Rotunda churches of the Urals as an integral part of the world architectural heritage

Abstract

The article deals with rotunda churches of the Urals geographical region (Russia) identified during a comprehensive study of the rotunda church architecture in the history of world and Russian architecture. It gives information on the time, geography, historical context, and project owners for the construction of the Ural rotunda churches. It analyses space-planning and compositional solutions of the rotunda churches of the Urals by their types in the context of the author’s typology. The article considers monuments of the rotunda church architecture of Russia, which are analogous to the Ural rotunda churches. It reveals the features of the Ural rotunda churches linked with the regional traditions of church architecture and the identity of construction project owners. It solves the problem of attributing the Ural rotunda churches based on the analysis of the collected graphic and factual material. Possible authorship is determined by the stylistic analysis method. The master’s handwriting is revealed by comparison with several other already known buildings. In the absence of direct analogues, we determine a circle of architects whose projects could be used in the construction of the Ural rotunda churches.