveyard.
The Church of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour:
- AKA: Summer Church The church was not designed to be heated and was used for services only during the brief northern summer.
- History: Church destroyed by lightning in 1693 and
rebuilt on the same site by carpenter Sysoj Osipov in 1714 with additional domes
- Structure: Octagonal log
framework called "vosmeric," with an annex facing each of the cardinal
directions. The large, base octagon carries on it two
successively smaller octagons
at higher elevations. Each of the upper octagons is supported on the
octagon below by a series of "tetrahedron beams" and also stabilized by
hidden, inclined struts.
- Structure: Basic plan of log buildings: matured Scotts pine (Pinus sylvestris)
logs cut by axes laid horizontally, assembled without nails, using
interlocking corner joinery - either round notch or dovetail.. Many
thousands logs were brought for construction from the mainland
- Structure: The church is
set on a loose-rock foundation according to dry-stack wall technique;
rubble work was added only under the western narthex in 1870. The logs
of exterior walls are notched at the corners according to the
traditional method with the log ends protruding or extending beyond the
corners of each wall ("v oblo"), while the corners of the interior
walls were built according to the traditional method with the log ends
not protruding beyond the corners ("v lapu").
- History: Contrary to the later, domed churches of the pogost, the first ones had pyramidal roofs.
- Onion domes: Crowned
with 22 onion-shaped domes/cupolas built on a cascade of barrel-roofs
of the annexes and octagons. The shape and size of the domes vary from
tier to tier. The domes are raised on cylindrical necks and mounted on
curved roofs.
- Onion domes: Domes are covered with thousands of hand cut aspen shingles, each of
which was individually shaped for its location. Aspen was used because
it was easily worked with a hand ax and it did not warp. The aspen
wood reflects a myriad of hues changing the color of the cupolas
depending on the light.
- Structure: Erected
without any nails or other metal.
- Structure: Flat roofs are made of spruce planks and the domes are covered in aspen.
- History: One of the tallest log structures in the world
- Major source of information: Kizhi Museum 10/10
Photos and their arrangement © 2010 Chuck
LaChiusa
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