Moscowauto college with AMO ZiL
Thesummary
on Englishlanguage
on a theme:
Hasexecuted:
student of group2ЭК-01
ZaporojezO.V.
Theteacher:
RazumovskayaL.A.
Moscow, 1999year.
At the very edge of Borovitsky Hillthere rises one of the finest edifices of the Moscow Kremlin. This isthe Archangel Cathedral. As legend goes, back in the 13thcentury a wooden church stood in its place, one dedicated to theArchangel Michael, the recognized patron of the Russian princes intheir military affairs. In 1333, a whitestone church was erected onits site to become the main princely cathedral. In 1340, Grand Princeof Moscow Ivan Kalita was buried here. From that time on, thecathedral served as a necropolis.
In the late 15thcentury, Moscow, now the capital of a powerful centralized state,underwent another round of reconstruction and embellishment. In1505-1508, a new Archangel Cathedral replaced the old one. Itserection marked the completion of the ambitious construction projectin the late 15th-early16thcentury Moscow Kremlin. Built to the design of Alevisio Novy ofItaly, the Archangel Cathedral combines typical features of thearchitecture of Venice of the Renaissance period, Byzantium and EarlyRussia.
The Archangel Cathedral, a five-domed six-pillarededifice, is built in brick, while its sockle and splendid decor arelaid in white stone. It was for the first time in Russia thatelements of the classical system were employed so extensively andconsistently in the design of the facades. The intricately shapedcornices produce the effect of a two-storeyed structure, whiledouble-tiered pilasters topped with carved capitals articulate thefacades vertically, each articulation ending in a traditional Russianzakomara enclosing a carved whorl typical of Venetian architecture.The architect paid special attention to the western wall, accentingwith whitestone portals the main cathedral entrance which recedesinto a deep loggia. The portals were decorated with carved ornamentrunning over a blue painted ground. In 1980, the carved ornament wascleaned and the original colour was restored.
The cathedral interior is austere andsimple. Six cruciform pillars divide the space into three navesilluminated by two rows of slit-like windows and magnificent brasschandeliers made by Moscow masters specially for the ArchangelCathedral in the late 17th-early18thcenturies. Built into the western wall are additional four-storeypremises, a chapel with wide windows looking out into the cathedralinterior.
The Archangel Cathedral had aconsiderable impact on the further development of Russiaarchitecture. Many buildings were modelled on it in the 16thand 17thcenturies.
The Cathedral was first decoratedwith frescoes in 1564-1565. Some fragments of those painting havesurvived in the loggia of the western portal and in the chancel. In1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave orders that “the Church ofthe Archangel Michael be painted up anew and the old paintings bescraped off”. The work was completed in 1666. Taking part in itwere nearly a hundred artists from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kastroma andother cities, supervised by the renowned masters Stepan Rezanets andSimon Ushakov. For many years the frescoes of the ArchangelCathedral remained obscured by the 18th-19thcentury overpaint and a thick layer of dust and soot. It was only inthe 1950s that restorers happened to uncover the well-preserved 17thcentury paintings. One can mow see that the vaults and upper tiers ofthe southern and northern walls of the cathedral are traditionallydecorated with frescoes illustrating episodes from the Gospel. Anappreciable part of the frescoes feature miracles worked be theArchangel Michael who helped people in their efforts to establish andconsolidate Christian faith and in their strivings towards goodnessand justice. The composition are majestic and monumental, while theradiant festive colour gamut gives one a feeling of jubilation.Particularly vivid are the battle scenes reminding one of thenation’s long and hard struggle for the liberation andunification of the Russian lands. A distinctive feature of theArchangel Cathedral collection is a vast gallery of idealized imagesof historical personalities comprising over sixty conventionalizedportraits of Russian princes. Painted on the pillars are the imagesof Vladimir Kievsky (died in 1015), Andrei Bogolyubky (apr.1111-1174), Alexander Nevsky (apr. 1220-1263) and other princesincluded in the pantheon of Russian saints. The images of the princesburied in the Cathedral are places directly over the tombstones.
The Cathedral’s four-row carvedwood iconostasis dates back 1680-1682. The icons of the upper threerows and several icons of the bottom row were painted by Armouryartists under the supervision of the “favoured”icon-painter Fyodor Zubov. They are done in the ehiaroscuro mannertypical of the late 17thcentury with certain elements of perspective arrangement. A vastamount of restoration and research work carried out here in1979-1980.
The oldest and most noteworthyfresco in the Archangel Cathedral is “The Archangel Michael andHis Acts” painted in the late 14thor early 15thcentury. The unknown artist show the Archangel clad in armour with araised sword in his hand. The dynamic swing of the figure, thepowerful wings and the stern visage create the image of a warriorprepared for battle. The ideas of eternal struggle between the goodand the evil, spiritual perfection and the defence of the nativeland, so popular in Early Russian art, have found expression here.
For several centuries the ArchangelCathedral was one of the most revered churches in Moscow. The princesand tsars came here to play their respects to the ancestors beforestarting out on military campaign. The Cathedral holds forty-sixtombs of members of the families of the Russian grand princes andtsars, covering the period from the 14thcentury to the first third of the 18thcentury. Crucial stages in the history of the Russian state areassociated with the names of many of those entombed here, such as theunification of the Russian lands under the aegis of Moscow undertakenby Ivan Kalita in the 14thcentury; the stubborn struggle against the Tartar-Mongols and thevictory won over them in the Dmitry Donskoy and Vladimir Khrabry; theconsolidation of the Russian state and the growth of itsinternational prestige in the 15thand 16thcenturies under Ivan the Third and Ivan the Terrible, and also theRussian people’s heroic liberation struggle in the 17thcentury in which the name of troop commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuyskyfigures prominently. The interments are under the cathedral floor. Onthe surface are the burial monuments, white tombstones engraved withfine ornament and memorial inscriptions. In the beginning of thiscentury they were enclosed in glazed metal casing.
Resting by the south-eastern pillarunder a carved white-stone canopy is Tsarevich Dmitry, Ivan theTerrible’s son who perished in Uglich in 1591. After routingPseudo-Dmitry the First’s troops in 1606,the remains ofTsarevich Dmitry were moved to the Archangel Cathedral. The tombstoneis surrounded with an openwork grating, a remarkable monument of thecasting art of the first third of the 17thcentury. Preserved in the altar are the relics of the holy martyrsPrince Michail of Chernigov and Boyar Fyodor who perished in the inthe Golden Horde in 1245.
In1963-64, on the decision of a special commission, the graves of Ivanthe Terrible and his sons Ivan and Fyodor buried in the chancelsection of the Cathedral were opened, and anthropologist M.M.Gerasimov created sculptural portraits of Tsar Ivan the Terrible andFyodor Ivanovich on the basis of the skeleton remains.
Atpresent the unique monument of Russian history and culture is amuseum where optimum conditions are provided for keeping the icons,frescoes and diverse church attributes in a good state. The museum’sresearch personnel are studying both the history of its constructionand the works of art preserved here. At the same time, the ArchangelCathedral continues to be one of the most revered sanctuaries arehelp regularly several times a year.
TheArchangel Cathedral will remain forever a living witness of thehistory of the Kremlin, Moscow and the Russian state and immortalevidence of the talent of its builders and artists who were able toexpress in architectural forms and painted images the people’sboundless love of their mother country.