Resurrection and Trinity cathedrals

At the end of the XVII century Ostashkov turned into a big city, in which the population grew rapidly, trade developed. The proximity to the Lithuanian border and the constant danger of attack did not in the least prevent the growth of the city. Ostashkov actively traded with other foreign cities, with Poland and Lithuania. In 1651 Ostashkovsky voivode informs in the ambassador's order about the arrival in the city with the goods of Smolensk, Mogilev and other "trade people". In many cities of Russia in the second half of the XVII century the development of trade and construction took place in parallel. The division of Ostashkov into two suburbs was also a purely local reason, which contributed to the revival of construction. Both the patriarch and the Joseph-Volokolamsky monastery appointed their abbots to the city councils, which introduced quite definite tastes. The combination of these reasons contributed to the fact that in the Monastery Settlement in 1677 began to build the Resurrection Cathedral - one of the largest in the Tver region. Simultaneously, next to the cathedral was built a bell tower. Following this, for the residents of the Patriarchal settlement near the Resurrection Cathedral in 1685, the Trinity Cathedral was consecrated, consecrated in 1697. (In the middle of the 18th century a separate bell tower was erected with him.) Two stone cathedrals built almost simultaneously in such a relatively small town as Ostashkov are an exceptional event. Note that in Tver there was one city cathedral, in Rzhev only at the end of the XVII century began to build a stone cathedral, and in Zubtsov, it generally remained wooden.

 

Troitsky and Voskresensky cathedrals were rebuilt more than once, changing their appearance, painting interiors and repairing. About the original appearance of the cathedrals more recently it was possible to judge only by small fragments of decor, which were seen here and there on the facades. All the rest of the "uzorochie" of the XVII century turned out to be a hidden late extension, a thick layer of plaster, shot down or replaced at different times by a new decor. The restoration of the Trinity Cathedral is over, the day is near when the facades of the Resurrection Cathedral will be freed from the scaffolding. In the process of restoration, the architect V. Yakubeni made many interesting observations and discoveries. Until recently, standing next to the Resurrection Cathedral, a tall pillar-shaped bell-tower with a tent-like completion by its forms caused some bewilderment. Its composition and decor are repeated by well-known Yaroslavl bell-towers. A direct analogy for it can serve as the bell tower of the cathedral complex in Korovniki in Yaroslavl, which has almost the same composition and decorative processing of the tent with the diminishing apertures of the auditory windows. Now it became obvious that both Resurrection and Trinity cathedrals - the first stone structures of Ostashkov - belong to the Yaroslavl school of architecture in stylistic terms. The besstolpny two-lighted quadrangle of the church with a refectory and a chapel from the north and south near the Resurrection Cathedral is crowned with two rows of kokoshniks and a traditional five-headed one. The supports at the base of the five-headed drums are also decorated with kokoshniki. The composition and especially the decorative decoration of the facades are typical for many towns of the towns of Yaroslavl, up to the individual details of the decor, which are found only there. The reasons that prompted the rest to turn to the Yaroslavl building traditions remain unclear. One can only state that Ostashkov's temples that have come down to us consistently repeat their prototype. Yaroslavl's lavish city councils, erected by wealthy merchants, pleased the residents of Ostashkov, as evidenced by the further development of construction in the city and its environs.

 

In the second half of the 18th century, after another repair, the Trinity Cathedral was painted and decorated with stucco work done, apparently, by Ostashkovskiy masters Kondratiy Semenov Konyagin, Ilya Mikhaylov Verzin and Semyon (Eremeev?) Utkin. The same masters worked on the decoration of the interiors of the Cross Exaltation and Peter and Paul Church in the Nilova Monastery of the Deserts. (Based on the restored fragments of the composition of the Last Judgment, the figures and faces of the saints, the painting of the Resurrection Cathedral will become an interesting monument of pictorial art made by local, Ostashkov's craftsmen.

