Religious Buildings Research Articles

El gran templo que nunca se llegó a construir. La catedral colonial de Cuenca (Ecuador)

In this study we consider the problems posed by the building of the cathedral at Cuenca in Ecuador after the establishment of a bishopric in that city. This religious edifice was never built in the end because of the unachievable nature of the proposals and as a result of problems arising from the independence movement. Nevertheless, the documents generated allow us to get an idea of what the original mother church had been like, and what ambitions the bishops and local authorities had for the design of their new cathedral.

Repeated historical earthquakes in Sousse, Monastir and El-Jem (Tunisia)\u2014an archaeoseismological study

Tunisia is known of sparse and moderate earthquakes. However, there are seismically damaged historical buildings in the eastern Sahel region. The Roman amphitheatre of Thysdrus (modern El-Jem), various Islamic religious and secular buildings in Sousse and Monastir testify to seismic events with intensity up to IX (EMS98 scale). We raise the hypothesis that their destruction was caused by the nearby east-west Cherichira-Abaieh Fault and the north-south Monastir Fault. Simultaneity of the 859 AD Kairouan earthquake and extensive restoration works in Sousse 50 km to the east allow assessing magnitude up to 7.2 based on segment length. The city was hit both by the 859 AD and a post-1575 earthquake. Being nearby two active faults, seismic hazard in Sousse is higher than either in Kairouan or in Monastir.

The Excuse of (Il)legality in Discriminating and Persecuting Religious Minorities: Anti-Mosque Legal Violence in Myanmar

AbstractThis article highlights the convenient excuse of (il)legality used by (1) religious majoritarian mobs to justify attacks against places of worship and religious buildings of minorities; and (2) police and local authorities to absolve themselves of the failure to uphold public order and the rule of law, protect religious minorities, and to punish religious minorities. This article traces the emergence of legal violence in the form of anti-mosque vigilante extremism in Myanmar from 2012 onwards and analyzes cases of attacks against: (1) “illegal” mosques; (2) madrasas being used as or reconstructed into mosques; (3) buildings allegedly being constructed as mosques; (4) private homes and public spaces being used as mosques; and cases of (5) closed mosques not being allowed to reopen. The author primarily used Myanmar-language resources as well as interviews to conduct the research.

Use of the Hydraulic Model for the Operational Analysis of the Water Supply Network: A Case Study

This paper presents an analysis of the operation of the water supply system. The analysed network provides water to six small towns. The water supply network covers rural areas of approximately 50 square kilometres with a total of 6130 inhabitants (2020). The area is characterised by relatively large differences in elevation. The water-pipe network supplies water mostly to family housing, public utility buildings, recreational buildings, service and craft entities, religious buildings, and commercial facilities and farms, including breeding farms. The network is supplied from one deep water well and a centrally located water supply tank. A hydraulic model was used for the analysis. The model was developed using the Epanet program, based on numerical and operational data. After validation, selected measurement points were used to calibrate the model. Furthermore, a series of simulations were performed to illustrate the network operation for variable water supply and demand conditions. Single-period analysis was used for modelling due to the type of data obtained. The model allowed for the determination of the head of pressure in the network points and flows in particular sections for the operation parameters studied. The analysis showed that at present, the network is not operating stably. In the case of average demand, water is supplied to all users, but there are areas in the network characterised by high pressure. On the other hand, during maximum water demand, due to the limited water supply to the water reservoir, from which most of the network is supplied, there are water deficiencies that cannot be compensated for by the operating pumping system.

Scan-to-HBIM for conservation and preservation of Cultural Heritage building: the case study of San Nicola in Montedoro church (Italy)

AbstractThe management of Cultural Heritage (CH) requires increasingly efficient, simple and shareable tools, methods and knowledge. In this environment, a suitable procedure was developed to transform the point cloud, generated by geomatics surveys, into parameterized objects. In order to obtain an object with precise geometric and physical characteristics, a three-dimensional modelling software (Rhinoceros) was used. This software, using the tools and specific plugins, has allowed the parameterization of objects. In particular, the use of the Grasshopper plugin allowed a two-way transformation of the objects between the modelling software and the BIM software (Revit). As a result, any changes to the model made in Rhinoceros were automatically made in Revit and vice versa. The paper shows the potentiality, simplicity and efficiency of the developed method in order to perform the scan-to-HBIM process. This approach was applied to a religious building, located in Italy, belonging to the Cultural Heritage.

