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Church of Elijah the Prophet in Utmanovo

Фото 1
The brick two-story church with six chapels has a cross-shaped plan with an elongated western wing. It belongs to the centralized non-columnar churches with a tiered completion. The construction of the church took place in two stages: in 1800 and 1818, the square part, which is now the central part of the temple, and a separate bell tower were erected. In the 1870s, the church was significantly expanded by adding equal two-tiered volumes to the square, which reached the full height of the building. The configuration of the plan became more complex due to small square projections filling the corners of the cross from the outside. Possibly, at this time or later, the bell tower was connected to the temple by a covered narthex, and its lower tier was reinforced with powerful buttresses. At that time, a single-tiered gallery was added to the northern wall of the refectory, disrupting the symmetry of the church's cross composition.

The silhouette of the church is formed by a light drum with an onion-shaped dome on a faceted neck. This elegant completion, which remained from the first stage of construction, contrasts with the massive forms of the main volume. Previously, this discrepancy was balanced by four small domes standing at the corners above the diagonal cells of the plan, but their loss disrupted the harmony of the facades.

The bell tower, consisting of three squares and an octagonal ringing tier with a high spire, does not appear slender. Its lower tier served as a vestibule with a three-sided staircase and a wide flight leading to the upper temple.

The architectural design of the facades combines canonical principles of classicism with eclecticism and traditions of the regional school. The rusticated walls of the lower tier are perceived as the base of the building, above which rises a more elongated second tier, carrying the main decorative load. The main motif, high windows united by a three-lobed kokoshnik, is set into a profiled arch on the facades of the chapels and altar. Vertical lines emphasize the large pilasters with wide fluting, arched openings of the corner inserts in the 'pilaster porticos.' The entablature with stylized brackets and crosses in the frieze connects the walls around the perimeter. The free surfaces are decorated with niches featuring brick 'daisies.'

The rooms of the lower temple are covered with brick vaults. In the summer church, fragments of oil wall paintings from the late 19th century have been preserved, but the wooden ceilings above the chapels and apse burned down in 1991. Currently, the monument is not in use and is in extremely unsatisfactory condition.

Geo point

Церковь Илии Пророка в Утманово

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