By its size and composition, the Trinity Cathedral almost does not differ from Voskresensky. However, the quadrangle of the temple received more harmonious proportions, and the decor became more elegant. This reflected the further changes in Russian architecture, the growth of its "uzorochya." The greatest changes were in the completion of the cathedral and the traditional five-domed cathedral. The drums became narrower, tighter, each other, kokoshniki on the corners of the quadrilateral with fractures, so that the corner decorates two facades at once. This method of placing the kokoshniki was used a little earlier in the churches of Moscow, Moscow Region, was quickly picked up and loved by the masters of Yaroslavl, repeated in Ostashkov in the Trinity Cathedral, and later in Toropets. The clear plane of the upper part of the facade of the building, previously facing the viewer in front, was violated. Kokoshniki did not become a continuation of the facade, but turned into a developed pedestal for the five-domed building, a continuous belt around the perimeter building. From here one step was left until the masters, trying to give the old forms a new, "baroque" sound, turn kokoshniki generally into decorative belts, combined with classical forms of cornices, as, for example, in the church of the village of Rogozha, which will be discussed below.

 

It is difficult to find any fundamental differences between Ostashkov's cathedrals and Yaroslavl. Their biggest difference is the complete absence of the famous Yaroslavl colored irrigation ceramics and replacing it with a simpler decoration of brick and white stone. But with all this, especially in the Trinity Cathedral, the features characterizing only for local construction are beginning to be developed. So, for example, there are porches with original supports and magnificently decorated with a figured brick, "cuttings" on the interceptions of half-columns and on beads, the "niche" niches are deepened into the array of walls, etc. Later all these forms will find wide application in the local architecture and, constantly changing, will live up to the beginning of the XIX century.

 

The Trinity Cathedral, like Voskresensky, was painted in the second half of the 18th century by local, Ostashkov's painters. Unlike the bright colorful colors of the paintings of the Resurrection Cathedral, where characters' faces seem to be written off by the masters from the people around them, and the garments of the saints are festively festive, the painting in the Trinity Cathedral is more reserved, the dusky brownish-ocher color, in which separate figures are caught in bright light. Picturesque compositions in a rich stucco baroque frame are executed by local masters. The presence of rich stucco decoration in Troitsk and Voskresensky cathedrals and in other churches around the city testifies to the work in Ostashkov for a long time of highly skilled foremen. This is confirmed by numerous archival documents, as well as by the fact that Ostashkov's talons were known far beyond the city limits. Now part of the Ostashkov Museum's exposition has been moved to Troitsky Cathedral.

 

Several apart from the group of these buildings is the bell tower of the Trinity Cathedral. It is interesting to compare it with another, standing nearby and built years seventy earlier. Two eras, two completely different styles, a completely different understanding of forms. The belfry of Yaroslavl masters quickly rose upwards with an even, elastic pillar, tied with pilasters, proudly carrying a magnificent tent. Wearing upward auditory apertures with platbands gave the completion of greater harmony. In the composition of the belltower there is something solemn, regal in its uncontrollable rise. The second bell tower is slightly higher than the first, but its silhouette is less strict and not so clearly drawn against the sky. The forms are round, with soft smooth outlines. In this case, each tier is emphatically separated from each other. Decorative forms of one of the tiers of the bell tower resemble deployed hanging scrolls. The drawing of these "scrolls" by its expressiveness actively influences the plane of the wall, imparts dynamism to it, when you look at them you especially understand how intractable the master was to the plane, how he strove to break its static, to give it movement, to make it multifaceted.

 

Two cathedrals and a belfry, built in the end of the XVII century in Ostashkov, their rich decoration, apparently, especially liked the residents of the city, long served as models for local masters. Otherwise, explaining that after a hundred-fifty years in the churches in the surrounding villages, the decorative motifs of the first-borns of the stone architecture of the region will be repeated. By this time the cathedrals themselves will remodel more than once, give them a new look, trying to liken them to the metropolitan samples, will not become elegant facades, but they will not be blotted out of the memory of those who decorated the "white church vestments" of the village around Ostashkov. And it is hardly fair to underestimate such monuments, in which, after a century and a half, as if breaking away from the cover of centuries, the forms seemingly completely departed suddenly reborn.



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57° 9' 40.5324" N 33° 6' 5.9148" E