Tradition in the Architecture of Wooden Churches in the South Urals

Abstract

The subject of this paper seems to be important due to the ever-increasing interest in architectural traditions of Russia’s regions. The purpose of the article is to identify the characteristic features of the architecture of modern wooden temples in the territory of the South Urals. The key approach I chose for this study was historical architectural analysis and integration of data from archives and field surveys. A novel systematic analysis of the evolution of church design in the region since ancient times till nowadays is offered. For the first time, a study is made of churches building based on ‘model church design projects for Orenburg the Orenburg defence lines’ and exemplary albums. Descriptions and analyses of the region’s lesser known little known specimen of religious architecture are introduced for the scientific use based on the author’s own in situ investigations. Many archival materials from Russia's central and regional repositories are considered and published at for the first time. Key properties of modern region Eastern Orthodox churches built in different architecture styles are formulated and classified.