The maіn stages of development of the lіbrarіes by the relіgіous institutions in the German-speaking area from the 6th to the 20th century

An article has an interdisciplinary character and is written at the junction of the hіstory of the Middle Ages and the New Age, of the hіstory of lіbrarіanship as well of the religious studies, icluding the hіstory of the monasteries as religious buildings struсtures, which were springing up in Europe and in the german-speaking space shortly after disintegration of the Roman empire and had somewhere to the nineteenth century worked, as in the monasteries began a secularization of their property and his passing to the property of unіversities and other higher schools. The main stages on the road to the build a system of the lіbrarіes in the monasteries as the forerunner of university libraries are in outline described. By means of study of the german-speaking sources references on the history of librarianship, which were published over the last 45 years, author comes to a conclusion that the funds of all lіbrarіes in the monasteries of those days were complemented first of all source of the humanіstic and theological subjects, as well the published works about the matters in the fіeld of the natural sciences. It was among their number established keep the lіbrarіes of the monasteries as the hand-wrіtten texts as the printed matters, including the incunabula, the Gutenberg Bіble and the from the Latin translated textbooks. The article sums up of the study of the actіvity of theological librarіes that are in submit to the dioceses, bishoprics, churches and schools of the districts, fіnance direkt from the church as well must contribute to scientific researchs and to development of the specialized educatіon. In spite of numerous studies to this day are matters of further develop­ment of the special libraries in the monasteries as the components of relіgіous institutions for the confessions of all sorts very vital.

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS FIRE SAFETY IN UKRAINE

Problem. Religious buildings with a large number of people are fire hazardous. In total, there are 17,407 religious buildings in Ukraine. Out of them, approximately 3,000 are highly fire hazardous wooden buildings.The fire danger feature of religious buildings is open fire usage: candles, torches, lamps, underground rooms with complex planning, lack of ventilation systems. Besides, ancient religious buildings are mostly built using wooden materials. Fires occuring there are resonant, causing material and spiritual damage to the state and society. On average, about 20 fires occur each year in religious buildings, including wooden temples of historical heritage.Рurpose. Fire analysis in religious buildings in Ukraine and their occurrence causes; fire safety of religious buildings research.Preventive measures for religious building fire safety in Ukraine are prioritised by state program for emergency response. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine constantly monitors compliance with fire safety standards, which includes regular facilities inspections, personnel training control to prevent fires and reduce the consequences of fires, development, implementation, and control of technical methods of safety.Research methods. To achieve this goal, further methods were used: historical, systemic, theoretical generalization, abstract, logical, analysis, synthesis, comparative, and statistical methods.The main results. The most common shortcomings in religious building fire protection are the lack or malfunction of automatic fire alarms, power grid requirement non-compliance with the rules of the power grid, improper facility provision of with primary fire extinguishers, lack of lightning and water supplies for firefighting. In most buildings, wooden structures are not treated with refractory mortar.Fire causes and ways to prevent and improve fire safety are analyzed, namely: fire protection of religious building wooden elements, dome space fire extinguishing systems, fire alarm systems, lightning protection, safe people’s evacuation, candlesticks installation on non-combustible surfaces, primary fire extinguishing equipment, fire condition qualitative inspection of the of the heritage building, etc.Conclusions. After service, buildings must be completely deenergized, lighted candles and open fires must not be left unattended in the church. In religious buildings, it is necessary to carry out fire protection of wooden elements constructions, to install fire extinguishing systems in domed space, fire alarm system, lightning protection, to watch serviceability of electric networks. Rules of fire safety requirements for religious buildings are aimed at solving an important task - religious buildings safety. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, the most important requirements are not implemented to improve fire safety.

