DOMES OF ST.

BASIL’S
CATHEDRAL IN
MOSCOW,RUSSIA

NAME: DEBARGHA BANERJEE

REG NO.: 1802295036
SEC: B

PILOO MODI COLLEGE

OF ARCHITECTURE
WHAT IS A
DOME?

A dome is a architectural element that

resembles the hollow upper half of a
sphere. The precise definition has been a
matter of controversy. There are also a
wide variety of forms and specialized
terms to describe them.
Domes have a long architectural
lineage that extends back into prehistory
and they have been constructed from
mud, snow and plastic over the centuries.
They are found in Persian, Hellenistic,
Roman and Chinese and as well as the
early Mesopotamia. The domes of the
modern world can be found over religious
buildings, legislative chambers, sports
stadiums etc.
ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
St. Basil’s Cathedral was constructed in
16th century Russia during the reign of
Tsar Ivan IV. The cathedral commemorates
a military victory against Mongol forces, in
ABOUT
which Kazan was captured by the
Russians. The layout of the cathedral
consists of a central church surrounded by
eight smaller chapels. Each of the chapels
is associated with an important day during
the battle for Kazan. In addition, the
cathedral was designed to resemble an
eight-pointed star, with each tower on one
of eight compass points. It has been
speculated that this is an allusion to three
eight-pointed stars that decorate the veil of
the Virgin Mary in early iconographic
images. The number eight has added
religious significance, often associated
with the eighth day of creation. At a later
date, a ninth chapel was added over the
tomb .
 CONSTRUCTION
Originally, the cathedral was
painted white, and the domes
were made of tin covered by a
layer of fine gold leaf or
powder. In the 1670s, the
church was revamped, and the
gilded domes were replaced
with the present day
multicolored domes. Providing
structure and support to the
inside of the domes was a
wooden or metal framework
resembling a birdcage. During
construction, this framework
was built first to give the dome
its basic shape. A temporary
center pole also may have
been used for support. Then
the dome was covered with
sheets of colorful metal.
The metal pieces were of
various sizes that were bent
and shaped to create
interesting patterns on the
dome. The pieces were then
riveted together. There were
hundreds of different pieces
THE ONION
DOME
Beautiful colorful onion
domes of the famous St.
Basil's cathedral in the
Red Square.
The St. Basil’s cathedral
is the world known
Russian architecture
masterpiece.
No.of domes in the
structure: 10
The shape of the dome
resembles an onion and
is usually associated
with architectural style.
Such domes are often
larger in diameter than
tholobate upon which
they sit, and their
height usually exceeds
their width. These
bulbous structure taper
smoothly to a point. It is
the predominant form
for church domes in
 HISTORY
It is not completely clear
when and why onion domes
became a typical feature of
Russian architecture. The
curved onion style, appeared
outside of Russia, both in the
western world and in the
orient at a later time. But
there still several theories
exist that the Russian onion
shape was influenced by
countries from orient, like
India and Persia.
Byzantine churches and
architecture of Kievan Rus
were characterized by
broader, flatter domes
without a special framework
erected above the drum. In
contrast to this ancient form,
each drum of a Russian
church is surmounted by a
special structure of metal or
timber which is lined with
sheet iron or tiles, while is
lined with sheet iron or tiles,
while the onion architecture is
 TRADITIONAL
VIEW
Russian icons painted before the Mongol invasion
of Rus' of 1237-1242 do not feature churches with
onion domes. Two highly venerated pre-Mongol
churches that have been rebuilt—the Assumption
Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saint Demetrius,
both in Vladimir—display golden helmet domes.
Restoration work on several other ancient
churches has revealed some fragments of former
helmet-like domes below newer onion cupolas.
It has been posited that onion domes first
appeared in Russia during the reign of Ivan the
Terrible (r. 1533–1584). The domes of Saint Basil's
Cathedral have not been altered since the reign of
Ivan's son Fyodor I (r. 1584–1598), indicating the
presence of onion domes in the sixteenth-century
Russia. Some scholars postulate that the Russians
borrowed onion domes from Muslim countries -
possibly from the Khanate of Kazan, whose
conquest in 1552 Ivan the Terrible commemorated
by erecting St. Basil's Cathedral.[3] Eight of the
nine domes featured on St. Basil's Cathedral
represent each attack on Kazan. The ninth dome
was constructed 36 years after the siege of Kazan
as a tomb for Ivan. The ornate finishes of these
domes are bright in color and bold in shape as
they are adorned with pyramids and stripes, and
many other patterns seen on other cathedrals
than Basil's.[4] Some scholars believe that onion
domes first appeared in Russian wooden
architecture above tent-like churches. According
MODERN VIEW
In 1946, the historian Boris Rybakova, while
analyzing miniatures of ancient Russian
chronicles, pointed out that most of them, from
the thirteenth century onward, display churches
with onion domes rather than helmet domes.
Nikolay Voronin,the foremost authority on pre-
Mongol Russian architecture, seconded his
opinion that onion domes existed in Russia as
early as the thirteenth century, although they
presumably could not be widespread. These
findings demonstrated that Russian onion domes
could not be imported from the Orient, where
onion domes did not replace spherical domes
until the fifteenth century. Sergey Zagraevsky, a
modern art historian, surveyed hundreds of
Russian icons and miniatures, from the eleventh
century onward. He concluded that most icons
painted after the Mongol invasion of Rus display
only onion domes. First onion domes displayed on
some pictures of twelfth century. He found only
one icon from the late fifteenth century
displaying a dome resembling the helmet instead
of an onion, which led him to dismiss fragments
of helmet domes discovered by restorators
beneath modern onion domes as post-Petrine
stylisations intended to reproduce the familiar
forms of Byzantine cupolas. It explains the
ubiquitous appearance of onion domes in the late
thirteenth century by the general emphasis on
 SYMBOLISM
Prior to the eighteenth century, the Russian
Orthodox Church did not assign any
particular symbolism to the exterior shape
of a church. Nevertheless, onion domes are
popularly believed to symbolize burning
candles. In 1917, noted religious
philosopher Prince Yevgeny Turetsky argued
that the onion shape of Russian church
domes may not be explained rationally.
According to Turetsky, drums crowned by
tapering domes were deliberately scored to
resemble candles, thus manifesting a
certain aesthetic and religious attitude.
Another explanation has it that the onion
dome was originally regarded as a form
reminiscent of the edicula (cubiculum) in
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem.
Onion domes often appear in groups of
three, representing the Holy Trinity, or five,
representing Jesus Christ and the Four
Evangelists. Domes standing alone
represent Jesus. Vasily Tatischev, the first to
record such interpretation, disapproved of it
emphatically. He believed that the five-
domed design of churches was propagated
by Patriarch Nikon, who liked to compare
the central and highest dome with himself
and four lateral domes with four other
patriarchs of the Orthodox world. There is
no other evidence that Nikon ever held
such a view. The domes are often brightly
painted: their colors may informally
symbolize different aspects of religion.
Green, blue, and gold domes are sometimes
held to represent the Holy Trinity, the Holy
Spirit, and Jesus, respectively. Black ball-
shaped domes were once popular in the
snowy north of Russia.
THANK
YOU