“Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod” of Architect A. P. Udalenkov: the Study of Russian National Architecture in the Context of the Science Policy of the Period of Late Stalinism

Abstract

The article is concerned with the history of participation of architect A.P. Udalenkov in the post-war restoration of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod in the light of scientific policy of late Stalin-Period. The author tries to analyze why the figure of the architect was excluded from the science narrative about post-war restoration in Novgorod. Udalenkov sympathized with the ideas of a special school of architect-researchers convinced of the originality of Russian national architecture. He organized architectural and archaeological survey of the Novgorod cathedral and came to the conclusion about the primacy of the architecture of the building in relation to the forms of European medieval churches. The architect was the scientific director of the Special Design and Restoration Studio in Novgorod and offered in reports and the professional architectural journal, the interpretation of the Saint Sophia Cathedral as an original monument, which was not imitation of Western European or Byzantine, Eastern models. His opinion did not receive support among the professional architectural community. The article dedicated to the created by A. P. Udalenkov the image of Saint Sophia Cathedral, actualizes the question of the correlation between the Russian national heritage and Soviet international culture in the context of the science policy of the period of Late Stalinism.