"Temple complexes" in the religious life of the trypillia community

In the period 4800-3600 BC. in the eastern part of the Trypillia area arose "giant settlements" or "megasites" / "mega-settlements" (working term of modern archaeologists) with thousands of buildings. In the central parts of these living conglomerates, scientists found special buildings that were recognized as sanctuaries, sacred complexes or temples. In the late period of the Trypillia culture they disappeared. These religious buildings were built with a focus visible processes of celestial bodies and the laws of cyclic rotation of the Earth in space, and included in their internal filling usually cruciform altars, ritual utensils, troughs with graters for the preparation of ritual bread and numerous other ceremonial and religious artifacts. There were also unique finds, such as gold jewelry (an element of prestige) and a perforated clay disk with tockins to it from the space of the Nebelivka Temple. The interior and exterior walls of the Trypillia sacral centers were painted with natural colors with a predominance of red. The wood carving for decoration of elements of a skeleton of a construction was investigated also. The first Temples on the European continent show that even at that time there was a cult of architecture. In general, it is clear that such Trypillia objects of religious worship carried encoded astronomical information in symbolic form. The building itself was oriented with regard to worldsides and designed relative to visible celestial bodies. This indicates that the people of Trypillia had a fairly clear worldview, which allowed them to reach the level of understanding the structure and mechanisms of many natural cyclical processes on Earth. Trypillia cosmology united the celestial and terrestrial spheres, and the Temple was the point of contact of the earth with the visible Universe.
 In his work, the author traces the existing analogies in the structure of construction of Trypillia and sacred complexes of the ancient Middle East and biblical ideas about the Tabernacle and the House of the Lord in the ancient Jews, given the fact, that the Trypillia temple building is known from 4,000 years BC. and several thousand years older than the Middle Eastern counterparts. There are also significant parallels in the construction of temples in the context of Indo-European religious heritage.
 It is noted that the Temple was not only a metaphysical reflection of the annual cycle with a focus on the points of the equinoxes and solstices, but also had a higher religious function, which consisted in the combination of the terrestrial sphere with the celestial, the connection of man with the mystery of the cosmos.

Luxury’s Fragile Frontier: The Rhinoceros and Venice: An Introduction to a Special Edition

Amongst the trinkets available for sale in the shop of the Basilica di San Marco, the most important religious edifice of the city of Venice, is a small fridge magnet depicting a rhinoceros in mosa...

Constructed contrasts and manipulated experiences: the cathedral at Gerasa and its relationship with the adjacent Temple of Artemis complex

Buildings interact with, influence, and are influenced by other adjacent and nearby buildings and landscape features. Whether intentionally or not, complex spatial, architectural and experiential relationships were created when early churches were built adjacent to non-Christian religious buildings. The cathedral at Gerasa, in northern Jordan, was built adjacent to a Temple of Artemis complex and can only be satisfactorily understood by exploring both the architecture of each complex and the relationships that existed between them. This is achieved through architectural analysis in combination with a user experience-led method, focussing upon how users experienced each complex in light of the other and by considering the impact of civic and religious memory on user understanding. The comparative architectural experiences impacted user understanding of each complex and the institutions represented, while knowledge of the past was appropriated to create bridges between known non-Christian and less well-known Christian contexts and hierarchies.

Experimental studies of wind impact on religious buildings

This article is devoted to the description of experimental studies of wind impact on a religious temple in compliance with religious purposes. Studies of aerodynamic characteristics should be carried out using experimental methods for each Orthodox church individually. In the first chapter, the authors describe the specifics of the design of religious buildings, in the type of design of Orthodox churches. In the second chapter, brief information on the conduct of experimental studies of wind impact on the basis of NRU MGSU is launched. In the third chapter, a description of the experimental study of the wind effect on the Orthodox church, created in the Moscow region. Conclusions regarding this study.

Monumental Jesus: Landscapes of Faith and Doubt in Modern America by Margaret M. Grubiak

Reviewed by: Monumental Jesus: Landscapes of Faith and Doubt in Modern America by Margaret M. Grubiak Karen E. Park Monumental Jesus: Landscapes of Faith and Doubt in Modern America. By Margaret M. Grubiak. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2020 Monumental Jesus: Landscapes of Faith and Doubt in Modern America is a fascinating exploration of some of the most iconic American Christian landmarks of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries including Notre Dame's famous, "Touchdown Jesus," Answers in Genesis's Creation Museum and Ark Experience, and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's now defunct Christian amusement park, Heritage USA. Grubiak's approach to these sites and the others treated in the book, complements the work of scholars of sacred space and material religion including Colleen McDannell, David Morgan, James Bielo, and others who seek to understand the ways in which believers inscribe meaning onto buildings, landscapes, and other material objects and spaces. In Monumental Jesus, landscapes of faith (murals, statues, Christian amusement parks) are interpreted alongside landscapes of doubt—a category which includes all manner of outsider reactions to the religious buildings and sites—reactions which range from good-natured nicknames to outright ridicule, scorn, and derision. This approach recognizes that meaning is not only made or controlled by those insiders and believers who build and then worship at or frequent these sites, but by outsiders who are "involuntarily confronted by religious buildings in the course of daily life." Where do silly nicknames, derisive graffiti, satirical comic strips, and scathing Architectural Digest reviews fit into [End Page 108] the landscape of religious meaning? This is the question Grubiak sets out to address. The book is divided into five chapters of varying lengths ranging from approximately 40 pages to as few as ten. The first chapter explores the phenomenon of "Touchdown Jesus," the enormous Word of Life mural on the Theodore M. Hesburgh Library visible from the football stadium. While this mural and its meaning has been addressed by other scholars, here Grubiak deftly explores the tension between the intended meaning of the mural—a bold assertion of the seriousness and authority of the Catholic intellectual tradition—and the silliness and even blasphemy of the simultaneous assertion that Jesus cares about and exerts an influence over his favorite football team. Catholic insiders can simultaneously believe and doubt when it comes to "Touchdown Jesus'' and this "landscape of doubt" provides Grubiak with a fruitful site for the exploration of religious meaning. The first chapter is the only one which deals with a Catholic setting. The other examples, with the exception of the Mormon Temple outside of Washington, DC, come from various corners of evangelical Protestantism. The lengthy chapter on Heritage USA and Oral Roberts University is particularly strong, as is the chapter on the Creation Museum and Ark Experience. Grubiak's reading of these sites demonstrates her deep knowledge and familiarity with architectural history—her description of the various architectural styles used at Heritage USA and their meanings made me wish the place had survived so I could visit it. Similarly, the chapter on the Creation Museum and Ark Experience could stand alone as an architectural and material exploration of those sites and the controversy surrounding them, and would be useful in an undergraduate class on Religion in America, Religion in Popular Culture, or Religion and Sacred Space. The book is notable for its many illustrations and photographs, and where permission was not granted (for example in the case of MAD Magazine's satirical response to the Creation Museum) Grubiak encourages her readers to look the images up online in order to follow her interpretation, which I did and found very helpful. The bibliography and notes are also particularly strong. The final chapter, on the giant Jesus "Christ of the Ozarks" is quite short and while it raises important questions about the anti-Semitism and racist hatred of the statue's originator, it is unable to adequately engage with these questions, asking whether visitors are "unwillingly complicit in the perversion of Christian beliefs in their consumption of this evangelical theme park" without fully dealing with that important question. Racist and anti-semitic Christian beliefs are, sadly, Christian beliefs nonetheless...

Religious buildings and urban planning under consideration by the Constitutional Court

Religious buildings and urban planning under consideration by the Constitutional Court

Detecting the Evolution of Collective Memory Space Using a Space Syntax-Based Analysis Method in Beiyuanmen Historical and Cultural Block

With the rapid development of globalization and urbanization, the atmosphere of cultural life in the historical and cultural districts of the city has begun to change. The collective memory of the block is gradually missing, and the local crisis of homogenization appears. Therefore, the Beiyuanmen block was selected as a typical case, using spatial syntax and in-depth interviews to empirically study the collective memory of residents. It is found that the collective memory space of Beiyuanmen block has the following changing trends: the collective memory space structure level of the block continues as a whole, and the alley space that carries the residents’ unconscious habitual memory is facing varying degrees of destruction; the scope and intensity of collective memory space are consistent with the direction of urban development, and the overall collective memory center tends to shift westward; the elements of collective memory space have changed obviously, from being dominated by a single religious building function in the old period to a coexistence pattern of religious buildings and public facilities in the new period. Based on the above analysis, it is considered that the collective memory space in historical and cultural blocks is the result of the transformation of residents’ values and ethnic interaction.

Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England: Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture by Michael D. J. Bintley

Reviewed by: Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England: Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture by Michael D. J. Bintley Sybil Jack Bintley, Michael D. J., Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England: Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture (Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 45), Turnhout, Brepols, 2020; hardback; pp. 231; 13 b/w illustrations; R.R.P €75.00; ISBN 9782503583846. While not all scholars of the early medieval period will accept Michael Bintley's views, this book is an invaluable introduction to some new approaches to interpretation of the period between the departure of the Romans and the coming of the Normans in England, such as those of John Blair and Éamonn Ó Carragáin. In this book Bintley hopes to open further areas for future research. He is primarily interested in changing our understanding of the ways in which the authors of contemporary vernacular literary works presented the links between people and the places in which they lived. [End Page 195] The texts that survive from any period are important, but they have a particular place in any largely non-literate society, such as early medieval England. Before archaeological excavation in England revealed some of the material remains of the period after the departure of Rome, investigation into why and where literature and poetry were composed, and in what language and how they were disseminated, provided almost the sole insight on the ordering of a society both lay and religious where knowledge was spread by oral presentation. Well-known authors such as Gildas and Bede, who set out the myths of the communities' origins and their narratives of events, were the basis for classical historical analysis even when their attribution of the destruction of the communities to religious failure was abandoned. As Bintley shows, in the years since World War II this classical presentation has been modified as archaeologists have uncovered numerous sites of many different types from this period across England. Scholars since extended their vision to examine how space was structured and perceived by people from all parts of society and interdisciplinary studies soon followed, one of the earliest being Audrey Meaney's PhD thesis (University of Cambridge) in 1959 on A Correlation of Literary and Archaeological Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Heathenism. Bintley's study introduces an analysis of the material settlements that interprets the physical remains in the light of widely accepted social practices that are held to bind society together, such as gift exchange, oath swearing, and ritual feasting. The spiritual understanding of landscape at the time is brought into the explanations of how towns were shaped for a strongly ecclesiastical purpose. He examines closely the role of the Church in the form and nature in which particular structures were created and interpreted as critical to their role. That the secular buildings were almost invariably wooden, while religious buildings were normally stone (and often of older, Roman stone reused), is presented as a critical cultural signifier. The apparently disorganized village layouts are seen as relating to different expectations of community interaction and integration from those that had preceded them. Bintley makes clear the different situations at different times such the slow regeneration of towns and the special approach to interurban space immediately after the departure of the Romans and the effect of the Viking invasions and the need for strongholds. Some of his arguments are still heavily dependent on interpretations of more recent texts, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, that create an image of a directing elite, starting in the eighth century, and getting more authoritative in the Alfredian ninth century—when pivotal change in the conceptualizing of the function of a town was occurring and the creation or recreation of governing institutions, and the development of philosophical arguments about the definition of the role of a king, the duty of the community, and the creation of bonds across social strata and secular and religious interests began to emerge. Bintley seems concerned to establish the continuities in social and settlement culture throughout the period and to show not only how a familiar legacy was developed, but also how there was a constant return to grief [End Page 196] about intellectual ignorance and the loss...

“Brick” rationalism architecture in the eclecticism of religious buildings, public buildings and industrial enterprises of the Taganrog city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The article analyzes the eclectic tradition in the architecture of religious buildings, public buildings and industrial enterprises of Taganrog, the peculiarities of its manifestation in the diverse stylistic palette of the city, including neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau, touches upon the specifics of the stylistic trends’ manifestation in the “brick style” rationalist architecture.

Памятники культовой архитектуры Cарыарки

The article is devoted to the consideration of two traditional monuments of the burial and cult architecture of Saryarka. This is the mausoleum of the eldest son of Genghis Khan - Zhoshy, as well as one of the wonderful medieval religious buildings - Alashakhan. Burial and cult structures are part of the traditional Kazakh culture and history, and therefore, a deeper and more thorough study of this little-studied topic is necessary. When considering the Zhoshykhan mausoleum, it should be noted that this is one of the few monuments on the territory of Kazakhstan that have their own name, that is, the name of the buried person is known, in whose honor the memorial structure was built. The name of Zhoshykhan, a historical figure, the eldest son of the Great Genghis Khan, allows us to establish the exact date of the construction of the mausoleum over the ashes of the deceased Zhoshy from historical written sources. In addition, the location of the Zhoshykhan mausoleum in Central Kazakhstan allows historians to conclude that the Zhoshy headquarters, located in Eastern Kazakhstan, was moved to Central Kazakhstan, as indicated by the location of the mausoleum. The finding of the Zhoshykhan mausoleum on the territory of modern Kazakhstan makes the study of the personality of Zhoshykhan, as well as the memorial structure, a part of the history of medieval Kazakhstan. To this day, Kazakhs have preserved in their traditional culture the rite of a circular detour - ainalmak. This rite is well known from the inauguration ceremony of Kazakh khans, when the chosen khan was raised on a white felt mat and the nobility circled him nine times in the circle of the sun. Shaman healers made circular movements around the patient in order to heal the patient. This rite, widely known among Kazakhs, was reflected in the structure of Kazakh burial structures - mausoleums. So, the medieval mausoleum of Alashakhan, as well as the mausoleum of Duzen Sandybaev (1866) have bypass galleries in the thickness of their walls, along which a circular walk was made along the movement of the Sun, which indicates the most ancient roots of its origin. The mausoleum of the Samanids (IX-X centuries) in Bukhara and the mausoleum of Sultan Sanzhar in Turkmenistan are close by analogy, where bypass galleries are a rudiment in the structure of these structures. In mausoleums, where there are no bypass galleries, the sacred detour was performed around the mausoleum itself.

SACREDLY MARKED LANGUAGE UNITS IN THE POETIC DISCOURSE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE ХХ CENTURY

The article is devoted to the consideration of sacredly marked language units (words and expressions) as components of the dictionary of the Ukrainian poetic language of the second half of the twentieth century. In the context of understanding the traditions of national artistic formation and text creation, they testify to the library-centric linguistic thinking of the authors, the rootedness of their creative consciousness in Christian linguistic culture. The stylistic functionality of several types of nominations is considered, which in poetic discourse reflect the linguistic practice of the religious sphere and form several main lexical and thematic groups: “names of saints”, “names of biblical characters”, “names of sacred books and their parts”, “names of religious rites”. and sacraments”,”names of religious buildings and their parts”, “names of religious objects”,”names of religious holidays”. It is emphasized that in the analyzed poetic texts the components of these lexical and thematic groups are presented with different intensity. The common tendency towards them is the preservation of the high stylistic tone implicitly inherent in them, the positive evaluation. The conducted research testifies to the stability of the tradition of using sacredly marked images and expressions in the national artistic discourse, which reflect the linguistic practice of the religious sphere. In the poetic language of the second half of the twentieth century, these units retain their implicit high stylistic tone, positive value and form a powerful layer of the national poetic dictionary.

РАДЯНСЬКА РЕЛІГІЙНА ПОЛІТИКА ТА ЇЇ НАСЛІДКИ В НЕЗАЛЕЖНІЙ УКРАЇНІ

The purpose of the article is to analyze the Soviet religious policy and the problem of overcoming its consequences in the independent Ukrainian state. The research methodology is based on the comprehensive application of general scientific and specific historical methods, which allowed tracing the evolution of the state religious policy in the USSR at various stages of its existence. The scientific novelty of the article consists in identifying the essence and trends in the development of the Soviet religious policy and determining the ways of overcoming its consequences in the independent Ukrainian state. The Conclusions. Being part of the USSR, Ukraine could not form and implement its own religious policy. It was either guided by the documents adopted by the Union-wide party and state bodies or developed similar ones. The Communist Party documents outlined the uncompromising struggle against religion. This anti-religious struggle was waged using various means, forms and methods. The principles of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state declared in the Soviet regulations were never implemented fully. The state pressure on the church intensified and weakened, but never completely disappeared. The Soviet totalitarian system caused enormous damage to the church, religious organizations, clergy, and believers. The consequence of the Soviet religious policy was the restriction of freedom of conscience, the expropriation of church property, repression of the clergy and believers, the closure of religious buildings and the destruction of the religious network. However, the Soviet authorities did not succeed in overcoming religion, which was revived at the slightest opportunity. After gaining independence, Ukraine began to develop its own model of state-church relations, and to form and implement its own state religious policy. Having received a heavy Soviet legacy in the religious and ecclesiastical sphere, the country is overcoming its negative consequences gradually. Their final elimination will contribute to further development of partner state-church relations and promote full support of freedom of conscience and religion. Key words: religion, church, state-church relations, the Soviet religious policy, the Soviet legislation on religious cults.

The Petition Campaign of the Muslims of Leningrad on the Return of the Cathedral Mosque in 1946–1955

The article examines the petition campaign for the return of the Cathedral Mosque, organized by the Muslims of Leningrad in the second half of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s. The campaign represents an example of a human rights activity (albeit in a limited sphere, for securing freedom of conscience), and should be taken into account when studying the history of the human and civil rights movement in the USSR. The language and argumentation used by authors of the petitions are analyzed. The article examines the religious life of Leningrad Muslims outside of the mosque (in particular, the holding of festive services at the Tatar cemetery in the village of Volkova). The article touches upon the problem of historical memory. The memories of the struggle for permission to build a mosque in St. Petersburg in tsarist times, preserved among Leningrad Muslims, were taken into account by officials when deciding whether to return this religious building to believers in the 1950s. The problem of returning the mosque is considered in the context of changes in the confessional policy of the country’s leadership. The article demonstrates the role of such a body as the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR touches upon this role in resolving issues of returning religious buildings to believers in the post-war period. Particular attention is paid to the relations within the Leningrad Muslim community. On the example of the conflict between imam-khatib Abdulbari N. Isaev and Chairman of the twenty (dvadtsatka) Usman Bogdanov, the author examines the system of power relations within religious communities in the USSR in the postwar period. In particular, the article mentions the narrative that Bogdanov proposed to subordinate dvadtsatka directly to the Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs in the Leningrad Region.